Make the American R sound!

292,962 views ・ 2016-07-05

Accent's Way English with Hadar


Please double-click on the English subtitles below to play the video.

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Hey guys. It's Hadar and this is The Accent's Way - your way to finding clarity,
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confidence and freedom in English, and finally today we are going to talk about
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the R, as many of you have requested. The R sound: one of the more
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challenging sounds in American English because the 'r' sound doesn't exist, I
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think, in any language but English. So let's learn how to pronounce that 'r' sound.
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So, in your language, you may substitute the R sound with a different sound that
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is perceived as the R. It could be a trill 'r', it could be an R that is
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produced in the throat. Okay? So, what you need to remember is no matter what you
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do currently to pronounce your R, you need to shift it towards this new,
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different sound that is produced with the tongue and the lips. Now, let me get
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more specific to make the R sound the tongue has to be in the middle of the
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mouth. The tip of the tongue should not be touching anything. So, if you're used
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to making an R like this [trill R] then you feel the tip of the tongue touching the upper
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palate. If you're used to doing [throat R] in the back, then the back of the tongue is
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touching the uvula or the soft palate. Okay?
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So there is no true contact when you make the American R, not in the back
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and not in the front part of the tongue - "r". The only contact you have is here in
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the sides of the tongue because the sides touch the sides of the teeth. Okay?
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So the body of the tongue retracts and the sides of the tongue touch the
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insides of the teeth, sort of, the tongue is sort of pushing the teeth from the
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inside. now there's a lot of tension the body of the tongue. Think of it like a
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fist that you clenched. Okay? It looks the same whether it's loose or clenched. Okay?
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So that's what happens inside your tongue. The tongue curls back,
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okay, and pulls back, but you also tense it up as if you clench your fist - "r". To
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that you add the tension of the lips. So the lips round, especially when the R
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appears at the beginning of words: run run. If you turn the sound off and you look
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at my lips, it's going to sound like I'm saying "one" and that's good because it
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should sound like "one", it should look like "one", but the tension of the tongue
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creates that "r" R sound. So basically it's a W sound mixed with this tense "r".
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Okay? I like to think of it as if it's a W with a W sound, or a W with an L sound,
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without touching the upper palate - "r". Let's try it in a few words:
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"run", "red". Now if you can hold out the R, you're probably doing it right and if
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you can't, if sounds something like "run", okay, then you're
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probably going to your natural, neutral pronunciation. "Red", "right". So this is the
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strong R, an R that appears at the beginning of word or before a vowel. Okay?
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This is an easier R to make. We're going to focus on that today. We're not going
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to talk about R at the end of words, like 'car' or 'wear'. We're going to talk
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about it in another video. So if you still find it impossible to make, I'm
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going to give you two ways to go about it. Let's begin with the L sound "l". To
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make the L the tip of the tongue goes up to touch the upper palate, right? So as
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you pronounce the L and you hold out the sound - "l" - I want you to pull your tongue
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slowly inside. "LLLL-rrrrr" "LLLL-rrrrr".
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Okay? So you pull it in, right, and then the tongue sits there in the middle. Okay?
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So now you're more aware of what your tongue is doing and where it's located.
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So you've pulled the tongue in to the middle of the mouth - "LLLLrrrrrr". And then what's,
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when it's in the middle, and of course the tip of the tongue is not touching
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anything and you're able to hold it out, then I want you to play with the body of
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the tongue. It's like doing those fine tunings until you reach that perfect
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sound - "LLLLrrrrr". Think of your tongue as one big piece of chewing gum and you want to
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play around with it inside your mouth - "LLLLrrrrrr" -
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until you feel that tense quality. As you curl your tongue in the back,
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the tip of the tongue is pointing forward, almost trying to reach the back
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part of your mouth, the throat - "LLLLrrrrrrr". And once you get that nice strong sound,
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you round your lips, okay, you can put your finger here to
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make sure that the lips push forward and you're not doing something
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funny. Okay? You don't want to create tension here. It's about pushing
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the lips forward - "ler" - then you can shift to the word - "LLLLLLrrrrrrred". Fnd the sound.
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Play around with it in your mouth. "Run" "right". Another little tip that you can
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think about is think of a dog's bark. How does a dog bark? "Ruff". You hear that?
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That's an R sound - "ruff". Connect to your inner animal - "rrrrruff", "rrrrun", "red". Okay?
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That's another way to go about it and one last tip, instead of starting with an
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L sound start with a G sound. To make the sound, the tongue touches the
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upper palate and you hear these vibrations, so as you pronounce the
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'g', pull the tongue in. The tongue is already all the way back there, very
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close to the R sound when you pronounce the G so you pull it in a bit -
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and make sure that the sides touch the insides of the teeth,
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you can even bite on your tongue. You can like mark it to recognize where the
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sides of the tongue are. Sometimes we're not even aware of what's going on there.
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So we can bite on your tongue to feel the size of your tongue "ler" djer".
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Alright, so these are a few options for you to play around with as you're trying to
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reach that nice strong R sound. Once you recognize the R sound, hold it out when
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you practice it in words and drill it in many many words, over and over again,
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until you get used to the new pronunciation. It's okay if you don't use
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it in conversation yet. Use it in practice and maybe you can read out loud
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something making sure that you're using all the Rs correctly. Remember to round
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your lips and pull the tongue in and as you read it hold out each R to make sure
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that you're pronouncing it accurately/ Alright, I will release more videos about
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the R sound because I have a lot more to say about it but I think that's a good
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start. So practice it. Please let me know if you have any more questions and
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that's it. Don't forget to subscribe, if you haven't yet. Thank you for watching
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and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye!
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