Belarussian language

Belarussian, Belarusian or Belarusan, formerly called in English Byelorussian, Belorussian, White Russian (in its own language: беларуская мова / biełaruskaja mova), is a Slavic language mainly spoken in Belarus.

It is one of the two official languages of Belarus, the other being Russian. Although Belarus has been independent since 1991, Russian is still the dominant language of the country.

Writing system

Belarussian may be written with the Cyrillic alphabet, which is official, or with the Latin alphabet (Łacinka), which is used by part of the population. Both writing systems have traditions of many centuries. It is very easy to switch from one to another thanks to a simple system of correspondence. This coexistence of two alphabets resembles the situation of Serbian.

Belarusian Alphabets

Cyrillic alphabet (official)	Łacinka or Latin alphabet	letter name (Cyrillic)	pronunciation (IPA)	pronunciation (approximate English equivalent)
А   а	a	а [a]	[a]	a in "father", u in "cut"
Б   б	b	бэ [be]	[b]	b
В   в	v	вэ [ve]	[v]	v
Г   г	h	гэ [ɣe]	[ɣ]	between h in "hot" and ch in "loch"
Д   д	d	дэ [de]	[d]	d
Е   е	ie (initially or after vowel: je)	е [je]	[je], [ʲe]	ye in "yet"
Ё   ё	io (initially or after vowel: jo)	ё [jo]	[jo], [ʲo]	yo in "York"
Ж   ж	ž	жэ [ʒe]	[ʒ]	s in "pleasure"
З   з	z	зэ [ze]	[z]	z
І   і	i	і [i]	[i], [ʲi], [ji]	i in "link", yi in "Yiddish"
Й   й	j	і нескладовае	[j]	y in "boy"
К   к	k	ка [ka]	[k]	k
Л   л	- l (palatal) - ł (non palatal)	эл [el]	- [lʲ] (palatal) - [l] (non palatal)	- li (palatal in "million") - l (non palatal in "look")
→   ЛА   ла	→   ła (non palatal l before a)		[la]
→   ЛЯ   ля	→   la (palatal l before a)		[lʲa]
→   ЛЭ   лэ	→   łe (non palatal l before e)		[le]
→   ЛЕ   ле	→   le (palatal l before e)		[lʲe]
→   ЛО   ло	→   ło (non palatal l before o)		[lo]
→   ЛЁ   лё	→   lo (palatal l before o)		[lʲo]
→   ЛУ   лу	→   łu (non palatal l before u)		[lu]
→   ЛЮ   лю	→   lu (palatal l before u)		[lʲu]
М   м	m	эм [em]	[m]	m
Н   н	n	эн [en]	[n]	n
О   о	o	о [o]	[o]	aw in "saw", o in "song"
П   п	p	пэ [pe]	[p]	p
Р   р	r	эр [er]	[r]	rolled r
С   с	s	эс [es]	[s]	s
Т   т	t	тэ [te]	[t]	t
У   у	u	у [u]	[u]	oo in "look" or "soon"
Ў   ў	ŭ	у нескладовае / у кароткае [u ɲeskladoˈvaje] [u kaˈrotkaje]	[w]	w in "now"
Ф   ф	f	эф [ef]	[f]	f
Х   х	ch	ха [xa]	[x]	Scottish ch in "loch"
Ц   ц	c	цэ [tse]	[ts]	ts
Ч   ч	č	чэ [tʃe]	[tʃ]	ch in "such"
Ш   ш	š	ша [ʃa]	[ʃ]	j
Ы   ы	y	ы [ɨ]	[ɨ]	Resembles ir in "first".
Ь   ь	´ (acute accent)	мяккі знак [ˈmʲakkʲi znak]	[ʲ]	i in "million"
→   ДЗЬ   дзь	→   dź (palatal dz)		[dzʲ]	ds-y in "needs you"
→   ЗЬ   зь	→   ź (palatal z)		[zʲ]	s-y in "sees you"
→   НЬ   нь	→   ń (palatal n)		[nʲ]	ni in "onion"
→   СЬ   сь	→   ś (palatal s)		[sʲ]	ss-y in "bless you"
Э   э	e	э [e]	[e]	e in "let"
Ю   ю	iu (initially or after vowel: ju)	ю [ju]	[ju], [ʲu]	u in "cute"
Я   я	ia (initially or after vowel: ja)	я [ja]	[ja], [ʲa]	ya in "yard"
’	’	апостраф [aˈpostrаf]	–	-