Thread: Help with transliterating church music

I am a music director at a church in the US. Three families at the church I work at have recently adopted Russian orphans. I would like to help the children feel a little more involved in the church service by transliterating the common service music for them. (As I can't imagine how boring it is for the kids to sit in an hour service with no way to participate... it's hard enough for me and I understand the words!)

By transliterating, I mean take the English words and write what they sound like in the Russian. Ex: ("Praise" written as "прэс").

Can anyone help me out or point me to the right direction? I studied Russian for a year in college, but I'm finding I remember less of it that I thought I would.

As a side note, for several years (even before there were any Russian speakers in the congregation), I have made the choir sing "Salvation is Created" by Chesnokov in Russian. I am planning on adding more Russian literature to the choral library (Rachmaninoff's "All Night Vigil" being the first) as well.

Jabs,

Appreciate your zest with trying to do this. How old are the kids? I have adopted two children from Russia (4 yr old and then later a 7 yr old). I learned just enough russian to help the 4 yr old adapt. I learned even more russian so I was able to talk with the 7 yr old. I used the same method to teach them english - it only took about 8 months. I never used russian letters to help the 7 yr old pronounce english words. I thought about it - but I decided to teach the english alphabet and played games with her to learn the english equivalent of russian words. It really works. I think that using the russian letters for english pronunciation would be difficult and might confuse them and or keep them from learning english quickly. There are a few english sounds that have no equivalent in russian. I teach russian to couples that want to adopt from russia and I use english phonetics with them. It took me awhile to create the right combinations of english letters to mimic the russian sound but it worked out just fine. I tell each adoptive couple to immerse their kids in english - school, games, anyway they can. They learn quickly. I don't know of any lanquage program that uses russian letters to teach english to kids. Sorry about the long post - bottom line - teach them english quickly and they will surprise you. Feel free to have the parents contact me for additional information.

zakuski

Jabs, Спасение соделал еси.... I used to sing in Slavyanka chorus www.slavyanka.org and this is one of the first pieces I learned. Same Chesnokov version, too!

Praise would be прэйз , but otherwise not enough free time to help with the translit. Good luck in your endeavor!

I think that it is a great idea to play Russian hymns in church. They (in my opinion) far outshine Ameri/English hymns in beauty and originallity. The kids 'll love 'em.

Jabs, I think zakuski has a nice point on solving your situation but if it happens that you do need some transliteration---just post what you want to be transliterated here, and we will help you.