Any Russian speakers here?

[Petra Fan Canada]

My sister is participating in a program this summer where children from Chernyobol get to spend the summer in Canada. Apparently the area is in bad shape, many cancer victims, etc..

Believe it or not, the kids don't speak a lick of English. I'm looking for someone who can provide some key phrases that they can use to communicate, just to get by.

Anyone? My email is [email protected]

[crossways]

We adopted our son from russia and let me tell you that learning the alphabet is difficult enough, let alone the language.

However, here are a some websites that will help.

http://www.freetranslation.com
I have used this a lot with my spanish speaking students, but not so much with russian. It is good, but you have to be careful on the wording of phrases or you will get a a silly translation.


http://www.learningrussian.com
This is a great site with some free stuff. It will be especially useful in learning to pronounce the alphabet and some words.


Good luck

[seichu kaisho]

I know that the way you write "Moscow" in Russian looks kinda like "Mockba" (though it's pronounced "Mohsk - vah")

To write the name "Yegor" in Russian, it looks like "Erop"

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By the way, I don't speak Russian. I only know a few words.

[crossways]

The russian alphabet is cyrillic (sp?)
c=s
p=r
backward R = Ya
backward N = long e
capital B = a 'v' sound, but kind of hard
the 'b' sound looks kind of like a '6'
there is a symbol that looks like a W, but it is pronounced 'sh'
there is a funky kind of capital A letter that is 'D'
the 'p' sound looks like the symbol for "pi"

When we were in russia we had to drive around moscow a lot. We spent a great deal of time in the car. To pass time I would get my russian/english dictionary out and use the alphabet reference to try and sound out words on signs and buildings.
So when we came up to a stop sign I tried to sound out there word for stop.

I spent about 30 seconds sounding out...................
stop ---- it is the same word spelled with there alphabet.
I felt like such a goob.

[seichu kaisho]

I have a friend from church learning Russian, and her mother's name is Cheri - and we make fun of how her name looks almost like "Wepu" in Cyrillic letters.

[Petra Fan Canada]

Thank you for your help.

Those sites will give her a starting point.