Expert: Natasha Kozyreva - 4/11/2009

Question
Hi Natasha,
I was wondering if you could give me the English phonetics for the following phrases;1.Please/Пожалуйста=? 2.Thanks/Спасибо=?        3.Where is the/Где.=?
4.How much for?/Наскольконасколько для?
5.What is the word for/Чего слово для=?
6.Where can I buy/get/Где могу я купите=?
7.I would like a/Я хотел был бы a=?
8.I have lost my/Я терял мое
Thanks Natasha if you could supply the phonetic sounds to these phrases that would be great.

Regards

Chad


Answer
Hi Chad,

I've found some sites that can partly answer your question so I'll refer you to them:
http://listen2russian.com/lesson03/b/index.html
(Please and thank you with audio)
http://masterrussian.com/blshop.shtml
(Where can I buy?/Где я могу купить...?)

I capitalised the sounds that are stressed.

Where is/Где? - gde (notice that the 'd' is soft).

How much for? - Сколько это стоит? SkOlka Eta stOit?

What is the word for? If you're going to use it in a situation when you point at something and ask for the Russian word for it, then you should say: "Как это называется?" - Kak eta nazyvAyetsya?

I would like a ... - Я бы хотел... Ya by hatEl. (the 't' is soft)

I have lost my/Я потерял мой/мою/мое... Ya poteryAl moy/moyu/moyo...
Use moy for a masculine noun, moyu for a feminine one and moyo for a neuter one.

It can be quite confusing, but you can use this text-to-speech online programme to help you with pronunciation:
http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/speech.asp
Just note that you need to type a question mark if it's a question for correct intonation. I've checked it and it sounds very close to how natural speech sounds so I encourage you to use it.

Regards,
Natasha