May 08, 2019

Learn Russian Pronunciation Podcast Ep. 8

12 minutes

Full Episode Audio

Exercises Only Audio

Download Full Episode (right click save-as)

Download Exercises

Welcome

to episode 8. Today we’re going to work with this letter: Х

…which, on paper, looks like an X. It’s similar to that

sound we make when we don’t like some food. эххх

(yuch)

When

importing words from other languages, Russian sometimes use Х

in place of a “ch” sound.

So,

“choir” becomes: хор

And

“character” – like, he’s got a nice character –

becomes: характер

But

more often, they use it in place of the English ‘h’. For example,

Halloween becomes:

Хэллоуин

Hooligan

becomes хулиган

hit, in the sense of a hit song, is: хит

(Remember, Russians don’t have an “ih”, so that

vowel becomes an “ee.”)

The

Hulk becomes: Халк…and so on.

One

of the most common Russian words with this sound is: хорошо

you’ve been at Russian for a while, you’ve likely encountered that

word, but here it is in context, just in

case. Imagine that you were just riding an amazing roller coaster.

“How was it?” your Russian friend asks. And you say…

“Очень

хорошо!”

Hey,

how was the new Terminator movie?

“Очень

хорошо!”

in that context, хорошо translates as

good.

But

it’s also used to agree with some proposal. For ex: “Hey Mark,

wanna shoot some hoops?”

“Хорошо.

Let me just put sneakers on.”

“Alright.

Be outside in five minutes and I’ll pick you up.”

“Хорошо.”

here it translates as, “Ok, sure”.

never found it too hard to pronounce that letter when it was the

start of a word. But for some reason it’s a little tougher when it’s

in the middle. For example, the word Manhattan in Russian is

pronounced: Манхэттен

this word: сахар. …which is Russian

for ‘sugar’… (a word they took from German.)

Try

to say: I like sugar. Lit: To me is pleasing sugar.

Мне

нравится сахар.

Another

word where X is in the middle is: нахал. It’s

kind of a bad word. Like, “Man, I

hate that guy! He’s such a нахал!”

Usually translates as

jerk.

Oddly,

Russians decided to use the Х sound when

pronouncing the state of Texas. Odd, because they could sound it out

much more accurately with other letters: (Т-Э-К-С-А-С.)

But instead, they used х for the

English X. Listen: Техас.

It’s

almost as if someone just looked at the word and decided,

“Okay, this is how we’re gonna spell it.” As opposed to

listening.

try to say: Olga was in Texas.

Ольга

была в Техасе.

this: Houston is located in Texas.

Хьюстон

находится в Техасе.

The

official word I’d like to teach you today is actually a two word

phrase: Я хочу

Again,

you’ve probably encountered that phrase elsewhere, but having taught

thousands of people Russian over the years, I can say it seems pretty

hard for some students to pronounce. They either don’t say it

strongly enough….basically turning it into an (English) H…Ya

hochu.

they hit it way too hard: Я хочу (aggressive

Remember

earlier, how my friend invited me to play hoops? Imagine afterwards,

I mention I’m thirsty. He opens his fridge: “I’ve got Sprite and

Pepsi.”

I say…”Я хочу Спрайт.”

“Хорошо.”

(soda can pops

open) “На,”…he

says, handing me the can.

So,

я хочу translates as I

want. Try to say: I want sugar.

хочу сахар.

want ketchup.

хочу кетчуп.

Mind

you, it’s pretty rude—in any language—to phrase things this way.

But we’re just practicing our new construction.

ask a friend if they want something, we need a different form of the

verb—what’s known as a conjugation. Listen:

Хочешь?

You

want?

Mark,

want soup?

Марк,

хочешь суп?

Хорошо.

You

try it. Say: Irina, want a hamburger?

Ирина,

хочешь гамбургер?

Pavel,

want a hotdog?

Павел,

хочешь хот-дог?

Say:

I want a salad.

хочу салат.

want borscht….(which is a soup made from beets and potatoes.)

хочу борщ.

Let’s

end with some review. You’ve just arrived to St. Petersburg and your

friend asks what you’d like to see. With one word, say: the main

tourist sites.

достопримечательности

How

do you greet someone in the morning?

доброе

утро

And

how might you part ways with a friend?

до

встречи…Which literally means? Until the meeting

Let’s

say you’re talking about holidays. Try to say: I like Halloween.

Мне

нравится Хэллоуин.

a bar, your friend is offering to buy you a beer. Tell him: I want a

Heineken.

хочу Хайнекен.

Turns

out, the bar is out of beer, so how does your friend ask: Want a

Pepsi?

Хочешь

Пепси?

Okay.

Хорошо.

If you got most of those, you’re doing great. Hopefully you’re feeling more confident about your Russian pronunciation. And if so, I encourage you to check out my video-based course, called Russian Accelerator. And in the meantime, I’ll see you in the next episode.

...more

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By Learn Russian Pronunciation

77 ratings

May 08, 2019

Learn Russian Pronunciation Podcast Ep. 8

12 minutes

Full Episode Audio

Exercises Only Audio

Download Full Episode (right click save-as)

Download Exercises

Welcome

to episode 8. Today we’re going to work with this letter: Х

…which, on paper, looks like an X. It’s similar to that

sound we make when we don’t like some food. эххх

(yuch)

When

importing words from other languages, Russian sometimes use Х

in place of a “ch” sound.

So,

“choir” becomes: хор

And

“character” – like, he’s got a nice character –

becomes: характер

But

more often, they use it in place of the English ‘h’. For example,

Halloween becomes:

Хэллоуин

Hooligan

becomes хулиган

hit, in the sense of a hit song, is: хит

(Remember, Russians don’t have an “ih”, so that

vowel becomes an “ee.”)

The

Hulk becomes: Халк…and so on.

One

of the most common Russian words with this sound is: хорошо

you’ve been at Russian for a while, you’ve likely encountered that

word, but here it is in context, just in

case. Imagine that you were just riding an amazing roller coaster.

“How was it?” your Russian friend asks. And you say…

“Очень

хорошо!”

Hey,

how was the new Terminator movie?

“Очень

хорошо!”

in that context, хорошо translates as

good.

But

it’s also used to agree with some proposal. For ex: “Hey Mark,

wanna shoot some hoops?”

“Хорошо.

Let me just put sneakers on.”

“Alright.

Be outside in five minutes and I’ll pick you up.”

“Хорошо.”

here it translates as, “Ok, sure”.

never found it too hard to pronounce that letter when it was the

start of a word. But for some reason it’s a little tougher when it’s

in the middle. For example, the word Manhattan in Russian is

pronounced: Манхэттен

this word: сахар. …which is Russian

for ‘sugar’… (a word they took from German.)

Try

to say: I like sugar. Lit: To me is pleasing sugar.

Мне

нравится сахар.

Another

word where X is in the middle is: нахал. It’s

kind of a bad word. Like, “Man, I

hate that guy! He’s such a нахал!”

Usually translates as

jerk.

Oddly,

Russians decided to use the Х sound when

pronouncing the state of Texas. Odd, because they could sound it out

much more accurately with other letters: (Т-Э-К-С-А-С.)

But instead, they used х for the

English X. Listen: Техас.

It’s

almost as if someone just looked at the word and decided,

“Okay, this is how we’re gonna spell it.” As opposed to

listening.

try to say: Olga was in Texas.

Ольга

была в Техасе.

this: Houston is located in Texas.

Хьюстон

находится в Техасе.

The

official word I’d like to teach you today is actually a two word

phrase: Я хочу

Again,

you’ve probably encountered that phrase elsewhere, but having taught

thousands of people Russian over the years, I can say it seems pretty

hard for some students to pronounce. They either don’t say it

strongly enough….basically turning it into an (English) H…Ya

hochu.

they hit it way too hard: Я хочу (aggressive

Remember

earlier, how my friend invited me to play hoops? Imagine afterwards,

I mention I’m thirsty. He opens his fridge: “I’ve got Sprite and

Pepsi.”

I say…”Я хочу Спрайт.”

“Хорошо.”

(soda can pops

open) “На,”…he

says, handing me the can.

So,

я хочу translates as I

want. Try to say: I want sugar.

хочу сахар.

want ketchup.

хочу кетчуп.

Mind

you, it’s pretty rude—in any language—to phrase things this way.

But we’re just practicing our new construction.

ask a friend if they want something, we need a different form of the

verb—what’s known as a conjugation. Listen:

Хочешь?

You

want?

Mark,

want soup?

Марк,

хочешь суп?

Хорошо.

You

try it. Say: Irina, want a hamburger?

Ирина,

хочешь гамбургер?

Pavel,

want a hotdog?

Павел,

хочешь хот-дог?

Say:

I want a salad.

хочу салат.

want borscht….(which is a soup made from beets and potatoes.)

хочу борщ.

Let’s

end with some review. You’ve just arrived to St. Petersburg and your

friend asks what you’d like to see. With one word, say: the main

tourist sites.

достопримечательности

How

do you greet someone in the morning?

доброе

утро

And

how might you part ways with a friend?

до

встречи…Which literally means? Until the meeting

Let’s

say you’re talking about holidays. Try to say: I like Halloween.

Мне

нравится Хэллоуин.

a bar, your friend is offering to buy you a beer. Tell him: I want a

Heineken.

хочу Хайнекен.

Turns

out, the bar is out of beer, so how does your friend ask: Want a

Pepsi?

Хочешь

Пепси?

Okay.

Хорошо.

...more

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