#consonants

New Article: What Makes Russian Sound Like Russian?

Remember that poll where most of you said hard/soft consonants were killing your Russian pronunciation? You were RIGHT. This is where the real battle happens.

Just posted Part 2 of my pronunciation series, and it's all about consonants, the backbone of Russian phonetics.

What you'll learn:

Why Russian sounds "aggressive" (it's about prevoicing, not attitude)

Why your Russian friends can't pronounce final consonants in English

The truth about Ш vs Щ (spoiler: it's just hard vs soft)

What ACTUALLY happens with your tongue when you palatalize (because "raise your tongue toward your palate" helps exactly nobody)

Includes minimal pairs audio + the actual science behind tongue root movement that Russian textbooks conveniently ignore.

Master your consonants, and 80% of Russian pronunciation is done. The other 20%? That's vowels, and they're coming in the next article.

Here is a quick list of vowels and consonants and their names. A Korean spelling B might not be on your bingo card, but this is quite useful to know if you ever have to spell a word aloud in Korean or ask for spelling.

Vowels (모음)

Family relationships between Dutch r variants. Place of articulation on the x-axis, manner of articulation on the y-axis.

in which i asked dalle3 to generate a "set of Christmas-themed images, clearly labeled in capital letters as an aid to someone learning English."