Common pronunciation mistakes when you speak Russian I talked to foreigners recently and found out two very common mistakes in pronunciation. The first is about vowel "Ы" which does not exist in english and most of latin languages so most of the people pronounce it like "i" in "pit" and "meat". And the second is combination of any consonat with lotated vowels (i'm not sure about this word, but google give me this word). Here is a small explanation if you know nothing about russian vovewls. This vowels are made from simple vowels like: А (bun, fun),У (pool, stool), Э (dead, test), О (ball, cold). Then we put "Й" sound like english "Y" at the end of the word (buy, may) before vowel and have new vowels: Й+А = Я (ya in yard), Й+У=Ю (you or u), Й + Э = Е (ye in year), Й+О=Ё (your). So, when we have a syllables like МЯ, ЛЮ, БЕ, РЯ etc. The spelling in english commonly be like "mya", "lyu", "bye", "rya". But it gave you wrong reading. It should be a softening of consonant by Y, then you make a vowel sound. The both mistakes making in habbits of holding you tongue at the top of mouth and touching upper palate. So, to improve your spelling you need to put your tongue to the bottom of your mouth and then make Ы sound. Same rule for Y-vovels in Russian. Just let your tongue lie down and you will get different sound. I hope that would be usefull.