The Russian Alphabet

Saints Cyril and Methodius who created the Cyrillic script

• Made by Saints

  Russian is written in the Cyrillic script. It was created in the 9th century by the Saints Cyril and Methodius, two brothers born in Thessaloniki. The alphabet originally contained 43 letters - 24 of them based on the Greek alphabet. Written Russian grew out of the Slavonic writings of the Church. Today the Russian alphabet has 33 letters.

• Strange sounds

  One of the main difficulties for people learning Russian as a foreign language is the pronunciation of some letters that don't exist in other languages. The hard ones are ы (a "grunted" kind of i, as in "pill"), щ (a sharp double sh-sound, think of "puSHCHair") and й (y as in yes).
  The letters ъ and ь might also cause problems as the first one is never pronounced and the second just softens the previous consonants.
  Learners of the Russian language should be grateful to the Bolsheviks for abandoning a few other letters from the Cyrillic alphabet.

• The same, but different

  Something that helps is that some Russian letters are identical to Latin ones:
  A, E, K, M, O and T. No problems here.
  Something that doesn't help is that some Russian letters look like Latin ones, but sound completely different:
  B is V, H is N, P is R, C is S, Y is U and X is H.
  So if you're hungry, look for a PECTOPAH - it's a RESTORAN, restaurant. And if you're thirsty, look for a БAP - a BAR, where you can always find a TYAЛЕT, TUALET, or toilet.
  The name Bиктор is as popular in England as it is in Russia - it's Viktor. As is Bарвара, Varvara - Barbara.

• More consonants!

  Another odd thing in Russian is that there often seem to be more consonants in a word than vowels, eg.
  мгла (mgla, haze)
  взвод (vzvod, platoon)
  Иркутск (Irkutsk, Siberian city)

  You might be unable and unwilling to pronounce the name of the small Russian town Дмитриев-Льгoвский, Dmitriyev-Lgovsky , but if you're still going to invest in Russia you must teach yourself the family name of Стржалковский, Strzhalkovsky, CEO of Norilsk Nickel, the world's largest nickel producer, and Росприроднадзор, Rosprirodnadzor, Russia’s environmental watchdog.
  Being able to roll the "r" helps a lot, but don't worry if you can't - Lenin didn't manage to either.

• Listen to it

  Аа Бб Вв Гг Дд (a, b, v, g, d)

  Ее Ёё Жж Зз Ии (ye, yo, zh, z, ee)

  Йй Кк Лл Мм Нн (yee, k, l, m, n)

  Оо Пп Рр Сс Тт (o, p, r, s, t)

  Уу Фф Хх Цц Чч (u, f, ch, ts, tch)

  Шш Щщ ъ ы ь (sh, shch, hard sign, y, soft sign)

  Ээ Юю Яя (eh, yu, ya)