# Forum Learning Russian Language Resources for Studying Russian Russian Names  Can someone help me pronounce this?? :(

## loserzunite111

I came across afew Russian names while reading an online story, and I was wondering how you would pronounce them. O__O  
Yeva, is the first one. Second, comes Fyodor. And last, is Sergei. How do you say them?   ::  It's driving me nuts!!  ::

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## Leof

Yeva - *Е*ва
Ye like in _yesterday_ and it's been stressed 
Fyodor - Ф*ё*дор
Fyo sounds like in FI in _first_ or a wee bit softer. 
Sergei - Серг*е*й
sounds close like _sir gay_ - please do not anybody be offend - note that all of comparisons were simply phonetic and have no links with the real meaning of names!

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## loserzunite111

Thanks alot, hun.   ::

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## Leof

Welcome!  ::

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## HA

> Ysounds close like _sir gay_ -

 I would disagree - the first syllable sounds more like the first syllable in sur-vive

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## kalinka_vinnie

> Originally Posted by Leof  Ysounds close like _sir gay_ -   I would disagree - the first syllable sounds more like the first syllable in sur-vive

 It depends how you pronounce "survive" and how you pronounce "sir gay", what dialect of English you speak.

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## chaika

I speak middle-American English (grew up in Illinois), and the first syllable in "survive" sounds exactly like the vowel in "sir". 
Can you say "Yoda"? Put an /f/ in front and an /r/ at the end - voil

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## Plastic-Saint

I pronounce "Sergei" as "Sehr-gey"

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## BlackMage

> Sergei - Серг*е*й
> sounds close like _sir gay_ - please do not anybody be offend - note that all of comparisons were simply phonetic and have no links with the real meaning of names!

 We got a good chuckle out of this one when we were assigned names in Russian class.

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## Rtyom

> Originally Posted by Leof  Sergei - Серг*е*й
> sounds close like _sir gay_ - please do not anybody be offend - note that all of comparisons were simply phonetic and have no links with the real meaning of names!   We got a good chuckle out of this one when we were assigned names in Russian class.

 For you it might be funny, mind that!

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## Rtyom

[quote=chaika]I speak middle-American English (grew up in Illinois), and the first syllable in "survive" sounds exactly like the vowel in "sir". 
Can you say "Yoda"? Put an /f/ in front and an /r/ at the end - voil

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## loserzunite111

So...is _sir gay_ the correct annunciation of the name, then? You have me so confused. O____O   ::

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## Spiderkat

> So...is _sir gay_ the correct annunciation of the name, then? You have me so confused. O____O

 I would say _fair gay_ but replace the _f_ sound of the word fair by a _s_ sound.

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## TATY

[quote=Rtyom][quote=chaika]I speak middle-American English (grew up in Illinois), and the first syllable in "survive" sounds exactly like the vowel in "sir". 
Can you say "Yoda"? Put an /f/ in front and an /r/ at the end - voil

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## Dimitri

It's like 
Йева
Ф*йо*дор
С*йе*ргей or Сэргей  
Вот если вы эти "йо" и "йе" быстро произнесете - получится нужный звук

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## BlackMage

> For you it might be funny, mind that!

   Kinda like it's funny for you when we say "Pope"!

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## Rtyom

[quote=TATY][quote=Rtyom][quote=chaika]I speak middle-American English (grew up in Illinois), and the first syllable in "survive" sounds exactly like the vowel in "sir". 
Can you say "Yoda"? Put an /f/ in front and an /r/ at the end - voil

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## Rtyom

> Originally Posted by Rtyom  For you it might be funny, mind that!     Kinda like it's funny for you when we say "Pope"!

 Not that funny.

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## TATY

[quote=Rtyom][quote=TATY][quote=Rtyom][quote=chaika]I speak middle-American English (grew up in Illinois), and the first syllable in "survive" sounds exactly like the vowel in "sir". 
Can you say "Yoda"? Put an /f/ in front and an /r/ at the end - voil

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## BlackMage

> Originally Posted by BlackMage        Originally Posted by Rtyom  For you it might be funny, mind that!     Kinda like it's funny for you when we say "Pope"!   Not that funny.

 Not at all.

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## Rtyom

[quote=TATY][quote=Rtyom][quote=TATY][quote=Rtyom][quote=chaika]I speak middle-American English (grew up in Illinois), and the first syllable in "survive" sounds exactly like the vowel in "sir". 
Can you say "Yoda"? Put an /f/ in front and an /r/ at the end - voil

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## Rtyom

And now train yourself and make a recording of my name---firstly incorrect, then correct.  ::  
Pleeeeeaaaaase.

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## Leof

Артьом, это Льова. Ты всьо правильно сказал!  ::

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## Rtyom

И Тьома тоже...

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## TATY

The first one is: 
Фьёдор / Фьйодор. 
After a consonant Ё = ьо
Just as Я = ья,  Е = ьэ etc. 
Фьо and Фё are exactly the same sounds. 
From Wikipedia:  _Ё, Йо и Ьо
В некоторых заимствованных словах для записи сочетания фонем /jo/ используются сочетания знаков «ЙО» или «ЬО»: 
«Йо» в начале слов («йод», «йота», «йогурт», «Йорк», «йога» и др.) или после гласных («койот», «район», «майор», «мейоз» и др.).  «О» после мягкого знака: «батальон», «бульон», «миньон», «сеньор», «гильотина», «павильон», «шампиньон», «компаньон» и др._

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## Rtyom

Не-а. 
Ё = йо
Я = йа
Е = йэ 
It is known for any schooler in Russia. 
As you (must) know, ь softens the preceding consonant. Thus, it doesn't affect anything else, so clusters with ь and ё sound differently. 
Just make a recording to assure me you know how it sounds. Maybe you explained it to yourself wrongly, however know everything in the world.

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## TATY

> Не-а. 
> Ё = йо
> Я = йа
> Е = йэ 
> It is known for any schooler in Russia. 
> As you (must) know, ь softens the preceding consonant. Thus, it doesn't affect anything else, so clusters with ь and ё sound differently. 
> Just make a recording to assure me you know how it sounds. Maybe you explained it to yourself wrongly, however know everything in the world.

 At the beginning of a word, after a ь/ъ, й or vowel, 
Я, Е, Ё, Ю, = иа, йэ, йо, йо йу. 
After a consonant they are: ьа, ьэ, ьо, ьу 
Яна = Йана
Дядя = Дьадьа (не дйадйа) 
Ё in  её is not the same as Ё in фёдор. 
You said 
Фё and Фьо are different. But how can they be? 
In Фё the Ё sotens the F, and then is pronounced O:
Soft F + O
Фь + О 
In Фьо, the ь softens the Ф, and then there is O
Soft F + O
Фь + О 
Стол + а ---> Стола
Рубль + а ---> [Рубльа --->]  Рубля 
Instrumental ending is -ом for masculine nouns: 
Стол + ом ---> Стол*ом*
Рубль + ом ---> [Рубл*ьо*м ---->] Рубл*ё*м  
Фьодор = Фь + О + Дор
Фёдор = Фь + О + Дор
Фьёдор = Фь + Йо + Дор  (THIS is the first one you said in your recording)

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## Friendy

I think the confusion here is because ь is used either before и е ё ю я or at the end of the word and never before other vowels. I think the only exсeption is the word фьорд which sounds like фйорд. So when a native speaker sees something like Фьодор he instinctively reads it as if there's ё instead о.

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## Rtyom

Okay, you caught me at йо things. I agree when and how they're read. Mea culpa for not being extensive on the issue. 
TATY, even "Фёдор" and "фьорд" sound differently, whatever you would think. I think it's difficult for you to distinguish between them because you're not a native speaker of Russian. I even feel my speech apparatus works differently. 
Make a recording of yourself, please.

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## TATY

> Okay, you caught me at йо things. I agree when and how they're read. Mea culpa for not being extensive on the issue. 
> TATY, even "Фёдор" and "фьорд" sound differently, whatever you would think. I think it's difficult for you to distinguish between them because you're not a native speaker of Russian. I even feel my speech apparatus works differently. 
> Make a recording of yourself, please.

 
"Фёдор" and "фьорд" sound different because Фьорд is a foreign word from Fjord, which is pronounced Фьйорд in it's original languages. This isn't a very good example. 
What I am trying to say, is 
Тьа = Тя
Тьэ = Те
Тьу = Тю
Тьо = Тё 
This is, at the end of the day, why Russian has Я Е Ю Ё.

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## Rtyom

> Originally Posted by Rtyom  Okay, you caught me at йо things. I agree when and how they're read. Mea culpa for not being extensive on the issue. 
> TATY, even "Фёдор" and "фьорд" sound differently, whatever you would think. I think it's difficult for you to distinguish between them because you're not a native speaker of Russian. I even feel my speech apparatus works differently. 
> Make a recording of yourself, please.   
> "Фёдор" and "фьорд" shouldn't sound different.

 Then you cannot pronounce them rightly!   ::

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## Moryachka

> What I am trying to say, is 
> Тьа = Тя
> Тьэ = Те
> Тьу = Тю
> Тьо = Тё

 No, they don't.  In "Тя" & etc. there is a "y" sound before the vowel (й, as Rtyom already said).  The constructions you have written as their equivalents (Тьа, etc) sound Chinese to me...

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## TATY

> Originally Posted by TATY  What I am trying to say, is 
> Тьа = Тя
> Тьэ = Те
> Тьу = Тю
> Тьо = Тё   No, they don't.  In "Тя" & etc. there is a "y" sound before the vowel (й, as Rtyom already said).  The constructions you have written as their equivalents (Тьа, etc) sound Chinese to me...

 So you are saying Тя = Тйа? 
I know an learner shouldn't argue with native speakers. But you are wrong. 
The whole reason for Я Е Ё Ю being in the Russian alphabet is to replace ь + vowel after a consonant.

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## Moryachka

Ok, ok - more like Тьйа.  I think that's been suggested already.  But in any case, the "й" is there.

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## TATY

> Ok, ok - more like Тьйа.  I think that's been suggested already.  But in any case, the "й" is there.

 *From a Russian site:* 
Ещё 4 буквы: Ю, i, Я, Е представляют собой краткое обозначение буквосочетаний: 
     1.. ЬУ, ЬО, ЬА, ЬЭ после согласной, где Ь - мягкий знак - не бывает разделительным, или 
     2. ЙУ, ЙО, ЙА, ЙЭ в начале слова или после гласной, где Й - Йот (что никакое не И, а является звуком согласным, разделительным между гласными). Для русского языка два гласных подряд нетипичны. Такое случается не часто, - иногда - на стыке частей слова, напр., в сл. наушники. Буквы Ю, i, Я, Е являются в строгом смысле лишь обозначениям четырёх огласовок согласного звука Й. 
     Применение Йота позволяет обойтись лишь 24-мя буквами русского алфавита, которые можно обозначать как угодно, даже не обязательно графически (например, звуковыми сигналами морзянки). 
Тьйа is how Тья is produced. 
Обе*зья*нка:  *ЗЬЙА*
В*зя*ть: *ЗЬА*  
In Ukrainian, there is no letter Ё so they have to use йо or ьо: 
Його would be (Ёго) = Rus. его)
Йому would be (Ёму) = Rus. ему 
But after a consonant: 
С*ьо*годні would be (Сёгодні) = Rus. Сегодня 
Сйого would be pronounced differently.

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## Moryachka

::   All I know is what I hear.  Perhaps books don't agree  ::  .  By the way, are you studying to be a university professor of linguistics or something?  I have a copy of _Introduction to Russian phonology and Word Structure_, by William Hamilton, which you may have once I'm finished with it, if you like.  It says it's written for third- or fourth-year college-level students of Russian.

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## TATY

> All I know is what I hear.  Perhaps books don't agree  .  By the way, are you studying to be a university professor of linguistics or something?  I have a copy of _Introduction to Russian phonology and Word Structure_, by William Hamilton, which you may have once I'm finished with it, if you like.  It says it's written for third- or fourth-year college-level students of Russian.

 Ж0) Cool, thanks. Yes I am very interested in all phonetics, but particularly Russian. 
I'm sure linguists agree with what you hear, it's just maybe you are not 100% sure on the technical side of Russian orthography.

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## groovychick

> The whole reason for Я Е Ё Ю being in the Russian alphabet is to replace ь + vowel after a consonant

 I agree with TATY. Послушайте меня, я сдала экзамен ("из"?) фонетики с пяточкой   ::

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## TATY

> The whole reason for Я Е Ё Ю being in the Russian alphabet is to replace ь + vowel after a consonant
> 			
> 		  I agree with TATY. Послушайте меня, я сдала экзамен ("из"?) фонетики с пяточкой

 I love you.

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## Rtyom

С чем?  ::

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## Rtyom

> The whole reason for Я Е Ё Ю being in the Russian alphabet is to replace ь + vowel after a consonant
> 			
> 		  I agree with TATY. Послушайте меня, я сдала экзамен ("из"?) фонетики с пяточкой

 Да неужели тебе попался билет про то, одинаковы ли по произношению "фё" и "фьё"?

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## groovychick

not really, but russian vowels were the most difficult part of the exam.... glad i got rid of that    ::   but now on my second year i'll have to pass old slavic, THAT's a pain in the...   ::

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## basurero

> Then you cannot pronounce them rightly! Surprised

 Then you cannot pronounce them *right!*

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## Rtyom

> Then you cannot pronounce them rightly! Surprised
> 			
> 		  Then you cannot pronounce them *right!*

 why not rightly?

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## Rtyom

> not really, but russian vowels were the most difficult part of the exam.... glad i got rid of that     but now on my second year i'll have to pass old slavic, THAT's a pain in the...

 G'd luck to ya!  ::

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## basurero

> Originally Posted by basurero     
> 			
> 				Then you cannot pronounce them rightly! Surprised
> 			
> 		  Then you cannot pronounce them *right!*    why not rightly?

 Well, you can say "correctly" if you want. But "rightly" doesn't work.........

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## Rtyom

> Originally Posted by Rtyom        Originally Posted by basurero     
> 			
> 				Then you cannot pronounce them rightly! Surprised
> 			
> 		  Then you cannot pronounce them *right!*    why not rightly?   Well, you can say "correctly" if you want. But "rightly" doesn't work.........

 Alright, ta ever so  ::

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## loserzunite111

Oh! That clip makes everything come together now! Thank you for everyones help! ^^  ::   You deserve virtual cookies!!!

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## loserzunite111

Wow, people....All I wanted to know was how you pronounced those names and Dimitri cleared it up for me!! O___O We don't need to turn this into a civil battle!!! X___X   ::

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## Dimitri

> Wow, people....All I wanted to know was how you pronounced those names and Dimitri cleared it up for me!! O___O We don't need to turn this into a civil battle!!! X___X

 Я ничего не убирал

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