More on Soft and Hard Signs (UPDATED)

[@Woah595]

It's very easy to underestimate the importance of this, I'm British and I've been learning Russian for several years in Kiev Ukraine (yes I'm here right now) 🙄 And the teachers at my university always call me out on my mispronunciation of ль. To non native speakers the difference is very subtle but to them it's very obvious like when Russian speakers say W instead of v to them it is subtle but to us glaringly obvious. I can pronounce it correctly but it feels awkward and takes a lot of effort. A funny thing about the ь is that sometimes Russian speakers will say пьятница instead of пятница as a joke (a portmanteau of пьяный (drunk)and пятница(Friday)) because everyone goes off to the bar after work on Friday. But unless you have a keen ear many non native speakers wouldn't even notice the joke because the difference in the sounds is so subtle.

[@russiangrammar]

That's a great example - reminds me also of пьяница (a drunk). Thanks for your comment and stay safe!

[@MrSkypelessons]

I have had loads of experience with Russian, and I have been learning it for ages, but this topic is, without doubt, my major weakness. I find it so hard to hear and to speak the hard and soft sounds. Your videos are the best that I have found on this topic, so thanks. You give me incredibly detailed information about how to make these sounds. I loved the waveform in this lesson (I had NEVER noticed this tiny difference that you point out!) I have noticed that when I say my wife's name into my phone, it immediately writes it incorrectly (Асъя или Асия), because I pronounce a hard 's' rather than a soft one. This video highlights where I am going wrong, so thanks.

[@coolhandab5296]

This was outstanding Professor. Thank you.

[@brk5590]

Best explication ever. Thank you

[@hemikiwi817]

Thank you. I wish i had you as my teacher . :)

[@sophietjeke]

Thank you!!

[@CrazyDreamer1001]

All these videos are amazing, but I actually find the sound quality of your voice better in the older videos. In this and the other new ones it sounds compressed and less clear. (Some of the old videos have background hiss but I don't mind that, it sounds soothing and nostalgic...)

[@hemikiwi817]

sounds much the same to me!

[@russiangrammar]

Interesting! I'd started using a setting in izotope (that does include compression) for streaming audio, for peak of -1 and LKFS at -14, after seeing recommendations for LKFS -13 to -15 for KZbin. I'll do some experimenting with private videos and see if a different setting (public radio: -2 Peak, -24 LKFS) might sound better. But if you know of better guidelines or source of information, feel free to suggest! :)

[@CrazyDreamer1001]

@@russiangrammar That other setting sounds better, but to be fair it depends on listening conditions. I mostly watch KZbin in a quiet room with real speakers and then the less processing the better (even if I have to turn up the volume and then down again for other videos).

[@jacobmilgromiii7729]

Ty!!

[@haidyh6587]

Thank you for your great effort but I am so confused of the letter Е because it have 3 sounds one is after the hard sign sound the letter as it is also when it come in the first letter of the word as еда but after consonants it sounds as э as проблема .. also have sound of и when it come as метро My confusion is in word метро you don’t say it э while м is a consonant letter then why it’s pronunciation и ?

[@russiangrammar]

The е in метро́ sounds like и because it's not in a stressed syllable. Some Russian vowels are pronounced differently when they're not stressed; you can see how this affects е and я in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/o3rEeqaMnt6lZsU ... and how it affects о and а in this video: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bn7MaIquhc1qpLM The rules may seem complicated at first, so it's a good idea to listen as much as possible (the free course at mezhdunami.org has good material), and let your ears be your guide (more than your eyes!). :)

[@haidyh6587]

@@russiangrammar thank you so much I really appreciate your effort