Under the leadership of Marina Semenova, head of the Department of Integrative and Digital Linguistics at Don State Technical University (DSTU), a team of employees and students developed a system to transcribe Chinese words using the Russian alphabet. The project was announced by the university’s press service to socialbites.ca.
The change is grounded in a shift observed after the mid-20th century, when China moved away from Cyrillic-style phonetic scripts toward a Latin-based romanization system known as pinyin. Researchers note that for a Russian speaker beginning to study Chinese, it is often beneficial to learn the Latin alphabet first and then apply reading rules to pinyin. The DSTU team proposes a direct phonetic mapping between Chinese sounds and Russian letters, bypassing the intermediate need to use English letters as a bridge.
According to Semenova, the verb to be in Chinese contains a strong consonant cluster similar to Russian, notably the sound produced by sh. From an articulatory perspective, many phonemes in Russian and Chinese overlap, which suggested a potential for a more direct transcription method. In pinyin, the combination sh can yield an u-like quality in English phonology, illustrating how language systems can misalign when relying on intermediary English-based spelling. The professor also pointed out that a sizable portion of English vocabulary is not pronounced as written, which can complicate learners’ efforts to master Chinese pronunciation, to the point of creating unnecessary barriers.
To validate the idea, the researchers ran tests with students who had never studied Chinese. They compared readings of the same text in pinyin and in Cyrillic. Help with the testing came from DSTU graduates who studied in China. The results showed that the text rendered with Russian letters produced a phonetic outcome almost identical to native pronunciation, with only a 0.04% deviation. When written in pinyin, the deviation rose to 15.5%.
The team plans to secure copyright protection for the new system and then release the resource on the internet for free access. Future work includes adapting educational materials to Cyrillic for broader use and easier integration into existing curricula.
Semenova noted that over the past two centuries there have been several attempts to develop a phonetic alphabet for Chinese, including options based on Cyrillic. The current project represents the third major effort in this line, aiming to simplify and standardize pronunciation aids for learners who prefer the Russian script. The genesis of the project traces back to last September, when in an introductory Chinese phonetics class students suggested using the Russian alphabet to study pronunciation. The development phase spanned nine months, combining classroom experimentation with linguistic analysis and collaborative input from peers and international partners.
Historical curiosity also frames the work. Early studies about ancient Chinese riding gear reveal longstanding cultural practices, including the discovery of one of the oldest known saddles attributed to a female rider. This detail underscores the enduring connection between language, culture, and technology in the region.