The Lied, Art Song, and Choral Texts Archive

Note on Russian and Ukrainian Transliteration

In these pages, Russian and Ukrainian characters are transliterated unambiguously using the system described below. The system is used consistently for the texts, but not for personal names - the more common North American spellings are used instead (for example, Tchaikovsky, not Chajkovskij).

Each Russian and Ukrainian song text will have a link to allow you to view it in Cyrillic (Unicode).

The following tables show how the Russian and Ukrainian characters are transliterated.

Russian CyrillicTransliteration
А аA a
Б бB b
В вV v
Г гG g
Д дD d
Е еE e (or je)
Ж жZh zh
З зZ z
И иI i
Й йJ j
К кK k
Л лL l
М мM m
Н нN n
О оO o
П пP p
Р рR r
С сS s
Т тT t
У уU u
Ф фF f
Х хKh kh
Ц цC c
Ч чCh ch
Ш шSh sh
Щ щShch shch
Ъ"
Ыy
Э э`E `e
Ю юJu ju
Я яJa ja
Ь ь'
Ukrainian CyrillicTransliteration
А аA a
Б бB b
В вV v
Г гH h
Ґ ґG g
Д дD d
Е еE e
Є єJe je
Ж жZh zh
З зZ z
И иY y
І іI i
Ї їJi ji
Й йJ j
К кK k
Л лL l
М мM m
Н нN n
О оO o
П пP p
Р рR r
С сS s
Т тT t
У уU u
Ф фF f
Х хX x
Ц цC c
Ч чCh ch
Ш шSh sh
Щ щShch shch
Ь ь'
Ю юJu ju
Я яJa ja

Notes

In Russian transliterations, a j is sometimes added for clarity when two vowels are next to each other. For example: jeshchjo (rather than eshchjo) and mojikh (rather than moikh). Note also that the letter c replaces the more common ts, producing such words as serdce and car'.

In Ukrainian transliterations, sometimes a · will be placed between z and h or between s and h if the two are meant to be taken as separate characters; for example zhraja would be transliterated жрая by the automated system so we use z·hraja instead to produce the correct word, зграя.