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Learning the Cyrillic Alphabet
Many students of Russian find themselves immediately challenged by the Cyrillic alphabet. It's an important obstacle to overcome, so here are some tips to help make Cyrillic a little less intimidating. First, keep in mind that there are a few letters in the alphabet that you already know from English: А а (a), Е е (ye), О о (o), К к (k), М м (m), and Т т (t). Once you have these down, you're already six letters in. Then there are a few more that are somewhat similar to their English counterparts: Д д (d, think of an uppercase D), Б б (b, just keep in mind what a lowercase B looks like in English), and Э э (e, like a backwards E). For the rest, try to use special code words to help you remember them. For example, you can remember П п (p) because it is like the Greek symbol for pi. To remember Ц ц (ts), think of the word cats, and look for the little tail at the end of the letter. Л л (l) could resemble a luge run, and Г г (g) looks like the top of a gallows. If you give yourself a code word for each letter that has the sound of the letter in it, you'll most likely be able to retain the letters a lot better. The most confusing ones, of course, are the Cyrillic letters that look like English letters, but don't sound like them: В в (v), С с (s), Р р (r), Н н (n), Х х (h), and У у (u). Even long-time learners of Russian occasionally get caught up on these, so don't feel discouraged if you do as well. Look for basic words that are familiar to you already or words that you may use a lot in Russian that contain these letters, and practice them over and over. нет (nyet - no) Place names and cognates might also be helpful in this regard. Владивосток (Vladivostok) Practice writing out every vocabulary word you hear or learn in Cyrillic, and don't get discouraged if you get anything wrong. The old adage rings true for language learning: If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Tags: alphabet, Cyrillic, newsletter, Russian, tips
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