Quote Originally Posted by ZekeComa View Post
Wow, I can't believe I got a lot of replies. Спасибо! So ый and ий sound very similar? Well to my ear they do. Would I be misunderstood, if I pronounced them the same? I looked up a word on forvo "интересный" and it sounds like knee at the end?

Zeke, it's a very very small sound to English speaking ears.. it took me many months to hear the sound... but ий is a really solid, sharp, clean sound, no variation, like a piano note: "eeeeeeee" you know? And ый is a lot more like how you or I might say "wee" or even "ooie" (like the old 'sea cruise' song - ooie baby) somewhere between those two examples, the "w" is not as short and sharp as "weee" but not as slow and stretched out as "ooie" somewhere in the middle

I have a perfect solution for you! Операция "Ы" и другие приключения Шурика / Operation Y - YouTube <-- this is a YT link for операция Ы - a wonderful old russian comedy movie... at 1hr5mins, they name their "operation" and they say Ы a lot, and you can hear there how it is different than "eeee" sound.. i hope ths helps... to answer your question, it's a completely different letter and sound for russians, if you say it the same, ый and ий, there will be a whole lot of confusion... Don't worry, even listening to the radio enough, you'll eventually hear it... on that note, here's some free russian radio stations i listen to --> listenlive.eu good luck! удачи