In many languages there is not always a correspondence between a sound and a letter. The pronunciation of a letter may change depending on the letter's position in a word. Russian has a much closer correspondence between letters and sounds than English. Most Russian letters are pronounced the same in every word. Sounds are divided into vowels and consonants.
Vowels can be accented or unaccented.
Only vowels in Russian can have an accent. How a vowel letter is pronounced in Russian often depends on whether or not it is accented. Click on each letter to hear its Russian name pronounced. One major difference in the Russian pronunciation is that your tongue should be further back in your mouth, and the back and middle part of your tongue should not be touching the top of your mouth. The consonant can never be pronounced as soft in Russian regardless of what letters it is followed by.