# How Do You Pronounce...



## langtoftlad (Mar 31, 2007)

... MOLNIJA ???


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## Julian Latham (Jul 25, 2005)

At a guess ........... mol - nee - a.

Julian L


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## davidj (Dec 4, 2005)

langtoftlad said:


> ... MOLNIJA ???


First you need a crash course in Russian!







OK, so here goes... First, Russian words have a heavy stress, which involves the 'reduction' or semi-swallowing, if you like, of unstressed syllables. Second, consonants are either hard or soft. If they're soft, they're a bit like the 'n' in 'new'; if they're hard, they're a bit like the 'n' in 'gnu'. Bear in mind that I'm giving nearest English equivalents. It isn't 'n' + 'y', in Russian. The 'n' sort of 'assimilates' the 'y'. It's the consonant itself that bears the 'softness'. Technically this is called 'palatalisation'. End of lesson.

So what you get is:

MOL-nyee-yuh

...remembering that the second and third syllables are 'semi-swallowed', and the 'n' is soft.

'molniia' means 'lightning'...

David


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