Russian Language

[Alyosha]

I was thinking from the discussion of how to pronounce Russian names, that maybe you should have some links explaining things. I remember how difficult the diminutives and patronymics were when I first started reading Fyodor Mikhailovich, which is why the Richard Pevear translation's explanatory notes are so good.

BTW, maybe it is more similar to DahstahYEfsky as one website said. Here is a good general reference on Russian names:

http://www.sca.org/heraldry/paul/

[Nastya]

You are right, it doesn?t pronounce like DOstOevskY here .. it?s rather DASTAEVSKIYI

And ?a? pronounces like in ?cup? for English, or just the usual a for French/German languages.