Thread: Oчень/Что pronunciation

I am a little confused about how to pronounce the character Ч. From what I've read, it's supposed to have a 'ch' sound. In oчень, it does! But in Что, it seems to take on a 'sh' sound, which is represented by another character in Russian.
Am I just mishearing the pronunciation, or...? Maybe it is a 'ch' sound and it's difficult to hear?

If not, what differentiates the way you use it?

Что is usually pronounced што or even щё in really informal conversation.

Originally Posted by Rainbowafterflood

I am a little confused about how to pronounce the character Ч. From what I've read, it's supposed to have a 'ch' sound. In oчень, it does! But in Что, it seems to take on a 'sh' sound, which is represented by another character in Russian.
Am I just mishearing the pronunciation, or...? Maybe it is a 'ch' sound and it's difficult to hear?

If not, what differentiates the way you use it?

You aren't mishearing. In Очень it is 'ch' but you are right, in Что, it does take on a 'sh' sound.

Generally 'Ч' is pronounced 'ch' the above is just a special exception.

It's hard to pronounce Ch + a consonant, so it changed to 'sh' instead. It's one of those confusing things that simply is, that you just have to learn to accept even though it technically is a 'wrong' pronounciation going by pronounciation the rules.

ч is usually pronounced ch . The pronounciation of что is an exception, that's all.

Here are a couple of examples.
I hope you don't mind an American accent.

Что нового?
What's new?

Очень хорошо.
Very good.

Originally Posted by kwatts59

Here are a couple of examples.
I hope you don't mind an American accent.

Что новово?
What's new?

Очень хорошо.
Very good.

что нового?

Originally Posted by Rainbowafterflood

But in Что, it seems to take on a 'sh' sound, which is represented by another character in Russian.

It's also a question of where the speaker comes from. Moscovites say "што", people from St. Petersburg frequently say "что"... At least I believe it used to be this way... You can say it either way and it will be correct.

Originally Posted by MikeM

Originally Posted by Rainbowafterflood

But in Что, it seems to take on a 'sh' sound, which is represented by another character in Russian.

It's also a question of where the speaker comes from. Moscovites say "што", people from St. Petersburg frequently say "что"... At least I believe it used to be this way... You can say it either way and it will be correct.

no way is ч-то a Saint Pete thing, up there they generally say што, in and around Moscow more and more people are saying шо informally. The ч-то pronounciation I think is mainly restricted to elderly jews with Odessan background.

Originally Posted by Darobat

or even щё in really informal conversation.

Don't know who you've been listening to.... probably a Ukrainian :P

Я не знав, що ти говориш українською мовою.

Ч is also pronounced Ш in words that are compounds of Что
e.g.

Чтобы
Ничто
Что-то/нибудь/либо etc.

Originally Posted by Darobat

Что is usually pronounced што or even щё in really informal conversation.

Тогда уж шо

Originally Posted by igorfa100

no way is ч-то a Saint Pete thing, up there they generally say што, in and around Moscow more and more people are saying шо informally. The ч-то pronounciation I think is mainly restricted to elderly jews with Odessan background.

I was born in St. Petersburg (Leningrad at the time) and spent most of my life there... I do sometimes say что as written and sometimes I say што. We were told on many occasions that making sounds softer is a Moscow thing, as they would say дожжи instead of дожди, булошная instead of булочная, etc. I think however that these differences in speach are evaporating if haven't evaporated completely with massive migration and with help of TV...

Exactly. I think 99% of Peterburgers say [што]

Originally Posted by Darobat

Что is usually pronounced што or even щё in really informal conversation.

Nobody say [щё] in really informal conversation. [Що] is way too Ukranian. The informal (not that "really" actually) contraction is [чо].

I can use [чо] in many situations. It's like 'to be going to' and 'gonna' I guess. I can use [чо] all along with freinds,parents etc. but I'll never say it on an interview for a job. Unless it's a slip of a toungue.

Ok, I knew there was something even shorter, but I guess I was slightly off.

To sum up, there are a few words whose Ч is pronounces as if it were Ш and the reason may or may not be dialectal. Конечно.

Thanks for your help.

Also, do any of you know of any good resources for a beginner in the language? Right now I am just interested in being conversational in Russian.

It's hard to pronounce Ch + a consonant, so it changed to 'sh' instead.

Not true. Чтиво, чтить, чванство, чморить and tons more are pronounced with ч, not ш.

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

It's hard to pronounce Ch + a consonant, so it changed to 'sh' instead.

Not true. Чтиво, чтить, чванство, чморить and tons more are pronounced with ч, not ш.

Lets not forget the all important Чмо!

Yep

http://masterrussian.net/mforum/viewtop ... EE&start=0

Originally Posted by VendingMachine

Not true. Чтиво, чтить, чванство, чморить and tons more are pronounced with ч, not ш.

Apologies, I shouldn't have said 'changed', I adapted it from what I read a while ago here. I suppose I meant it's hard for non-native speakers to pronounce it as how it's read, I meant to stick to the Что example given it is pronounced with Ш.

I was looking for examples of words where it's pronounced phonetically though.