Notabilia - Letters - Alphabets

Many thanks to Светлана Апостолу (Svetlana Apostolou) for her contribution in the "Sounds Like..." column.

Russian Letter	Sounds Like...
А а	The "a" in "father".
Б б	The "b" in "brother".
В в	The "v" in "voyager".
Г г	The "gg" in "aggregate"
Д д	The "d" in "door".
Е е	The "ye" in "yell".
Ё ё	The "yo" in "yodel" (the phthong is always stressed).
Ж ж	The "ge" in "garage" (heavy, that is thick).
З з	The "z" in "zoo".
И и	The "i" in "disco".
Й й	The "eyw" in "keyword" (short).
К к	The "k" in "keep".
Л л	The "l" in "luxury".
М м	The "m" in "mother".
Н н	The "n" in "another".
О о	The "o" in "morning".
П п	The "p" in "paper".
Р р	The "r" in "root".
С с	The "s" in "strategy".
Т т	The "t" in "table".
У у	The "u" in "full".
Ф ф	The "f" in "food".
Х х	The "h" in "here".
Ц ц	The "ts" in "tsetse-fly" (light, that is thin).
Ч ч	The "ch" in "chair" (heavy, that is thick).
Ш ш	The "sh" in "shop" (heavy, that is thick).
Щ щ	The "sie" in "sienna" (heavy, that is thick).
Ъ ъ	<separation mark>
Ы ы	The "i" in "disco" (rough, that is hard).
Ь ь	<soft mark>
Э э	The "e" in "effort".
Ю ю	The "u" in "union".
Я я	The "ya" in "yard".

Source: Нина Ф. Потапова, Учебник Русского Языка, Москва 1959, Издательство Литературы На Иностранных Языках (Nina F. Potapova, Russian Language Method, Moscow 1959, Literary Publication In Foreign Languages).