ABSTRACT
Stressed: 'ye' as in 'yes'; unstressed: a short 'yi' as in '"Yiddish'. Thus Elena is Yi-Iye-na. Double 'e', ('ee') is never pronounced as in English but as 'e-ye'. Thus Alekseev is pronounced Alekse-yef and not to rhyme with leaf.
Not strictly a separate letter, and mostly written simply E or e, this is always stressed and pronounced 'yo' as in 'yore'. I have always written it as E or e in this book. Like a French soft 'j' in 'je', or the's' in 'pleasure'.
