Russian Greetings Can Be Difficult – Let’s Make Them Easy
Greetings and in particular hello in the Russian language can be difficult for English speakers, especially the most common one of all: Zdrastvuityeh! This greeting is eleven letters long. But here’s what most people don’t know: Most Russians cheat when they pronounce it! It’s true. If you listen, what they usually say is this:
Zdrastyeh.
Well, that’s a lot simpler, isn’t it? I only count two syllables instead of three, so I guess that makes it exactly 33% shorter. 
Unfortunately, there’s no real way to cheat “Good morning,” which is “Dobroe utro.” Let’s pronounce that really slowly:
Doh – bri – yuh u – truh
Yes, that second syllable is “bri” (rhymes with ‘cry’). And of course, don’t forget to roll your “r”s in Russian. To do that, it helps to say the word “udder”. see how you tongue bounces off the roof of your mouth? (You did say it out loud, right?) “Udder”. There’s your rolled Russian “r”.
