поздравляю (“congratulations”) | Russian Pronunciation Demystified!

0:00Hey guys, I'm Kira and today you'll learn how to pronounce the word Bzdraliayo or congratulations. Let's start with the last syllable. U is a diphthong made of two sounds, a U sound and an U sound. To get a real Russian U, it helps to move our jaws slightly forward to stick our lips out way further than we would in English and to keep the tongue low thinking of a cup shape. U, U. Now we'll add on the U sound. U, U. If the U were stressed in this word or emphasized, the U sound would be very strong. U, U, U. But here it's not stressed, so the U sound is weaker. U, U. For the soft L, let's borrow from Welsh. I believe there's this really cool double L sound they have.

1:02It's like an L with a really high tongue position, but they breathe through it with no vocal cord vibration, as if it were an H. This is a great way to get the soft L in our word. S, U, U. Another way to think of it is that it's an L with a slight Y sound built in. L, L, L, L, L. Let's add on the V. V, L, L. Let's do the last two syllables together. V, L, U. Now the second syllable. Say the phrase today very fast. Tera, tera. The D in this phrase is just like a flipped Russian air where the tongue flicks against the roof of the mouth.

2:02It's strange but true that English speakers perceive this sound as a D, but Russian speakers perceive it as an R. So let's use this to our advantage and ramp up the speed. Tera, tera. This is very close to part of the second syllable in our word. Let's put the Z on the front after we get a running start. Tera, tera, tera. Zdara. Tera, tera, tera. Zdara. Tera, tera, tera. Zdara. Tera, tera, tera. Zdara. In our word, the A in this syllable sounds like an A flavored schwa and will start the syllable with good Russian default mouth position. Jaws slightly forward, tip of the tongue behind the bottom teeth lips rounded and protruded. Tera, tera, tera. Zdara.

3:03Tera, tera, tera. Zdara. Finally, the first syllable. The O is not stressed and here it sounds like a schwa. Puh. Puh. Let's put it all together. Juh, tongue, leaps. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. Puh, Zdra, vlieu. That's it, guys. Be sure to find me on YouTube at Learn Russian with Kira and subscribe, so you don't miss an episode. I love to hear from listeners, so please suggest a word for an episode or just say hi. You can also join me on Patreon at Learn Russian with Kira and check out my video course at unlockingrussianpronunciation.org, where I explain why some letters sound different in certain situations and how you can learn to predict and pronounce all of the subtleties.

4:07And if you teach Russian and you like my videos, please consider recommending Learn Russian with Kira on YouTube to your students, so they can see them too.