Thread: How is Boukreev pronounced?

Originally Posted by chaika

Marcus, I don't think you are pronouncing English "put" correctly. The first vowel in букреев is a long u-sound, as in English words boot (not book), or suit or soon. "put" has a short vowel, as in soot or look. don't you just love English spelling??!!

chaika,
long vowels don't exist in the Russian language, and so do short vowels. All vowels in Russian have neutral length. I'd say Russian [у] as in утро is longer than [u] as in put, but shorter than oo [u:] as in boot.

Originally Posted by alexsms

chaika,
long vowels don't exist in the Russian language, and so do short vowels. All vowels in Russian have neutral length. I'd say Russian [у] as in утро is longer than [u] as in put, but shorter than oo [u:] as in boot.

Stressed vowels are always longer than unstressed. Prestressed is longer than other unstressed. The English sound [u:] can be probably found after soft consonants in stressed syllables. Because Russian у is a more back sound.