Letters Ш and Щ in Russian | Russian Language

Hey, guys! I had so much fun making this huge video! It's 5 parts of it:

I decided to give you full information on Russian alphabet, because I saw my students struggling with pronunciation, and the y needed extra explanation. I decided to do my best to teach you guys!

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[guilhermeduarte]

DUDE, I LOVE YOU
No, really, I've been struggling with this for ages, and you broke it down in a very understandable manner. Thank you very much!

[FoggyFogzmeister]

This was awesome. My parents are Serbian, I am born and raised in Sweden, and while I spoke the language, I never learned the Cyrillic alphabet. Until now! So this video helped me visualize a language in script form. Simple, short, straight to the point. Love it. Thanks!

[saltydog]

I can hear the difference but I still can't say щ. 'Sh' in shrimp and shoe is the same for me.

[WaldirPimenta]

The "shrimp" vs "shoes" example was perfect to understand the difference! So Ш is kind of pronounced with the tongue rolled back a little, and Щ is pronounced with the tongue in a more flat position. In fact, I think "sheep" might be an even better example of Щ in English, since the word primes the tongue to be in that position more so than "shoes". Interestingly, I didn't perceive the distinctio a a hard vs. soft thing (in fact I would be inclined to say the opposite), so that might be due to cultural perceptions rather than physical hardness of how the sound is produced. Thank you for the excellent video!

[superdragon]

It's kind of funny for me because in my language(Bulgarian) we have the same letters but "ш" is soft and "щ" is hard. 😆

[kockarthur]

My thoughts, please give me your feedback: In English, the "sh" in "shoes" and "shrimp" is pronounced exactly the same. The only difference is that in "shrimp", the next letter is "r".

When pronouncing any word, the distinction between any letter and the next one is never perfectly sharp. In this case, some of the 'r' sound bleeds into the "sh", making it sound "harder". On the other hand, in the word "shoes" the "oo" sound bleeds into the "sh" which precedes it, making it sound "softer".

But in fact, the "sh" sound is the same in both cases. It's only the letter which comes after it that makes it sound hard or soft. That, to me, is a good explanation for why in English we would never need two different "sh" sounds - the letter coming after will naturally make you to pronounce it hard or soft.

So I'm guessing in Russian, you always pronounce ш as "shr" but without actually fully pronouncing the 'r', only going halfway so-to-say. That gives it the deeper, harder sound. On the other hand, you always pronounce щ as "sho", but without actually fully pronouncing the 'o'.

[emmanuelcamilorojasrodrigu]

For the ones having problems:

"Ш" Is like Sh
"Щ" Is like Sch (a quick "s" an then the "ch" sound)

[aliciamoon]

In my ears, it sounds like with "ш" the tongue sounds pushed further back in the mouth to give a much harder "sh" sound, while "щ" feels like the tongue is closer to the teeth giving away softer "sh" sound. I'm not sure if I'm making sense 😅
Thanks for the video 👍

[atonewiththedust]

Damn, I've been studying Russian for several years now, and I never understood this until now. Great video!

[clownworldhereticmyron]

100% most helpful explanation, the examples helped a ton, your channel is excellent!!

[IFeelTheDark]

In less than 2 minutes you got me to understand something I've not been able to figure out as a beginner. Thank you.

[dg-ovcf]

Easy rule of thumb:

Щ = “sh” as pronounced by English speakers
Ш = “sh” as pronounced by Tucker Carlson

[rafaelpreponiot]

Thx, now I've understood the difference between these two letters ! Спасибо from France, Фёдор ! :D

[mirroredelegance]

Thank you so much, that was actually really helpful. I've always read that щ sounded like "sh-ch", which I had such difficulty sounding out

[alex-svru]

Спасибо! thanks I've been having a problem with those two letters, you cleared all my doubts. I will subscribe.

[meatmoneymilkmonogamyequal]

очень добры!!! shrimp is an excelent way to see the difference. If anyone knows chinese, the sound "sh" like 是 is the same as ш.

[herrpicard]

You are an amazing teacher. A lot of language puritans are doing what you warn about : stressing too much about small differences

[raindropsroses]

This was a great video! Just to clarify, щ is higher pitched than ш, correct?

[GregGum]

Say "Sugar" with a strong Russian Accent - like 'Shoe-gar and you have nailed the ш sound.

[johndonoghue]

This is the best video I have seen to explain the difference between these two letters! Thanks!