Quote Originally Posted by Leof
i in ill and ea in wealthy sound close to Ы (for my ear)
and yet i and ea are different sounds to me. When I listen to the bl sound, it appears to have almost a gutteral "oo" before the tongue pulls back into a short-i sound... with a not-quite-there "L" on the end...

This is a difficult sound for me to hear and pronounce- I was told I might be "too old" to hear it (granted the young Russian telling me was 17... thinks I am 'old'

I think I can hear it, just not say it yet...