Am I the only one finding the male voice very annoying in terms of prouncing russian words in a rather “weird” way? Exempel: для where he pronounces the я rather as an “I” and this is just one of many exemples. Why can one not chose in the app between the way better female and the male voice???
The letter “я” consists of two sounds: consonant [й] and vowel [а] (pronounced like the russian letter “a”). Therefore, “я” is [йа] (compare with “I” - [ай]). But in this way, it’s pronounced only under stress:
-in the beginning of a word (яблоко)
-after vowels (паять)
-after “ь” or “ъ” (пьяный)
-when “я” meaning “I”
*Without stressing it will be rather [йэ] (ярлык, разъярённый).
If “я” takes a place after consonants (like “для”): it’s pronounced as [а] and make the consonant before soft (usually shows as [’]). So, “для” is pronounced as [д’л’а] (and, yes, [д] gets soft too). Check it out: мять [м’ат’], вянуть [в’анут’] (on Forvo, for example).
So, what’s wrong with that male pronunciation? Or you just don’t like the voice?
Hi Vicky,
thank you for your explanation and response. It’s not that I only just dont like the voice. I feel like the pronounciation is rather blurry whereas the female voice sounds crystal clear. That’s why I came up with the question why Memrise doesnt allow the option to chose between them whereas on the desktop version you can.
Again thank you very much for providing such great information on the pronounciation of the “я”!