RL101 - 8: The Missing Vowels - part two

[samehelbnna111]

i start to like Bushkinnnnnnnnn... the reason is You.... sposipo yesho raz

[baiNEKO]

I'd love it if you did more on linguistics, maybe about vowel systems, consonant systems, in various languages -- More on the "why" of it all. For example, you mentioned that some Germanic languages which "resist" having "two sets" of vowels tend to have more diphthongs -- How and why does this occur?

[usenetposts]

@baiNEKO I think when you do the maths you will see that to get a possible 60-100 thousand words into just the possible phonological combinations you need >5 vowels. Or you end up needing to use tones to make up the number, or more syllables and word combinations. Most languages have in their alphabets much fewer vowels than consonants, and you know from basic maths that if you go 10*10 that's more than 18*2, even though (10+10)=(18+2) in other words, we need more vowels than we have.

[baiNEKO]

@usenetposts ~ ;) as much as I enjoyed your answer, that wasn't exactly my (poorly articulated) question -- It was more about how the particular sound changes occur and why (not about the need for more vowels in general). What influences the typology contrast? Russian vowels seem so symmetrical, as you said, "beautiful", compared to the cacophony of the English vowel melange.

[usenetposts]

@baiNEKO In the main it is about elision and ease of enunciation.

[Batyaboo]

Xa Xa Xa! Great song. Did YOU write and memorize those lyrics? Does your brain ever stop? I think I've watched enough lessons for one evening. I didn't even leave 10 minutes in between. I'll probably forget it all! 'Night Huliganov!

[Pedrofrombrazil]

I haven't get one thing in russian alphabet/orthography/phonology­: If you can't have an i-kratkoe without a vowel before it or between two consonants, why there's a capital letter of i-kratkoe? I mean nobody should use it. If i-kratkoe can't begin a word there's no need to use it. Soft vowels can play the role of i-kratkoe/semivowel plus hard vowel. Correct me please if I'm wrong. There are words with i-kratkoe in the beginning? I think European portuguese has similar russian sounds. Nice vids:)

[usenetposts]

@Pedrofrombrazil Remember I said you cannot have i kratkoe without a vowel before it USUALLY. I said usually because it does happen, but not with native Russian words. It transliterates "yo" from some foreign language. In Russian words, that sound is e with two dots. So consider the following Йошкар-Ола (the City Yoshkar-Ola ('red city' in Mari language), йогурт (yoghurt, a word we all borrowed from Turkic), Йоркширский терьер (I'll let you guess that one) and a number of others.

[Pedrofrombrazil]

@usenetposts Oh yeah! Now I get it! Thanks. Йоркширский терьер [Yorkshirskiy Ter'yer'] is Yorkshire Terrier (dog), right?

[usenetposts]

@Pedrofrombrazil Yep! (or should I say, "yap'?).

[JackOnSkates]

Great song!

[StevieG1066]

Your lessons are so fantastic. I've learned more in 2 days of watching than I have in 1 month of learning on my own. Thank you so much. Your teaching method is great. I wish that other teachers would teach their students in the way that you do, they would learn at a much faster rate.

Spasiba!

[OLudOvideos]

Beside the fact the lessons are really getting you pleasurably further,

the endings get better every time!! I get my dose of laughter everyday avec vous!

[bigchickenfu]

the only two things in life that make it worth livin is guitars that tune good and firm feelin women

[OLudOvideos]

@bigchickenfu

music and people alright

else you are missing on something...

[Xinoutorah]

шынйс I think that's close to my name... if I even wrote that correctly :\

[usenetposts]

You can't have an i-kratkoe without a vowel before it, usually. And definitely not between two consonants. I could help more if I knew what your name is, mind! It doesn't say on your channel.

By the way, on that note, many thanks for favoriting and commenting many of my vids! Please keep going with that!

[FalconKrasnoyarsk]

A map with Siberia is rather fun )) on the background ) for example 9:03

[oFrEEzEo]

I thought the word for girl was Девoчка

and it is not?

[usenetposts]

That's a little girl.

[JFlatley5001]

Your lessons are freakin' awesome!!! Thanks SO MUCH for posting! Spasiba!!

[jonmahoney04]

Awesome song. :-)

[MrFromage123]

thats the worst joke ever lol

[cozyends]

Course is better second time around. Good song in this one, shame about the joke.

[usenetposts]

It only really starts to work after you watch it several times. Thanks.

[iurevych]

Вот это ублюдок

[usenetposts]

Thanks for introducing yourself.

[hosegood3]

Latin script in the crypt. LOL

[piratebaywatch]

Why don't you pronounce the 'yñ' in 'pazjalsta'?

[usenetposts]

You would only pronounce that syllable in emphatic speech.

[warriorlink01]

lol what is Pushkin? I also noticed the english lower case h upside down looks like the letter pronounced ch. I now its  slightly off topic so I appologize but thank you for the lessons I now know and can identify Russian cyrillic letters but the tricky part I think is going to be learning all the actual words maybe a picture book will help lol

[camaneh]

Mr Huliganov, thank you so much for these lessons, you've done an awesome job!

[AtticusStount]

Am I the only one who runs around joyfully after watching these videos?

[usenetposts]

Good question!

[Philly666lol]

hahaha, lol for me, I'm just excited to say words in Russian and to have found out how to put my keyboard in Cyrillic :)

[swmkh]

you are not the only one!

[OLudOvideos]

@AtticusStount

xixi! I am like you, you can cancel your appointment to the psychiatrist )))

[vibracatholiquefxn]

Thank you so much for creating these lessons with so much detail and making it fun to learn! I don't know anyone to practice Russian with, so it's just me and my books and tapes, but your lessons help make it much more human and real. I'm so glad I found your videos on youtube. I'm going to Russia in a couple of months, and your videos is what has helped me prepare the most.

Thank you!!!

[usenetposts]

My pleasure. Thanks for the feedback.

[yeason5150]

Я люблю тебя, Хулигонов! Спасибо столько!

[fatfortyyearold]

you're so funny! Thank you for the class!

[johnl51657]

I can not say I have not heard of Pushkin now!

Спасибо

[Yardana28]

Wow! Each first time I watch a lesson I'm thinking "oh my gosh this is scary, he's saying everything so fast, how will I memorize this?" then I watch it a couple more times, and realize that I remember the Russian when people say the phraises in English. You are a great teacher, and you're fun. I have a suggestion though, can you can upload tests on the internet for your students, so we can see what we need to work on and whether to move forward or repeat more of the lessons?

[usenetposts]

That's a great idea. At some stage I will have to expand some of the "collateral" to this course - I might even do a pdf course book people can print out. I also will need to go through and re-record some lessons where there havebeen mistakes. In the main I rely on the discussion to point out any errors to me and the students. The only problem is finding the time to do it.

[daidodi]

Thank you so much, you make Russian so much fun to learn... Spasiba~~ (I'll download Russian font someday..)

[usenetposts]

Pleasure. maybe you already can type Russian - have you tried adding the Russian keyboard in the keyboards function in windows?

[yeason5150]

I found out Word has a font-ТЛ ЧЕЛП ЦЫРИЛЛИЦ-that is easy to type. you just type in the english letter and the russian one pops up, for the most part. letters like h and q are different but its really easy to figure out!

[lordmoggy]

very good hugo i shall be russian in no time hahaha ;p

[PragueVlogg]

Ha! I had some spaces left free on my "undistilled" list of 25 today, so my husband helped me fill in those blanks by telling me bad words that start with e ("yo") letter. Thanks for the hint!

[Antronic]

The joke was absolute class!

[prolegirl]

Thank you!

[usenetposts]

My pleasure!

[cab8bd]

Hi usenetposts! I have to say that this lesson helped me in the nick of time. I learned how to say and write "Ya Youblu tibya Kisa" (in cyrillics of course)in time for valentine's day, and My gal loved the stuffed puppy that I wrote that phrase on it's tag! She is fluent in english, but she really seemed to like the effort.

[usenetposts]

Great!

[akoanani]

Sir thanks for everything. I always waiting for the things that you tell.

[usenetposts]

Pleasure.

[doxent]

What software do you use to edit your videos ?

[usenetposts]

Windows Movie Maker. It's not very good, but I have back taxes to pay off first before I invest in Adobe.

[usenetposts]

Windows Movie Maker.

[IvanFyodorovichK]

also i have to add so that everyone understand me, that reading translations of pushkin will be far from giving all the sense and the beauty that it uses to have.. in other words, pushkin wrote using russian language particularities, rhymes etc., reading the translation of any poet is far from giving all that this poet really has to offer.

[usenetposts]

100%. When I sang "they've never heard of Pushkin" I needed something that they'd never heard of if they didn't know Russian. The original Kirsty MacColl lyric is "they don't know about us, and they've never heard of love" (see the videos of Tracy Ullmann's cover of that linked to in the side box by this video)

so I wanted the same kind of half rhyme. I don't think that many people have never heard of Pushkin, although I once knew someone who got him confused with Kot Leopold.

[IvanFyodorovichK]

Nu, chto, pushkin vse zhe dovol'no izvesten , konechno zh ne tak zhe, kak shakespear naprimer, nu vse-ravno ochen' izvesten nymi, kotorye i poeziyu lyubyat...

[IvanFyodorovichK]

I think that for hard and soft concept it is to understand that : basically it is not the vowel which determine if wheter a vowel is hard or soft but the consonnant right before it!! Like the vowel e(with the 2 dots)(yo) after III(sh) is pronounced in its hard variant: O.. (well it's a pity we cannot write in cyrillic here) Well this is what i think.. skazhi esli ya ne prav :)

[usenetposts]

Well yes, but that is the point I am making with all that slide show. Hardness and softness in vowels is mainly closely interconnected with the sound you need the consonant before it (sometimes after it, in German for instance - see the difference between 'ach' and 'ich') to make. I make that point on the slides and I'll be making it again in the next lesson, where I show what change the soft sign makes on a whole bunch of consonants and what happens after the gutterals and sibilants and why.

[usenetposts]

Still you cannot say that _only_ the preceding consonant determines it, as you have the soft vowels often also at the beginnings of words.

[uptodat]

Excellent as always, thanks! My Cyrillic responses seem to be disappearing so I'll stick with Latin script. Love the song but still waiting on your next Russian duet with Elena. If not, how about some Don Williams for your fans in the CWA - My best friend?

[usenetposts]

I've never really been exposed to Don Williams, as we are underserved with country music on the continent of Europe. I will try and get my wife in for a duet, though.

[Sehnsucht01]

Thank you very much again. Interesting lesson, and funny song! Well done.