Learning Russian with Anna

Russian can be quite confusing and challenging when it goes to reading. Here I collected some explanations which can clarify the concept of reading an O as an A.

1/ There is no actual rule behind it but an O can't be pronounced as an A if it is stressed. Usually, if the word starts with an O or has an O in it chances are these sounds are pronounced more like an A if they are not stressed.

2/ But! The sound itself is somewhere between O and A, it is not a pure A sound. And, since the letter is not stressed the sound is very unclear and muffled.

Examples:

спаси́бо (thank you) is pronounced more like спа_си́_ба [spɐˈsʲibə] because an O is not stressed

огуре́ц - а_гу_рец (cucumber)

почему́ - па_че_му (why)

Москва́ - Маск_ва (Moscow)

столи́ца - ста_лица (capital)

очки́- ач_ки (glasses)

она́ - а_на (she)

But о́сень [ˈosʲɪnʲ] (autumn) pronounced as it's written because an O is stressed

о́чень (very)

сто́л (table)

телефо́н (phone)

О́мск (Omsk - a Russian city)

If there is more than one O in a word then the stressed one is pronounced as O and the pronunciation of others is usually more flexible

коро́ва - ка_ро_ва (cow)

окно́ - а_кно (window)

остано́вка - а_ста_нов_ка (bus stop)

про́сто - прос_та (just)

воро́на - ва_ро_на (raven)

3/ You can use wiktionary to check the pronunciation of each word through transcription and recording. It contains semantic properties of each word, their definitions and much much more!

idk but it seems tumblr won't let me add a clickable link to the fully educational source... so here it is so you can manually add to the search bar or so

https://ru.wiktionary.org/wiki/Викисловарь:Заглавная_страница

4/ It is about dialect. Moscow's pronunciation is different from the northern regions of Russia. The same refers to the southern regions. But because Moscow is a huge city with millions of citizens their pronunciation is well-known and widely used.

Moscow residents tend to use A sound more often and the northern Russians usually pronounce words with an O as they are written. So, technically there is nothing wrong with reading those words as they are.

5/ my conclusion. I suggest not to pay too much attention to it if you are a beginner. There is nothing wrong with your accent tho so just keep going. Listen more to Russian speech through you-tube, music, podcasts, movies etc and try to repeat the sentences out loud after you hear them so you get used to the sounds and you will naturally adapt to pronounce them properly.

This is so surreal to type, but I wrote a novel, and it’s now out in Canada! You can buy a copy directly from my publisher, or from Indigo, or Amazon, or request it from your local bookstore. This is a small book from a small press, so it really depends on word of mouth! If you read it and liked it, it really helps if you tell your friends about it, or rate it on Goodreads, or hype it up on Tumblr, or do any of the normal bookstagram stuff. If you read it and hated it, that’s fair too, just don’t tell me (I’m very fragile).

I started writing this book six years ago, when I was living in Budapest. I never intended it to be a novel; it started because my friend asked if I had anything 10,000 words long I would consider submitting to her chapbook series, and once I started writing I just didn’t stop. I had never really written fiction before and the first draft was a total mess. It went through some massive rewrites. I have to thank my editors Emily Keeler and Martha Sharpe for their endless patience and expertise in putting this book together.

The story is about a twenty-five year old named Lucy who has a severe anxiety disorder and is desperate for someone to tell her the right way how to live her life. This manifests in the form of organized religion, mommy issues, rigid social justice frameworks, kinky dominant lovers, and older friends who seem to have it all figured out. I know it sounds heavy, but the most important thing for me writing this book was that it felt funny and real. There are lots of jokes, and a few slapsticky scenes, and some uncomfortable moments, but the external stakes are pretty low (even as Lucy catastrophizes them in her head) because I wanted to write a book where things get messy and go wrong but the woman doesn’t have to suffer some great trauma in the process. Did I do this successfully? I don’t know! That’s for to judge.

x

Cover from Zaumnaia gniga (Transrational Boog), Olga Rozanova, 1915, MoMA: Drawings and Prints

Gift of The Judith Rothschild Foundation Size: page (each): 8 11/16 x 7 3/8" (22 x 18.8 cm) Medium: Collage from an illustrated book with nine linoleum cuts, ten rubber-stamped texts, and two collages (including cover)

Alright let’s see yours.