Russian Language

• An introduction to the Russian language
• The Cyrillic Alphabet and Russian pronunciation
• Introducing yourself — basic phrases
• Russian names
• Getting around by tram, bus and taxi
• Finding your way around — Directions and Destinations
• Ordering food

Learning Russian is a rewarding and useful experience, though for many, learning a foreign language is difficult when those around you cannot speak the language you wish to progress in. To work on pronunciation, informal communication, sentence structure as well as listening and speaking skills, it is an absolute imperative to get out there and immerse yourself in the local culture, environment and language, to find a good local teacher or college course., or, of course, like many others you could start of with the "teach yourself" books and CD's.

• Russian courses in Russia for all levels with enjoyrussian.com — based in Petrozavodsk and staffed by teachers who have great experience in teaching Russian to foreigners — a great way to learn and visit Real Russia!
• You can find weekly courses in the UK, local teachers, short courses, residential courses and much more at Ruslan, http://www.ruslan.co.uk/ — an organisation that specialises in the teaching of Russian to native English speakers and run by the approachable John Langran, former Head of Birmingham's Brasshouse Centre (the largest Adult Education Centre for Languages in Europe), Director of Studies for Pitmans Business Training in Russia, and author of the BBC Russian Phrasebook.

Russian is the most widely spoken Slavonic language. It is not only spoken by the 145 million native Russian speakers of the Russian Federation, but also by many former Soviet Union Republics and many more speak Russian as a second language all over the world. A total estimated number of between 255 million and 285 million worldwide.

As an official language of the United Nations, this international form of communication is rightly recognised.

Russian is part of the East-Slavic group which in turn is part of the Indo-European family of languages. Very closely related to Ukrainian and Belarusian, some areas will mix their native tongue with Russian freely.

A lot has been written about Russian over the years, none more so famous than that of the Russian scientist, writer and poet M.V. Lomonosov referring to the words of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V;

"... Russian is far superior to all the languages of Europe in its comprehensiveness and richness, and had Charles V been acquainted with it he would have discovered in it the majesty of Spanish, the vivacity of French, the strength of German, the sweetness of Italian, and, in addition, energetic conciseness in its imagery, together with the richness of Greek and Latin."

Russian doesn't use the Latin alphabet but instead an alphabet attributed to its creator Saint Cyril who introduced the written language to Russia from Greece in the Tenth Century, this is why if you are familiar with the Greek alphabet you will find some common letters. The Cyrillic Alphabet has 33 characters in Russian and is used for the written form of not just Russian but also Belarusian, Bulgarian, Macedonian, Serbian and Ukrainian.

Russian text is actually much simpler to read than English. It doesn't take long to get used to the new alphabet (including the written one — Russian has a different printed and a handwritten alphabet). In general a word is pronounced as it is written, unlike English, take for example the sound made by 'ou' in the following words - through — though — tough!

Below is a table detailing how each letter is written and the related sound it makes when read: N.B. 'ё' is often written just as 'е', which may be somewhat confusing at first when reading Russian texts not written specifically for foreigners.
 

Now see if you can decipher the following words:

• ТАКСИ
• МЕТРО
• ПЕПСИ-КОЛА
• ТУАЛЕТ
• ЛЕНИН

In Russian, as in all languages, there is a syllable within the word that is stressed more than other, for example photograph where the stress is on the first syllable and photography where the stress is on the second. It should be noted that which syllable to stress follows no observable pattern and just has to be learnt, just like in English!

An important point to note is that unstressed 'o's tend to be pronounced more as 'a's rather than 'o's so a word like молоко (milk) is actually pronounced малако because the stress is at the end and пиво (beer) is actually pronounced пива because the stress is on the first part of the word.

One of the first things you will want to do is introduce yourself. In Russian, just like in French, there is a formal form of the word 'you' (вы — vi) and an informal one (ты — ti).

The formal version is also used when referring to a group or talking to more than one person; when addressing small children and people of the same age it is common to use the informal version.

When addressing superiors and elders or anyone that you wish to show respect to, then the formal version must be used, it is not a good idea to call a Militaman "ты" unless you are looking for trouble! Below are some phrases that you will find useful.

OK, you have met someone and would like to get the ball rolling, you can choose from:

So, you have said hello, now you can introduce yourself…

You will often hear your Russian friends ask you "Как дела?" which means "How are things going?" or quite literally "How (Как) Things (дела)?". You can respond in a variety of ways, for example:

And finally, closing the conversation…

Russians as the English, have first names and surnames but instead of an optional middle name they have what is called a patronymic (a formal name derived from their father's first name). You will also see this mentioned on the migration card you receive when you cross the border into Russia.

In formal situations Russians address each other using the person's full first name and his/her patronymic. A patronymic is formed by adding -ovich/-evich to the end of the person's father's name if they are male and -ovna/-evna if they are female.

So, Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin, is Joseph Stalin, son of Vissarion would be addressed by people in a formal situation as Joseph Vissarionovich.

Close friends and family tend to call each other using diminutive versions of each others' first names usually by shortening and "softening" the sounds by adding suffixes such as "ka" and "sha" — here is a table with a list of common Russian names (in Russian) and their diminutive versions. You should note that there are literally many dozens of variations on names that can be used depending upon the situation.

On trams, buses and trolley buses a conductor will come to you to sell you a ticket and will usually either say nothing and just stare at you or will give you a choice of a student or a standard ticket. Either way it's best to state clearly 'один' — (pronounced "adin" which means one), followed by the type — 'студенческий' (student) / 'обычный'.

Some useful questions to use on a bus or tram.

Some things you might hear on a bus or tram.

Some useful taxi phrases.

What a taxi driver might say to you.

Some useful words to make your way around by yourself…

Russian food is surprisingly varied for the un-initiated, with the current Federation and previous Soviet Union composed of many dozens of nationalities and ethnic groups including Russian, Caucus, Tartar, Cossack, Kazak and many more. If you get away from the hotels and tourist strips you will find a delight of cuisine awaits at very reasonable prices! When you are in a restaurant, bar or cafe a waiter may say:

 Some things you might wish to say in a restaurant:

 Some common food items you will see in Russia: