Party vs Potty (and other R pronunciation secrets) I American English

76,697 views ・ 2018-07-26

Accent's Way English with Hadar


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

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Hey, it's Hadar and this is the Accent's Way.
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Today, we're gonna talk about the difference between
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'Party'
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As in
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'Let's party'
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And 'Potty'
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As in
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'Potty training'
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Now, of course, the obvious difference is the fact that one has an 'r'
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'Party'
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And the other doesn't
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'Potty'
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Aside from that everything else is absolutely the same in American English.
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'Potty'
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'Party'
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But it's a little deeper. And instead of just talking about the difference between those two words
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I want to talk about the
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'r' as in car vowel
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and what happens when it appears before other consonants and why it is so tricky.
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So let's begin with the vowel, explaining the vowel, the vowel in the word
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'Party'
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Is the same vowel as in the word
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'car'
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'part'
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'hard'
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And 'starting'.
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Now, it's not a pure 'aa' as in father, because you don't say
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'caar'
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'aa'
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'aa' as in father
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'car'
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When the 'r' appears after the vowel, you want to round your lips a bit more.
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'car'
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'car'
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Right, because you don't say 'father'.
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But you do want to say something like
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'car'
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You do want to use your lips more when you pronounce the vowel.
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'aa' before the 'r' sound. So let's practice it in a few words
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'car'
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'part'
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'start'
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Notice it has two parts, the vowel and then the 'r'.
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And also notice that the vowel at the beginning is very clean and clear, so I'm not doing something like this
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Right, kind of like anticipating the 'r' before the 'r' arrives.
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This sound is very distinct in the sense of, the vowel comes first, and then, only at the end, there is the 'r'.
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'car'
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'star'
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Do not raise your tongue before you're done pronouncing the vowel.
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The vowel itself is the 'aa' as in father.
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So the tongue drops down, the back of the tongue pushes down a bit, the mouth opens.
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And in this case, because of the 'r', the lips round a bit
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'ca...'
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'car'
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And then once you pronounce the vowel, let's say 80% of the sound, then the last 20% would be the 'r'.
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'car'
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It's like going down the steps right.
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'ca...r'
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You can also hear it in the intonation
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'car'
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So you hear this change
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'fa...r'
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'sta...r'
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'pa...rty'
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Why is it so difficult in the word 'party' and it's not that difficult in the word 'car'?
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The reason is that you have a consonant right after.
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'Party'
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So your tongue, it's kind of like preparing for that 't', 'd' sound. It's a flap 't'. So it actually sounds like a 'd' sound.
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'party'
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I'm not saying
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'party'
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So it's a 'd' sound and the tongue wants to go up for the 'r', but it also wants to prepare for the
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'td' right, the flap 't'.
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So the tongue is immediately, as it goes up, is immediately going for the flap 't'.
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Okay, because your tongue is not that trained in doing all these tricky transitions.
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You don't have it in your native tongue.
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So your tongue wants to go up for the 'r' but it doesn't hit the right place and it immediately goes for the flap 't'.
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'pah-dee'
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Right and then we get something like that
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'potty'
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Now look even if you drop the 'r', it's not a big deal because you know, there are some dialects
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in the US alone that drop the 'r' before a consonant and may say
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'pah-dee'
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Instead of
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'party'
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But if you want to be clear and you want to master it for your own benefit, then here's what you should do.
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First of all start by saying the word
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'par'
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'par'
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Here the 'r' is at the end and it's a little easier for a non-native speaker to hit the right position.
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You want to pronounce the 'aa' as in father and then bring the back of the tongue
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until the sides of the tongue touch the insides of the upper teeth.
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'par'
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'...r'
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'...r'
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'...r'
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So the sides of the tongue touch the insides of the upper teeth, the tip of the tongue can be either up or down.
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This part, is the most important part.
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'par'
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'...r'
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You do not want to bring the tip of the tongue and pull it all the way back
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until your tongue doesn't touch anything anymore.
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'pa...'
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And then it's this hollow, strange sound that it's not an 'r'.
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It's not a 'w'. It's not anything.
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'pa...'
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Right, you've got to make sure that there is contact between the sides of the tongue
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and the insides of your teeth.
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'par'
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'r'
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The tongue curls in the back and creates this tense sound and that's the 'r'
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'par'
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The tip of the tongue, as I said, should go up, but it can also remain down.
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'r'
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'r'
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It sounds the same
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'r'
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'r'
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'par'
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The lips round just a bit.
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They're not as rounded as they are for the 'r' at the beginning of a word
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'red'
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'car'
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But you do want to round them a bit, so it doesn't sound like
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'car'
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'part'
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'hard'
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My tongue is doing the same thing, but the sound is not as pull together as it is when you round the lips.
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'par'
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'par'
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'hard'
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'dark'
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We don't want that
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'part'
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'dark'
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'hard'
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'har..'
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'r'
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'r'
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Right it closes the sound in a way.
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Now, let's go back to 'party'.
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What happens here is that the tongue doesn't have enough time for the 'r'.
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So it goes immediately for the flap 't'
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'part...'
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'party'
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So you want to insist on hitting that position.
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'parrrrr'
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'parrrrr'
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'parrrrr-dee'
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So hold out the 'r', make sure that you're actually pronouncing the 'r' and then move on to the flap 't'
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'party'
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Let's divide it into three
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'paa/rr/dee'
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Of course, I'm not expecting you to speak like that, this is just how you practice
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'paa/rr/dee'
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'party'
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'party'
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So you bring the tongue back for the 'r' and then you bring it forward for the flap 't'.
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For the flap 't', the tip of the tongue touches the upper palate slightly.
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Like giving it a high-five.
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'party'
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'party'
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Let's go 'party'.
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And if it still comes out as let's go 'pah-dee', then again, hold out the 'r'
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Let's go 'party'.
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And say it slowly ten, twenty, thirty, fifty times a day.
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Until your tongue gets used to going through the 'r' sound and then going into the flap 't'
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'party'
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'party'
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'harder'
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'harder'
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Now it's tricky I know because you have that flap 't' sound right after
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so you pull the tongue back for the 'r' and then the tongue needs to be touching the upper palate
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really lightly for that 'd' sound because it's not
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'harder'
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'der'
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It's 'harder'
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'der'
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Yes like a Spanish 'r' or a Russian 'r' or Arabic 'r' if you think about it like a very light 'r' sound
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'harder'
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'party'
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'harder'
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Let's look at a few other pairs
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'harder'
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'harder'
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If you skip the 'r' here, it's going to sound like
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'hotter'
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'hotter'
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And yes one is with the 't' one is with the 'd' but as you know
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the 'd' in the middle of the word, between two vowels, and the 't' between two vowels, in the middle of the word
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when it's unstressed, sound exactly the same.
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So 'harder' without the 'r' will sound like 'hotter'
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'harder'
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So hold it out, hold out the 'r' hard
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'harrrrrr-d'r'
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'harder'
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'harder'
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'hotter'
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'harder'
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'potty'
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'party'
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'farther'
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'farther'
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If you skip the 'r' here
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'father'
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'father'
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'farther'
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Notice that my lips are a little more rounded for the 'aa' sound
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'far...'
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Definitely for the 'r'
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'farther'
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Three steps
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'faa/rr/ther'
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Don't skip that middle part
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'farther'
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And also don't bring that middle part, the 'r' sound, in too soon.
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So it's not 'farther'
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because then it's gonna sound like 'further'.
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I know it's confusing, but don't freak out! Wait.
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Okay, let's explain it, 'further' has no vowel between the 'f' and the 'r'
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'further'
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'furthermore'
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Right
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'further'
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In the word 'farther' the 'a' sound is there so you've got to make sure that you pronounce it fully
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'faa'
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'faa'
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And then you bring the tongue up for the 'r', because you don't want to skip the 'r'
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because then it's gonna sound like 'father'
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'father'
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'farther'
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'further'
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'further'
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'farther'
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'father'
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You can do it. Don't worry. Okay, it's all a matter of practice because these are just muscles.
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Muscle work, it's not that complicated if you know what you need to do
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and you do it enough times until you make it your own.
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Okay, so whenever you struggle with something or whenever you feel like you just can't make it
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start over, understand what the tongue is doing, use a mirror, use your phone camera, use your fingers
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to feel if your tongue is hitting the right place or not, use other videos to learn how to pronounce the 'r'
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how to pronounce the 'aa' as in 'father' and then, put it all together and do it over and over and over again.
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Until you find that exact placement and exact pronunciation.
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And again until you make it a habit, you develop a muscle memory
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and you don't have to think about it anymore.
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It's just gonna be there for you.
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Okay and then we can all just 'party'.
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That's it. Thank you so much for watching.
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Please share this video with your friends if you liked it and let me know in the comments below
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What are the things that you are going to do, starting from today, to improve your pronunciation?
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What are the things that you can do, on a daily basis, that will help you get the results that you want?
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I can't wait to hear it. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next week in the next video.
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Bye.
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