И [ee] – Russian И is one of the so-called soft vowels (we will talk about them in the next lessons). It is shorter than the sound in the words ‘people’ and ‘feet’. Try to make a short and long И sound. It is important to understand the position of your tongue. This will help you later when we speak about the soft consonants.

Ы [ih] – Russian Ы is unique. There is no such sound in English. I will teach how to pronounce it in several ways (watch the video).

1. Put a pencil between your teeth and push your tongue backwards. Then try to say ‘its’ several times. Now try it without the pencil.

2. Start with the long sound У. Then try to smile really wide until you hear Ы.

3. Start with long И, then move your tongue back a little (you can use a spoon) until you hear Ы.

In this lesson, you only need to understand the difference between your tongue positions. И-position and Ы-position.