"У меня есть тарелка."
Translation:I have a plate.
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Do some words not come from Old Norse? This was technically a Germanic language anyway though. Was just reading about the twisted paths between Slavic and Germanic languages some words have taken to get to modern Russian and German, such as the German word, knute, which came from Russian кнут, from Old East Slavic кнуть, which in turn came from Old Norse knútr, and I believe all of which mean something like whip or knotted cord.
Bare У меня does not focus on the fact you really HAVE that thing, just specifying what it is. It is assumed that either it was obvious you have at least some kind of that thing ("I have dark hair")—or that the fact of possession is not as relevant right now as the identity of the object ("He's got a gun!")
The presense of есть (which is,effectively, "is") explicitly says that such an object exists. As such, it is not used to describe properties or quantities, even though in English "I have" can be easily used for these as well. For example, in "I have 4 sons" it is very likely that the number is the focus. In "I have dark hair" it is a given that you are either bald or do have some hair at least—so «есть» is not used in such situations.
Есть is also dropped when talking about illnesses ("I have an influenza/diarrhea/allergy...")
If you say the word as you wrote it (with a vowel after e), the tongue doesn't touch the bottom of the mouth. So, maybe if you try speaking it with the tongue snapping down for the l, you'll hear it. That's a long shot, but all I can think of to help. Maybe the movement will somehow "connect" the hearing for you. If not, don't worry. It can take a few years to hear a few new sounds, but, sooner or later, you start hearing the new stuff :)
"I have the plate" would be "тарелка у меня" without "есть". "Есть" is used when we are establishing the existence of something, while when we are talking about the plate it's existence is not in question.
"Тарелка есть у меня" is just an unusual word order, but it still means "I have a plate". I'd translate it as something like "I, for one, have a plate".
Тарелка is something you eat from.
Пластина is a thin object made of rigid material
плита is a huge stone or metal slab. By analogy, it also means a range (the one you have in the kitchen). The only meaning where I think it can translate to "plate" is if you mean a tectonic plate or, I don't know, a layer of rock.
License plates are none of the above; they are номерные знаки or simply номера ("numbers").
I hear tarelka. It's being pronounced correctly. You can also hear it pronounced here: http://forvo.com/word/%D1%82%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0/