In Russian, unstressed vowels are reduced so they are pronounced ambiguously. And when you try to write them down, you need to choose the correct letter for the

In Russian, unstressed vowels are reduced so they are pronounced ambiguously. And when you try to write them down, you need to choose the correct letter for the full-length vowel. There are also double consonants that often are not pronounced differently. On the other hand, if you just sound out the words syllable by syllable with full-length vowels, they will be completely understandable. You'll just sound a bit over-formal and/or robotic. There were several attempts at spelling reforms, but only the first one (in 1917) stuck.