Why is English and Russian so similar?
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Why is English and Russian so similar?
English and Russian are similar in that they both have words with several meanings and several words whose meanings are the same. The Russian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet and the English language uses Latin. Russian pronunciation generally follows pretty clear rules, while English, of course, does not.
English and Russian are parts of the huge Indo-European language family. English is from the Germanic branch while Russian is from the Slavonic branch. Therefore, Russian is more related to Serbo-Croatian, Czech and Polish languages, which belong to the Slav languages.
What languages is Russian related to?
From the point of view of spoken language, its closest relatives are Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Rusyn, the other three languages in the East Slavic branch.
How is Russian grammar different from English?
The Russian language uses the Cyrillic alphabet and the English language uses Latin. Russian pronunciation generally follows pretty clear rules, while English, of course, does not. Russian actually has fewer tenses than English. Word order doesn’t matter as much grammatically in Russian as it does in English.
What do Russians struggle with in English?
Many Russian speakers have difficulty pronouncing the English consonant sounds /w/, /v/, /r/ & ‘th’. Russian has a quarter of the vowels that English does so many English vowels are challenging. Word stress is often flatter and more even than an English native speaker.
What are the months in Russian?
Months in Russian have a lot in common with other European languages: Январь/Yanvar’ — January, Февраль/Fevral’ — February, while Ukrainian saved the Slavic names: Січень/Sichen’ (meaning “the one that cuts”) — January, Лютий/Lyutyi (meaning “the harsh one”) — February.
Do you know more Russian words than you think?
Russian has many loan words from English, and the two share many common loan words from other languages. Long story short you might know more Russian words than you think. Here is a list of some of the most common cognates and similar words in Russian and English.
Why is February called the month of frost in Russia?
It was also known as лютовей (lit: a month of fierce wind) and трескун, from the word треск (crackle). If you enjoy reading classical Russian literature or playing World of Warcraft in Russian, you are familiar with a phrase трескучий мороз (ringing frost). Февраль (February) was called сечень since that was the time for cutting down trees.
How did the months of the month get their names?
The names of the months all come from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire: enero — from the Roman god Janus, the guardian or doors and gates. febrero — from a word meaning “purify.”