Russian language class

[Alexander Kuzmin]

I did not check the pronunciation that Maria listed. Here are some corrections:

президент, prye-zi-dyent
менеджер, mye-ne-dzhyer
нженер, in-zhe-ner
журналист, zhur-na-list

I think that Russian people are very helpful and they will never say "Я не знаю" if they know the answer.
I do not know how it was in the Romanov Empire, but I think people were even better in Romanov Empire.

[Maria]

We have a new Armenian TV station here that broadcasts some Russian movies without any English captions. They are rebroadcasting, so it may be an illegal station. I can pick out some words in the movie. The actors have used the name Natalia, and the words telegrama, mama, and papa. Looks like there is a Frenchman in the movie as he is saying "merci." The people are hauling bags, which could be hardy wheat, rye, or barley as there are farmlands adjacent to the lake. They are definitely not bags of potatoes, carrots, cabbages, or beets because they are smooth not bumpy. One can hear the roosters crowing and the hens cackling. While they are traveling from the helicopter landing site to their village, American-style and Mexican-style Mariachi music in Russian was played. Oh, yes, there is a Frenchman who greets the ladies very properly. I can recognize more French than Russian.

[Alexander Kuzmin]

Movies is a good idea. But I want to teach you to read Russian at first.

So, plural forms. Plural forms are formed in Russian by adding -ы at the end, or sometimes by adding -и or -a.

If you see a word that ends with -ы, this is almost 100% a plural form.
Now you can read these professions in plural (look, most of them have -ы at the end, and some have -и or -а):

пианисты, спортсмены, директора, пилоты, президенты, студенты, секретари, банкиры, менеджеры, офицеры, профессора, министры, бандиты, ковбои, актёры, доктора, инженеры, журналисты, боксёры, программисты, таксисты.

I do not know how to explain how to pronounce ы. I hope somebody can explain it.

[Maria]

Does the phoneme sound like the "i" in bit, hit, and did?

Ы, ы - - - Y, y - - - (yehree) hit, bit, did - (lax close high front unrounded vowel; looks like a capital i on the IPA chart)

[Alexander Kuzmin]

Does the phoneme sound like the "i" in bit, hit, and did?

Probably, but I am not sure! At least it is something close.

[Alexander Kuzmin]

And here is a very good online translator:

http://www.online-translator.com/Defaul ... rmtlang=en

Do not forget to choose the area (for example, Communications: social networks) to get a better translation.

[Maria]

WIthout using the IPA symbol, I think "eh" would be the closest sound to the "i" in bit.
I an guessing on the accents, which I have bolded. In general, It seems like the second to the last syllable in a word is accented. Please correct me if I have made any errors.

Word - - - - pronunciation (translation into English)

пианисты, pi-a-nis-teh (pianists)

спортсмены, sports-me-neh (sportsmen

директора, di-rek-to-ra (directors)

пилоты, pi-lo-teh (pilots)

президенты, prye-zi-dyen-teh (presidents)

студенты, stu-den-teh (students)

секретари, syec-rye-ta-ri (secretaries)

банкиры, ban-ki-reh (bankers)

менеджеры, mye-ne-dzhye-reh (managers)

офицеры, ofi-tsye-reh (officers)

профессора, pro-fyes-so-ra (professors)

• How does Russian distinguish between professors who are male or female?

министры, mi-ni-st-reh (ministers)

бандиты, ban-di-teh (bandits)

ковбои, cov-boi (cowboys)

актёры, ac-tyo-reh (actors)

доктора, doc-to-ra (doctors)

инженеры, in-zhe-ne-reh (engineers)

журналисты, zhur-na-lis-teh (journalists)

боксёры, boc-syo-reh (boxers)

программисты, pro-gram-mis-teh (computer programmers)

таксисты (tac-sis-teh) Taxi cab drivers