Thread: Distinguishing Between Letters

Originally Posted by Soft sign

[й] is a consonant. It doesn’t form a syllable. [и] is a vowel, and it forms a syllable.
[й] creates more noise than [и] does when being pronounced.


Have you already get accustomed with palatalization (so called ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ consonants) and with the letter ‘ь’ (‘soft sign’)? Can you hear the difference in the pairs ‘п’—‘пь’, ‘м’—‘мь’, ‘с’—‘сь’ etc.?
If so, you can assume that ‘щ’ is ‘шь’.

I've learned about palatalization, and I'm practicing it right now. By the way it's got, not get. Благодарю.