Thread: Transliteration

Isn't that the term for writing out Russian words the way they should be pronounced by and English-speaking person?

Anyway, I was wondering if I wrote out I few Russian phrases here, would anyone be willing to have a go at writing transliterations for them. There are certain words that I am learning that I have not heard pronounced, and I want to make sure I am understood when I attempt to use them.
I wish there was software online where I could plug in any Russian word and have audibly pronounced for me.

Sure, bring it on! There is also, however, a web-site that transliterates for you:

http://www.translit.ru/

No.

Transliteration is when one alphabet is written in another alphabet.

When we transliterate Russian to English we don't do it how it is pronounced. We simply assign the closest english equivalent (usually), to each letter of the Russian Cyrillic alphabet.

E.g. Москва is pronounced (Maskva), but in English it is transliterated as Moskva.

The Russian letter Ё (yo) is often transliterated as E in English, as in Gorbachev. Горвачёв is actually pronounced "Garbachyoff".

However, when English is transliterated to Russian, they tend to spell things phonetically.

E.g. New York = Нью-Йорк (N'yu-York).

Technically, spelling something how it is pronounced it called Transcription.

If we transliterated Russian phrases, it is not going to teach you anything. We can tell you how to pronounce things using English letters, but this isn't called transliteration.

Горвачёв

Горбачёв

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Sure, bring it on! There is also, however, a web-site that transliterates for you:

http://www.translit.ru/

Thank you Kalinka! I'm familiar with that site, but I don't think it helps with word pronunciation. Or does it? My Russian is not so good at this point, so I don't know about a lot of what is available on that site. I use it for typing in Cryllic alphabet.

OK, since we established that what I am interested in is transcription, here's a juicy sentence for ya' :

даже в своих снах я никогда не видел такого красного тела.

I know what the sentence means, I just unsure how to pronounce certain words it contains.

Also, what about this word?
чувства
Since I know the accent is on the first syllable, wouldn't this be pronounced as TSOO-veets-va?

Originally Posted by JKDMan

...

Also, what about this word?
чувства
Since I know the accent is on the first syllable, wouldn't this be pronounced as TSOO-veets-va?

You would pronounce this word chOOvctva (chOOvct-va) or chUvstva using the transliteration.

Originally Posted by JKDMan

даже в своих снах я никогда не видел такого красного тела.

This one is pronounced something like this:

dazhe v svaikh snakh ya nikagda ne videl takova krasnova tyela

the kh is sound is like breathing out the h and saying k at the same time, it should sound like bad static

Originally Posted by Spiderkat

Originally Posted by JKDMan

...

Also, what about this word?
чувства
Since I know the accent is on the first syllable, wouldn't this be pronounced as TSOO-veets-va?

You would pronounce this word chOOvctva (chOOvct-va) or chUvstva using the transliteration.

"Чувства" (feelings) is pronounced Choostva - the first "в" is not pronounced.

Originally Posted by Анатолий

"Чувства" (feelings) is pronounced Choostva - the first "в" is not pronounced.

You're exactly right. I just kinda doubted about whether we pronounce the в or not.

JKDMan, I think you need to start with some easy sentences before you start trying to say ones like that.

Originally Posted by TATY

JKDMan, I think you need to start with some easy sentences before you start trying to say ones like that.

Oh, I don't think I'll have any problems saying it. I have memorized phrases as long or longer. It's really the first three words of the sentence that rather baffled me, because I have not encountered those letter combinations before and I was unsure of how to sound them out. Now, when I see similar words I'll have a better idea.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

Originally Posted by JKDMan

даже в своих снах я никогда не видел такого красного тела.

This one is pronounced something like this:

dazhe v svaikh snakh ya nikagda ne videl takova krasnova tyela

the kh is sound is like breathing out the h and saying k at the same time, it should sound like bad static

Thank you Kalinka! You are great! Question though...when I see "B" by itself, do you more or less blend the "vee" sound into the next word?

On second thought TATY, I will amend my previous confidence and say that I will definitely need to practice this sentence a few dozen times to make it sound reasonably intelligible! Not one of those sentences I would want to screw up.

Also, thanks to Anatoli and everyone else for help with "Choostva".

And I think you need to memorize more useful phrases. If you say "I've never seen such a red body" to somebody, you can get into troubles. It sounds like a phrase from some thriller

And I think you need to memorize more useful phrases. If you say "I've never seen such a red body" to somebody, you can get into troubles. It sounds like a phrase from some thriller

Whoops, the word should have been "прекрасного", not "красного" in that sentence. It should mean beautiful, not red. Am I correct? The way I wrote it previously would make it seem like I was telling someone they have a bad sunburn!

Actually, it should be "dazhe f svaikh"... -- the voiced/unvoiced property of the following consonant will carry over to the preceding one even across a word boundary.
also most unstressed vowels would normally be reduced (some more, some less), but that's a whole other issue. Definitely make sure the 'y' in 'tyela' is not pronounced, it's a common mistake among beginners.
I personally (and many other ppl) do not pronounce 'g' in 'nikogda', but I am not sure if that's standard, maybe not.

Originally Posted by laxxy

I personally (and many other ppl) do not pronounce 'g' in 'nikogda', but I am not sure if that's standard, maybe not.

It's not standard pronunciation. G should be clearly pronounced.

Originally Posted by JKDMan

And I think you need to memorize more useful phrases. If you say "I've never seen such a red body" to somebody, you can get into troubles. It sounds like a phrase from some thriller

Whoops, the word should have been "прекрасного", not "красного" in that sentence. It should mean beautiful, not red. Am I correct? The way I wrote it previously would make it seem like I was telling someone they have a bad sunburn!

Aah, just when I thought that this one was about something more interesting than wooing mailorder brides, for a change...

Originally Posted by laxxy

Originally Posted by JKDMan

And I think you need to memorize more useful phrases. If you say "I've never seen such a red body" to somebody, you can get into troubles. It sounds like a phrase from some thriller

Whoops, the word should have been "прекрасного", not "красного" in that sentence. It should mean beautiful, not red. Am I correct? The way I wrote it previously would make it seem like I was telling someone they have a bad sunburn!

Aah, just when I thought that this one was about something more interesting than wooing mailorder brides, for a change...

Mail order brides?? I don't think so my friend. I have no interest in that.

I don't know.. is it normal to say: у тебя прекрасное тело? or should it be more like у тебя прекрасный/хороший фигур?

It might be just me... but the original sounds kind of... biological.

Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie

I don't know.. is it normal to say: у тебя прекрасное тело? or should it be more like у тебя прекрасный/хороший фигур?

It might be just me... but the original sounds kind of... biological.

"у тебя прекрасное тело" is too intimate, you can say it to your lover, it's not "biological". у тебя прекрасная/хорошая фигура is less intimate - it is still a compliment but you can use it to a less intimate female friend (if you know her well and you're not afraid to get a slap on your face).