17. The R in English: The most in-depth lesson you'll ever hear

Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar and this is episode number 17. And today we are going to talk about the R in English. Hello. Hello my friend. How are you doing? I hope you are doing just fine. Great. And I want you to say with me the word great. And if you struggled or felt uncomfortable, then this episode is for you. Because today we are going to dive deep and talk about the R in English, in particular the American R. But we're also going to touch upon the British Australian R. It's not really a different R, it's just a different approach to R. And we're going to talk about that. So this episode is for you. If you struggle with pronouncing the R, this lesson is for you. If you know how to pronounce it but it's just not smooth and you want to stop thinking about it whenever you're using it, this episode is for you. If you know how to make the R, but you're just inconsistent with pronouncing it when speaking, but you are doing just great when practicing it at home. Because this is the most in depth lesson about the American R that you have probably ever had. The structure of this lesson is going to be as follows. First, we're going to talk about why it is even important to practice and learn and integrate the R into your speech. Why specifically the R? Why is the R so important? But also why is the R so incredibly challenging? Or why is it so challenging from so many speakers, so many non native speakers, no matter what their first language is? Why is it so confusing? Why sometimes you say to yourself, I can pronounce the R, I use it sometimes, but there are just a few words that I just don't get it. So what are these words? Why specifically in these words the R becomes a challenge. So we're going to talk about that as well. Also, we're going to dive deep into everything you need to know about pronouncing. The Rs and the types of Rs that exist in English. American English, British English, Australian English, all of those different dialects, in particular American English, because that's my thing. But we are going to talk about how it changes across dialects and across accents. So we'll talk about the different types of Rs and how to pronounce each and every one of them. Then I'm going to give you some tips and exercises on how to pronounce. Practice your R so you'll be able to integrate it into your speech and use it spontaneously. And finally Some tips and hacks on how to simplify some stuff, especially the challenging stuff, and small tweaks that can make you sound more natural and will make everything a lot easier. Okay, let's get started with how to pronounce the R and how to integrate it into your day to day speech without feeling fake. Okay, I know you feel it, but let's talk about why technically the R is so incredibly important. Well, first of all, it's a consonant, and consonants are important, unlike vowels. When you change consonants, it completely throws off the listener. With vowels, people are kind of used to hearing them being modified. So the difference is important. But it's very common that people may substitute it, even people who are native speakers who speak a different dialect. However, if you substitute a consonant like the R or the L or the p, it will immediately throw the listener off because they will be listening or looking for a different word, not the word that you are intending to say. So in terms of the hierarchy of speech, I find that mispronunciation of consonants is more critical and working on consonants is more important than working on vowels, even though vowels are important. But sometimes even native speakers kind of merge vowels together. For example, the bed versus bad vowel pair, as in red versus as in cat, is sometimes merged in the US alone. And the difference between sheep and ship is not that distinct in other dialects of English. So vowels are easily modified while consonants are are not, for the most part. And this is why when you mispronounce the R, it may be more confusing for the listener unless they are able to rather quickly make that substitution between what they expect to hear and how you pronounce the r. And then it's okay. So at some point they do catch on on your substitution and it becomes clearer to them. But it also depends what substitution you're making, because if you pronounce the R as, it'll be easier for them to grasp that substitution versus if you substitute the R with an L, for example, like some Japanese speakers may do, or other speakers of other languages, that would be more confusing because the L does exist in American English. So when you substitute a sound that exists in American English with another sound that exists exists in American English, that's bad news. Like this is definitely should be on your priority list in terms of what to practice and how to integrate it into your speech. Second place is when you just substitute it with a sound that doesn't exist in English, because then people can catch on to this and make that substitution in their brain, but it will take them a little Longer to analyze what you are saying. And then I would say in terms of the pronunciation hierarchy, you to start working on the distinction between similar vowels. But of course, what I'm saying right now is very general. It's like an outline to follow, but it really is very individual, depending on the individual person and the speaker. Another reason why it's important is because the R is incredibly frequent in the language. I once had a student who said he had a big talk coming up and he said, okay, I'm just not going to use any words that have the R sound. And then I said, okay, good luck with that, because it's incredibly hard to find words without the R, because it's everywhere. Luckily or unfortunately for us? Luckily, because it gives us a good incentive to practice it and a lot of opportunities and nice lists of words. Unfortunately for us, because it could be challenging. But not after this lesson. So after this lesson, you'll have everything that you need to master the R. Okay. Because that's what I'm here for. Moving on. After having realized how important that is, we now need to know why it's confusing. Well, here is the thing about the ring. Unlike, let's say, the L sound, that sometimes when it's substituted with a different sound, it just has a different quality, like light instead of light. Or maybe we can go and pronounce it on the heavier side. Light versus light. In all of the examples, the tongue is in the same position. It's just the difference in the tension that, that I've added to the quality of the sound. Right now, the L is still going to be clear no matter how I pronounce it. And it's categorized as the same sound because it just has different qualities. But the pronunciation is pretty much the same. When we think of the Rs, it's so strange because all those types of R sounds that exist in all the different languages are categorized under the same sound. Okay, so the first step when it comes to the R is to understand what is the R that you are making and also how is it different phonetically? Meaning, do you pronounce your R in the back of the throat? Do you use the tip of the tongue when pronouncing the R like an R sound? Or do you use an H? Right. Try to identify what sounds you might be making instead of the American R? Awareness is key, and if you can't hear it, you can't make it. So it's your job to first hear the differences and to identify what it is that you're doing differently because that's your starting point. Okay, moving on. Why is it so challenging to integrate it into your day to day speech? And why you might be developing this resistance towards the R? Even though maybe technically it's not a problem for you to pronounce the R, but something there happens that prevents you from using it spontaneously. Well, one, it is a weird sound. I mean, come on, who wants to sound like a pirate all of the time, right? Or like a dog? For people who don't have that R sound in their language, it may sound extremely weird and artificial. Well, what I would say is just get comfortable with it, buddy, because that's what's going to make you sound clear. All right? So getting past this feeling like it's weird and fake and muffled and hollow and sounds like a W. Yes, to all of the above. But here's the the more you do it, the more comfortable it becomes. Now, another reason why people tend to get frustrated around the R, because the R is so incredibly inconsistent. Sometimes it's really easy to pronounce the R, and sometimes it's excruciating. And the reason for that is because the R behaves differently depending on where it's positioned in the word and what sounds are around it. So the R at the beginning of a word is not going to behave the same as the R at the end of the word. And an R before a vowel is very different than the R before an L. Other sounds affect the pronunciation or how we need to think about it and to prepare for it. Which leads us directly into talking about the different Rs in English and how to pronounce the R. So according to me, there are three types of Rs. Now, I'm saying according to me because technically in the books you will find out that there are two types of Rs. But I don't teach according to how they teach it in phonology and phonetics because they don't really work with non native speakers. Trying to understand this, Rich. The thing that all three Rs have in common is the position of the tongue when you make the R. What really matters here is what happens between the size of your tongue and the sides of your teeth and the tension that you have inside the tongue. And the root of the tongue is that part that if you touch your chin and then bring your fingers back towards your throat, you'll feel there. The bottom part of your chin, you'll feel that there is a muscle there. And that's the root of the tongue. And it is responsible to Many of the sounds, including the R. R. Let's just try that together. R. Good. Now, whether you're able to make that sound or whether you can't, I want you to first of all, try to see what it is that you are doing. If you're substituting it, what is your tongue really doing? If you hear the R sound, that's fantastic. If it sounds a little hollow, Right? All of these hollow sounds, try to understand what your tongue needs to be doing. So basically, you want to pull the tongue back until it kind of curls. The back of the tongue kind of curls in the back. The sides of the tongue push against the insides of the upper teeth all the way in the back so you actually feel the contact there. But no other part of the tongue is touching anything. So the tip of the tongue shouldn't be touching anything. If you're hearing R or D, you're making a different sound. If you hear G, R, something like that, then a big part of your tongue is also touching the roof of the mouth. That's not good. Just the sides of the tongue that touch the sides of the teeth. But at the same time, the tongue curls back as if you want to squeeze it in together towards the back part of the tongue, not too far back, because then it's going to sound hollow. And the tip of the tongue is just standing there in the middle of the mouth, pointing forward but not touching anything. Now here there's variation. Your tongue can be pointing forward, can be pointing up and back, not touching anything. The tip of the tongue can be evened down. Do whatever works for you. And I'm telling you that for you to understand that what really matters here is what the second part of the tongue is doing, or the first part, depending on where you're starting to see your tongue. If it's the first or the second, or the first and the second. Anyway, you get my point, right? The part that is closer to the throat is the part that actually creates the sound. Now, when it comes to the tip, please don't take it too far back. It's going to make your sound, your R sound, sound hollow. R. The tongue, the tip of the tongue should be pointing forward. So if you put your finger in up to the first knuckle, you should be able to feel the tip of the tongue. So you can actually do it right. Now stick the finger in and feel the tip of the tongue touching. And if you can't feel it, push your tongue even more. And yes, I know it might sound like I'm contradicting myself, but I'm not really. So you push the tongue forward, but at the same time, you create that tension in the back and you push the sides of the tongue until you feel that nice, strong R tension. One more thing that needs to happen is that your lips need to round. Listen to the difference between R right and R right? I hope you could hear a difference again. Right, right. Red. Red. My tongue was doing the very same thing, but the first time around, my lips were not rounded. The second time, my lips were rounded as if I'm saying a W as well. This is why a lot of people feel like they're saying a W when they're rounding the lips. But a W is the same without the tongue tension in the back. Right. White. If you say these two words, you'll hear the difference and you'll feel the difference if you are pronouncing the R correctly. Okay, so one more element of the R is the lips that need to round as if you're rounding them for a kiss. R. Now, if it's still unclear, I'm going to give you some exercises that might help you to get to the R sound. First, you can start the sound by making a J as in jail or judge. They go together. Jail and judge, I think. But a J sound. I was trying to come up with a more positive word. I don't know. They both may be negative for people. Right. Let's say that for a few times. Try to identify where your tongue is when you're making that sound. And as you're pronouncing the. Keep on pronouncing it, but just pull the tongue away until the tip of the tongue doesn't touch the upper palate anymore. Pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, pull it in. Now, don't try to make an R here, because this is where your brain gets into the picture and you're going back to the R that you're used to making. I'm not trying to get you to make an R. I'm trying to get you to make a new sound that you are usually not making. And we're doing that through the W. Pull the tongue inside the mouth. Pull it in, pull it in, pull it in, pull it in even more. And then if your tongue remains up there but the tip doesn't touch the upper palate anymore, what you'll hear is something that is actually coming closer to the tension of the R. Right now we're getting into the R sound. It might not be perfect. And then what you might want to do is play with your tongue a little bit inside the mouth as if it's a big piece of bubble gum. As long as the tip of the tongue doesn't touch the upper palate. And then move it around a little bit. Try to find the right placement. The R is that place where the tongue clicks perfectly to the right position. And if it's not in the exact position it needs to be, the sound is going to be hollow. And even worse, you're going to have to put in a lot of effort into creating that R sound, which will make you feel fake when making it okay. Or exhausted. So if you feel exhausted after speaking, it could be about you over pronouncing the R sound or not positioning your tongue in the right placement. Food for thought. Okay, so you want to play around as long as the tip of the tongue is not touching anything. Play around with the sides of the tongue and the body of the tongue. As you're making this weird sound, make sure that it's just you and me right now and no one else is watching you. Because then you get judgmental and then you get self conscious. And we don't want that. Because new, exciting things can come out when you feel self conscious. Right? No. Breakthroughs happen when you feel self conscious. And you constantly judge yourself and look at yourself through other people's eyes, just reminding you that, okay, so now if you're doing it right, there will be this split second where all of a sudden the sound is really loud. Okay, what happened here where it's really loud and it resonates like crazy without you putting a lot more effort into it. And that exact moment is your R. That's it. You've discovered it. Do it again with me. Oh, my God. What happened here? Also, I feel like the body of the tongue is going up as if I'm about to make a Y sound. Think about your tongue. What is it doing there? Y. And try to do that as you're making that weird. Okay, so you can play with that. Sometimes it takes time. Sometimes you want to do it a few days in a row until you really catch that R sound. And from there you want to start pronouncing it with while rounding your lips. R as in red. And go into simple words. So that's one trick to get to the R, start with a D, pull the tongue in, then play with the body of the tongue inside the mouth. Another trick is to start with an L sound. So start with an ah and then bring the tongue up for an L. A La, and then bring it back to ah, right? You switch between the two and then instead of touching, you want to bring it up to an L. But this time, trick your brain and don't touch the upper palate. And the third step is, as you're bringing it up supposedly for an L, but without touching the upper palate, close your lips for a W R, and all of a sudden you'll hear it. R. There it is. And then go into red. Sometimes that might be too soon to go into a word because again, sometimes when you get the R sound, but you're still like, okay, now I need to use it in a word, your brain immediately will take you to your native R. Red or head or red, right? Immediately. So you need to trick your brain into thinking, I'm not saying words here. I'm just saying this weird new sound and an E sound or arra, right? That's it. That's all I'm doing, making new weird sounds. I'm not making the R sound. That's the conversation you should have with your brain. Okay? So you should do that for a little bit. Even if you already know how to make the R, try to fine tune it by using these exercises. Try to really find the perfect placement. This practice is really good for diction as well and to improve the quality of your R sound and improve the control that you have over your R. Because when you're able to control your tongue, you're able to control your pronunciation much more. R. Another imagery is a dog growling or about to bark. Ruff, ruff. If you can do that, you can make the R, my friend, R. Because the problem here, I'm going to say that again, the problem here is not physical. Physically, you'll be able to make the R. I mean, you make really weird sounds with your mouth, whether they form into words or whether you're saying it in your sleep, your tongue is capable of making that R sound. So don't get caught up in this notion or thought. Like, the R is really difficult to pronounce. It's not difficult to pronounce. The problem, the challenge is to switch between what you perceive to be an R and what is the R in American English? Does that make sense? It's how you see the R. It's your habits, your pronunciation habits. That's what you need to tackle. It's not about how you pronounce the R, because physically everyone is capable of making that sound. Okay? You don't need to be a super pronouncer to be able to pronounce the R. Remember that. And once you shift your focus from I can't do it physically, it's impossible for me to what am I thinking or what am I doing that prevent me from getting this R sound right? How am I not practicing it effectively? What am I doing to keep on repeating my patterns and habits instead of trying new things? What am I not noticing? These are the questions that you need to ask. Okay, good. Now that you know how to pronounce the R, or at least how to get to it and how to practice it, let's talk about the strong R, soft R and stir, and possible challenges that you may face in each and every one of them. The strong R is the easiest one to pronounce. So if you're just starting out, practice words with strong R only. That means words where the R is at the beginning of a word or before a vowel in the middle of the word. For example, red, Right, Result around. It's in the middle, but it's before. Vowel and carry. Okay? All of these are the strong Rs. And for that you want to make sure that the tongue is in the right position, the lips round, and you open it strongly to a vowel. A common mistake is that people tend to make it too short. Carry, carry. And then they don't get to round their lips. The R is a little softer. So if that's you, make sure that you double up your R not only for the practice, but also for speaking. But definitely when you practice those R's. And the best is to drill the words right, Red, run around. Really area, already rich result, practice, regards, so on and so forth. And I do have a list of words for you to practice because I always want to have something for you to take this to the next level one step further. So if you want to download it, go to the Show Notes and download the R Practice for this episode. Okay? It's totally free. Common pitfalls when people pronounce the R is first mispronouncing it, but you already know that. Or the tendency of not rounding the lips when making the R. And when it comes to the strong R, it's really important. It does affect the quality of your R sound. So make sure that you round your lips. Use a mirror if you need to, because a lot of times people think that they round the lips, but they don't really. Then we have the soft R or the R vowel. Here, the R appears after a vowel, usually at the end of a word or before a consonant. For Car Hare, fourth Burger Reporter and all of those other fun words. Okay, now here, the important part is the vowel before the R. That's the secret to clarity. It's not about how you pronounce the R here, although it is important. You do want to get to the same position as we've practiced before, but you gotta focus on the vowel before. There are five R vowels. The R as in car, that's basically the ah, as in father. The tongue is down. The mouth is open. The lips are slightly rounded because it's an R vowel. Car, far, heart, starting. R. The second one is the air, as in dare we start with an sound? Drop your jaw a bit more and then move into the R smoothly. Air. And as you do, push your lips slightly forward for the ring. They're not as rounded as they are for the strong R. Hair, dare wear, stare. Then we have the ear, as in fear. Here it's the high e. And then we move into the R. Fear. Dear. Clear, near. Do you hear this transition? Ear. Then we have the or, as in for door, store, formal, born. And finally we have the or as in pour. Here we have an as in cook, but it changes a bit before the R, the lips are a bit more rounded. Pour, tore, secure, gourmet. Now, this is not as popular as the rest, and some dialects even merge it with the or sound. But right now I want to introduce you to this sound. So the 5R are Air, Ear, or, and or. These are the five options that you have whenever the R appears after a vowel and is connected to that vowel. So that R vowel is one vowel within the syllable, okay? It's not two different syllables. It's one syllable. And you hear this vowel transitioning from the vowel, one of the five that I discussed into the R. Now here is the thing. The vowel is more important than the R, which means that while you're pronouncing this sound, 90% of your pronunciation should be the pronuncia of the vowel, and only the final 10% is the R. You're only suggesting that there is an R at the end, car and not car for and not for. Why is that? Because if you swallow the vowel, if you're too eager to pronounce the R, if your tongue is not listening to you and it goes up really fast without you having pronounced the sound, the word is going to become unclear and it's going to resemble another word because it's going to resemble another type of R, which is the stir sound that we're going to talk about in a sec, okay? So if you mispronounce the vowel. If you're not allowing it the full 90% of the sound of the length of the vowel, then the word is going to be unclear. And then car and care may be both pronounced as car and care, and there won't be a distinction between them. Right. For is going to be pronounced as fur, and fur is a different word. So we want to make sure that the focus is on the vowel. And I'm going to use another example to illustrate why it matters so much. There are some dialects where the R in a soft R position is not even pronounced, like the British dialect or some Southern dialects in the US The Aussie dialect, you don't hear people saying car. You hear them saying caw or wheel, hot, fo and not for. Right? Which means that the R is not that important. Which means that if you struggle with the R and you can't pronounce it, you can just drop it whenever it's a soft r. The less Rs for you to pronounce, and you're still going to be clear as long as you pronounce the vowel correctly. Okay? Cheating is life. And if cheating makes you sound clearer, then go for it. Clear is better than accurate. Remember that. So you don't need to have the perfect American accent. You just need to be freaking clear. All right? Even if you sound a little British every now and then. What's wrong with sounding British? Nothing, as long as you're clear. Okay, so. So don't be so hard on yourself if you can't pronounce the R, because I just gave you a little trick to help you not pronounce or at least put less focus and emphasis on a whole bunch of Rs in the language. So when the R appears after a vowel, focus on the vowel more and make sure that the R is subtle. And you don't need to round your lips so much for those Rs. I find that the hardest. I'm not going to use hardest. The more challenging R vowels are the air and the or, right? Because the tongue for the vowel and for the R is really similar, and people tend to merge them more than they would, let's say the word here, okay? So pay attention to those. In particular, I find that when people pronounce the R as in car, they don't round the lips so much for the vowel. And then it sounds something like car, car. So I would want you to pay attention to it as well and round your lips just a bit. Car. Car. You hear the difference? My tongue is doing the Same thing. Car, car. What sounds better? Far, far. Start, start. All I did was push my lips a little bit, creating more of a resonance box for the R sound, and it resonated differently and sounded better. Okay, so that's the R sound. And the pitfalls of the R sound, as I said, is sometimes not fully pronouncing the vowel before. The vowel might not be clear or easily going into your native R, because you're not focusing on it. You're focusing on the R. So even though you might know how to pronounce the R, you don't catch it when speaking, when it comes to the soft R. So if you're one of those people who know how to say the R, they use the R. But it's inconsistent. I would dare to say that the places where it's inconsistent, where you mispronounce the R or you use your native R instead, it is probably in all those soft R positions. I'm guessing you need to test it and to check it yourself. But if your R is inconsistent in your speech, if you don't know, just record yourself speaking freely, and then try to pay attention to it as you listen to it. So these are the pitfalls of the soft either over pronouncing it or mispronouncing it, or sometimes just making it too short. Car fart. It's a long vowel. It's like a diphthong, right? There is the vowel and then it changes to the R. There is transformation there, and it needs time. So usually it's a little longer than, let's say, the as in ship. Moving on to the st sound. Now, technically, the st is an R vowel. However, it is so incredibly dominant that I call it a hybrid between a strong R and a soft R. Because while it always appears after a vowel, this one takes over the vowel stir, and it behaves like it's one long, strong vowel, right? But there was never a vowel after it. So we need to treat it differently. The way you pronounce it is just like you would pronounce a strong R. But the secret is to transition smoothly and directly from the consonant to the R, skipping the vowel in the middle, no matter what vowel is written in skipping it, there is no vowel. And making the R a little longer first, not fairst or definitely not fierced first, right? The R takes over and it takes over, and it kind of like functions as the vowel and as the R consonant together first. So it's longer. Learn her, it's hers, right? I move from the H to the R. It's not her. It's not fairst. People have a hard time transitioning from the consonant to the R. So what they do is they add a vowel there. Whether it's a vowel that is written in right, like the vowel of the word that. The way it's spelled fierst or therm instead of first or firm or terms instead of terms, because there is an E there and it's easier. But hey, there is no e. It's terms. Okay, you want to move from the T to the R immediately. Ter. Ter terms, turkey, terminal, turn. All of those words, they all have the stir sound. So sometimes the vowel is a pure vowel that transitions to the R, like air, hair, my hair, or sometimes it's a stir, and then the R takes over her. And no, you can't tell which one it is from the spelling. But once you start listening to English, knowing that these are your options, you'll start re categorizing all of those sounds into fake categories that you will have created in your head, because all it takes is awareness. Then once you start hearing the words, you start recognizing, hey, this is an R or an air. But here, here there was no vowel. It's er, Learn girl first. So now that you know that there are these three R sounds, strong R, that's the easiest. Round your lips before a vowel. Then we have the R vowel. Put the focus on the vowel first, 90% vowel, 10% R. And then we have the stir, which is like a nice, big, fat, strong R that sits there and takes over the vowel. Inconsiderate R, that's what it is. It's an inconsiderate R that takes over. It's the extroverted R. You know, I like personifying my sounds. Okay, so we know that there are these three R's. And just to remind you, if you want to practice them, you can download the practice sheet that I've included in the show notes. Okay, so you'll have a list of strong R words, soft R words, and stir words. And the stir words are always really interesting because they're, like, mind blowing, really. Is this the way you're supposed to do it? Of course. It comes with an audio too, so just to make sure that you hear it the way it's supposed to be pronounced. So practice with the audio as well. You can also go to hadar shemesh.com 17 that's where you'll find the freebie for this episode. Okay, so let me give you some R tricks. When the R appears after a T, as in the word train, it changes the T and the T becomes a ch sound. As in chicken, Train, Tree, trust. The reason why that happens, by the way, is because the tongue anticipates the next sound. And when for the R, the tongue is positioned further back, so the tongue is going closer to the back part of the mouth. And as it's going closer, it actually gets to the position where the ch sound is pronounced. If the tongue is not close to the teeth, it's going to sound like a ch. This is why it really does sound like chicken. But it's still a T. Trust me. Trust. Same thing with the D. By the way, when the D appears before an R, what happens there? Dry J. Dry. Dream. It's a J sound. As in joy, Dream, Dry. Draught. Dress. Right. It's not dressed. Dress, dress. Okay, that's fun and interesting. A lot of people tell me, no way. It's not how you pronounce it. But then when they speak, they use it. They don't even notice that that's what they're doing. Again, it's really funny how the brain perceives sounds and how the tongue is executing those sounds. Always pay attention to what's really happening in your mouth and in other people's mouths, but don't physically do it, because then it's going to be weird, you going into someone's mouth and be like, can I look into your mouth and see what your tongue is doing? It's really important for my pronunciation. Okay, thanks. Then the cops come. Especially if you do that in the U.S. then you're like, under arrest for three days for harassing people and looking into their mouths. Okay, let's move on. See, that's another reason why you should really tune into my podcast, because I give you practical tools to live life by. Don't look at other people's mouths as they're speaking. Okay, I think I've kind of like exhausted this joke. Another hack that you can use. When the R appears in function words like for or and over, then These are soft Rs, right? An R that appears after a vowel. If the vowel is reduced in these words or the words are just pronounced with very little emphasis, then you can actually drop the R, especially if it appears right before a consonant and no one will notice. Clear is better than accurate, right? For example, if I want to say something like it's for the party, then I would probably reduce the for to fur. It's for the party. It's for the party. But then, lo and behold, there is an rth Transition here for the party. Now, God and the universe have created this transition just to make our lives more challenging. But we embrace it. And sometimes we can cheat. So on one hand, I want you to practice those challenging transitions, like the r and the th. But sometimes I wholeheartedly encourage you to cheat. Drop that R, my friend. Drop that R. It's for the party. Have you noticed that I did not pronounce the R? No, because it doesn't matter right here. It's for the party. So don't waste your time practicing the R in tricky transitions. If it's not a must, I'm over the moon, happy about it. Over the. Over the. Over the. Have you noticed that I haven't said over the moon? Probably not. And if you have, you still figured out what I was trying to say. Okay, so when it's really tricky, you can easily drop it, especially if it's at the end of the word. If it's a schwa, R. If it's an R, vowel, you can drop it. Especially. Especially if it's before another consonant, like a th. Another tricky consonant. Let's talk about tricky transitions, and we'll wrap up with that. I think you might be exhausted by now, so I'll do the most challenging exercises right now. So if you stick through it, you're my hero. Really. If you're too exhausted, then just listen to it and come back to it later. I think I find, I hear from my students, that and my followers and all of you out there, that when the R appears before an L or before a th or after a th, that's where you get all tangled up. So let's talk about the R and the L and then some tricky words around that when the L appears after an R, it's a dark L. The dark L is created in the back of the throat as well. The root of the tongue pushes down, the body of the tongue stretches inside the mouth. The tip of the tongue doesn't necessarily touch the upper palate. L. L, well, heal, fall. Now, it's very similar to the R, but it is different because for the R, the sides of the tongue touch the sides of the teeth. R. And for the L, the tongue pushes down and the sides don't touch anymore. Right? I'm just pushing it as if I'm about to choke or something. I'm choking. You remember how it was when we were kids playing like we're dying? Oh, oh, choking. Maybe it was just in my kindergarten, but we used to do that every afternoon. And then I would pretend to be dead, I would always die first, and then I would pretend to be dead. And for some reason, I thought that being dead means that your tongue has to stick out. As you can see, I had issues with my tongue as a kid, too, so I would have to lay there during recess with my tongue out, playing dead. Because I was dead, I couldn't, you know, go into the game again. So I would lay there with my tongue out for like, 15 minutes, and then I had to go back in. Okay, I hope that made it a little more clear how to pronounce the dark L. So sides of the tongue touch the sides of the teeth. Then you relax it, push the tongue down, create more tension for the L. ERL Girl, I have a bunch of videos about this transition, so I'm going to link to them in the show notes. Okay, that's the R and the L. By the way, if you tend to confuse the two, the secret is to make sure that for the R, the tongue doesn't touch the upper palate. For the l, even though it's a dark L, the tongue does touch the upper palate. If you tend to pronounce the dark L as the R or as a W, then make sure that the tip of the tongue touches the upper palate, especially after an R. When it comes to the thr, the transition needs to be smooth. So start with a th, and then pull the tongue in. For the R, pull the tongue in and push the sides to the tongue. A common mistake is that people tend to touch the upper palate with the tip of the tongue three and then make that R sound. Three. Right. So you want to think about your tongue going inside and down without it touching the upper palate. That's the secret. And then to the position of the R.3. Also, when you practice these tricky words, hold out the R, make it longer three until you run out of air. Three. Throat. Okay. With rapid. And also, when we transition from the R to the th, are they okay? So you pull the tongue in, don't rush to stick the tongue out for the th, we get all tangled up and stuck and confused when we overthink it or when we're not present in the sound that we're pronouncing. Currently, we're already trying to pronounce the next sound. Okay. And then your R will be compromised. So instead of are they, you might be saying something like, are they? This is why holding out the R can really help. Are they? Of course, in this situation, it's not that big of a deal because we said that when it comes to the soft R in function words, you can drop it. But for the sake of practice, I do encourage you to hold it out as much as you can. Okay, so basically I've already said that. But if you want to practice the R, first of all, you have to be aware of those three types of R. So when you hear people speak, you can identify which one's which. Then you need to identify what's more challenging and what's less challenging. Because if you might be pronouncing the strong R easily and only struggling with words with R and l, like girl and world, then you don't have a problem with the R. Okay? It's all about how you frame it in your head. You don't have an issue with the R if you only struggle with these words you have. The R is a challenge for you when it appears before an L or after a w, like in were and world. But the R is not the problem. It's the sequence of these consonants. And when you frame it like that, it's easier to tackle it. And it's not that overwhelming because it's not I have an issue with the R, It's I struggle when the R is before an L or after a W or whatever the challenge is for you. Okay? And when you want to practice it, you take the part that is challenging, whether it's a specific sequence or specifically the soft R or the soft R when the R is after the as in or, right. Maybe it's just one R vowel that is challenging. And then you work on this transition and you drill it and you repeat it and you record yourself and you listen to yourself. That's how you practice it. Listening to the podcasts and practicing with me is great, but it's not enough. It's not going to get you result. It's not going to let you integrate it into your speech and use it freely. Okay? You'll be aware of it. But awareness doesn't take us anywhere. You can't buy groceries with awareness. You can't buy groceries with the R either, but it could have been a nice analogy. Okay, that's it. Now that you know everything there is to know about the R, you know what your challenge is, and I encourage you to share it with me. So come on over to my website, hadarshemish.com 17 the name of this episode, and let me know in the comments below what is the most challenging position R position for you. Is it the strong R? Is it the soft R? Is it the stir? Is it the stir before an L after an L And I invite you to share with me anything else that you feel like or anything else that you need help with. Also, if you enjoy my podcast, I do ask you to share it with your friends and your family and with people who might benefit from it as well and might be interested in improving their English simply by listening to English and English talks. And also if you happen to listen to it on itunes, please take a moment and rate and review the podcast. It would be wonderful and it helps reach more people that way because when the rating is high then itunes offers it to more people and people actually come across this podcast because of your reviews and your ratings. So if you can take a moment and help spread the word by rating this podcast, I would be extremely grateful. Thank you so much for tuning in. I love having you around and speaking to you wherever you're at and I hope you are having a beautiful day and enjoy the rest of your day with the ring or without. Bye.