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- "Где муха?"
75 Comments
Peak Jeff Goldblum. Before he was weird because he was a rich актёр, and he was just weird.
mukhda means face in Panjabi, mookh means face/mouth in bengali and mukh is an alternate word for face in hindi.
and in Bulgarian, "muka" (мъка) means sorrow. well that escalated quickly
In Russian "мука" with a "к" means "suffering", "anguish", which is likely related to the Bulgarian word.
(Alternatively it means "flour" if the stress is on the second syllable)
It's "flies" in English. If you're asking about the insects, then мухи. If you're asking about "The airplane flies through the air," then Самолёт летит, and Самолёт летает.
it's a shame Duolingo won't be dumb with this one and go "i have a fly" "this is my fly" or just plain "my fly"
What sound does the 'X' actually make.
It sounds like a 'h' or maybe a 'k'. Or the 'J' in Spanish.
Is the sound more guttural? Like spoken from the throat?
This confuses a lot of Americans. They pronounce kh as "k." Х is still closer to an English "H," even if it's a more hard sound. For example, "Казахстан" is "Kazakhstan" in English. Americans call it "kazakstan." The problem is that "Kazakh" (a person from Kazahstan) is pronounced "kazak" by Americans. It should be "kazah," because a "казак" is a Cossack which a completely different group of people than Казах.
I'm winging it here but (and you're not wrong - and I'm American so I could completely be! But I'm only speaking about that approach) I don't think that's quite the right way to explain it.
While "KH" is closer to the English "H", it's still not quite there. It seems like there are a few Russian sounds that are pronounced deeper in the throat than any English sounds are. Х and Ы are the two that come to mind.
Almost all sounds in English happen well above the adam's apple.
Х and Ы in Russian seem to require an expansion of the throat and they seem to come from at or below the adam's apple in the expanded throat.
I think if you don't address the deeper and expanded throat KH is going to be more "phlegmy" than maybe it should be?
But I could totally be hearing it wrong.
Edit: Also, Хрущев might be a good example as well.
Alias, you're absolutely right! Just not phlegmy except by accident. I would say it's even lighter than the Spanish J or GE/GI, but barely. My point is less about the sound it makes than about its written transliteration as "kh."
My point was just that the transliteration of буквы Х into "KH" using the letter K is misleading to English-speakers. But it's better than the German, Czech, Polish "CH". You understand why, Alias. Maybe it should be like HH or something like that?
First, thank you!
Secondly, my apologies I didn't realize you were talking specifically about transliteration.
Are you trying to turn me into you? ;-) I see the point of it, but I don't like transliteration, it makes me kind of like you when you're cranky. There's no actual standard and you run into this exact situation so often.
I do completely understand why and what you're saying (I think). Either way we (Americans) are going to pronounce it wrong. But maybe the HH would feel less harsh to your ear? I suspect it would still sound off.
I don't know the German/Czech/Polish CH sound, but if it's anything like the Scottish "CH" in "Loch" that might actually get you closer to a less offensive sound. Everyone knows Loch Ness.
Regardless, outside of using the IPA, I think trying to accurately describe sounds that don't exist in SomeLanguage in SomeLanguage's alphabet is a lost cause. And that's when the alphabets are the same!
Circling back, I think you're right the Russian Х is definitely softer and more breathy than the Spanish sounds you mentioned (which seem to have more throat friction).
Polish Gdzie mucha? Almost the same pronunciation as Russian. I think that KH is a better transliteration, at the end of the day than CH.
A very good word to practice this sound distinction is Kukhna/Kuxna/Kuhna. Different transliteration systems use different letters (Kh/H/X). Not always phonetically exact. This is why it's good to use a book for your studies as well, they will usually have a pronunciation table in the earliest lessons and display the distinctions.
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Well, I guess your answer is too close to a word-for-word English translation and that's why Duo marked it wrong. It should be "Where is THE fly?" (just my emphasis for the missing word).
Its not grammatically correct in English, although that's technically how it translates directly. English pretty much always specifies with the article, Russian doesn't.
Can "fly" (animal) in Russian, муха, also mean fly as in flap your wings just like it does in English?
No, "fly" (verb) is "летать".
Remotely similar word is "мухой" (literally "like a fly"). It is used in the meaning "very fast, in a flash".
E.g.: - Домой! Мухой! - Go home! Quickly!
Also, the concrete (unidirectional) verb for ‘to fly’ is лететь, just saying. ☺
Cow in Italian is "mucca", and fly in Russian is "муха". They have different sounds. The former has a K sound, and the latter has a H sound
Yes. It's asking the location of the fly (insect). "Where's the fly?" "Right by your head! Can't you hear the buzzing?"
Thanks! I did not know that 'fly' is referencing the insect, i thought about the bird flight.
I say this phrase on an almost daily basis. My room is infested with them and it drives me insane!
it makes you wonder why a bird wasn't named a "fly" first since it was bigger, then the fly would be called a bird, logically.
