Hadar Shemesh teaches how to pronounce English R by positioning your tongue against your upper teeth and rounding your lips, then walks through drills from isolated sounds to full sentences. Practice about 10 minutes daily, watch the video once for visual cues, and use the linked word lists for extra work.
Questions this episode answers
Episode 54
About 10 minutes a day
Audio version of a video (host suggests watching the video once for visual guidance)
A freebie list of words, phrases, and sentences containing R (linked in the episode description)
Chapters
Welcome to the Influency Podcast. I'm Hadar and this is episode number 54. And today we have for you VR Boot Camp. So you are probably wondering, why am I going all military on you? What is the R Boot Camp, and why do I need it? So, the R Boot Camp is a daily drill that will help you use the R spontaneously without a lot of effort every single day when you speak. So if your R is awesome and you use it easily and you have no problem pronouncing it when speaking, and you never get stuck when you have all these weird words like world and squirrel and mirror, then skip this one. This one is not for you. However, if every now and then you feel like your tongue gets all tangled up inside itself or around your teeth because of the R, or maybe you know how to make the R, but you simply go back to your native R when speaking, or if you actually struggle with pronouncing the R and you're not sure how to do it, then this episode is for you. This is the audio version of a video about the R Bootcamp. And if you feel that the audio is not enough, you can go ahead and watch the video. I'm going to post a link in the description below, but I think the ideal practice is to watch the video once and then play the audio whenever you can. So make sure you save this episode and you do it whenever you can, ideally every single day for a limited period of time, so you can actually see and feel the difference, because that's what we're here for, the difference. I've also included a freebie for you with a list of words, phrases, and sentences that have the R. This is like a advanced practice or luxury practice once you're done with your R Boot Camp.
Okay, are you ready?
Let's do it.
Hey, everyone. Welcome to the r booth camp. Welcome to the R Boot Camp. This boot camp is for you. If you struggle with pronouncing the R in English and or you struggle with using it freely when speaking, even though you know how to make it, it's just not there for you when speaking. If you do this exercise every single day, 10 minutes a day, you will see how easier it is for you to start using the R when speaking. First of all, let's understand what you need to do to get to the R sound. For the R. The tongue pulls back. The sides of the tongue push against the sides of the upper teeth. The tongue is curved in the middle of the mouth. It's like just standing there with power and the tip of the tongue is not touching anything. It can point up, up and back, forward, down. Honestly, it doesn't matter. What matters is that the sides of the tongue push against the sides of the upper teeth and there is tension in the back. One more thing is that your lips need to round. You want to think of it like a growling dog or a pirate.
ARR.
R. Now, it doesn't matter if the R is at the beginning or at the end. Let's get used to this position. A lot of times it feels weird, and this is why you're not using it when speaking. So you got to get comfortable with that new position and new sound. Again.
Good.
Let's begin with Ra ra, ra, ra ra.
Let's do a few of those.
Ra ra.
We're going to do is we're going to use the R before and after different vowel sounds to get used to saying and hearing the sound.
Ra, ra Ra.
Now A.
Re. Re. Re. Re.
Now I, R.
Now row, row, row, row, row, row.
Good.
Now Roy.
Like the name Roy. Drop your jaw, Roy. Keep the tongue down after you're done.
With the R. Roy, Roy, Roy, Roy, Roy, Roy.
Good.
Ow. Row, row, row, row, row, row.
One more time.
Ra ra. Ra. Ray Ra Ra.
Now let's try a few more vowels.
Ra, Ra as in red. Ruh, Ra ra.
I'm deliberately not using the R in words just yet. I want you to get comfortable with saying that new sound or weird sound or R sound, whatever you want to call it, before and after, different vowel sounds. Get comfortable with it.
Ra ra ra ra ra ra. E, R, E, R, E, R, E.
R, E. Round your lips.
Ruh, rah, rah, rah, Rah rah, as in cat. Ra ra. Oo ru ra ra ra.
Ah.
Ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra ra.
Very good. Now let's move on to comparing Rs and W's.
Ruh ru w, r w, R W.
Make sure that they're different R, different.
Quality W, R, R.
Now let's compare Rs and Ls. Ruh Luh for the L. The tongue touches the upper palate. R luh for the R. It doesn't.
Ruh luh ruh luh ruh luh ruH.
Luke again. Rw ruh w, r, r, R, R.
R, L, R L, R, L, R, L, R L. Very good.
Now let's try a few words where the R appears after a vowel.
R, R, R, R. Keep your jaw.
Open and make sure that the tongue doesn't go up for the R as you're pronouncing the vowel at the beginning.
Now.
Air as in dare.
Air.
Air. Air, Air.
And again, don't try to go into words just yet. It's really important to sit with just Rs and vowels before and after. Get comfortable with the sound and the drills. That's what matters. That's what develops the muscle memory, okay? That's how you get comfortable with the sound and start using it spontaneously again.
Air, air, air.
Push the lips just a bit at the end.
Air, air.
Now ear.
Ear.
E. E, E as in C. Ear. Only at the end, there's the R. Ear. Or.
Or. Or.
Or. Not er.
Er.
Er.
But.
Or as in four.
Or.
Or.
Or. Or. Now let's practice clusters.
Like cry. Cry.
We're holding out the r. Cry.
Cry. Buri. Bur.
I.
Don't try to find meaning in the words. I'm just making sounds.
Bur. I bury. Fry. Stir. Eye. Stir. I stir. I stir.
I.
Kerry. Gr gr I. Gry scurry. Scurry. Spur I. Spur.
I.
Spur. I spur.
I.
Good. Ready for some words?
R.r. red. R. R. Red. R. R r rat. R r reed. R r reed. Ruh. Ru. Rick. R. Rick. R r. Rook. Ru. Ru.
Rookie.
Ru. Ru. Rookie. R R. Rob. RRA Rob. Rora. Raid. R Ride. R R Road. Ra Race.
Good.
Some words with clusters. Break.
Bridges.
Crazy.
Credit.
Strange. Street. Creepy creatures. Free. My friends. Stripes and streets. Trick or treat. Let's try some sentences. Rice prices are rising, and that's really frustrating. Rice prices are rising, and that's really frustrating. Park the car in the darkest part of the yard. Park the car in the darkest part of the yard. Park the car in the darkest part of the yard. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. We need to rest after the long trip. We need to rest after the long trip. Now, let's prolong the R for each one of them. We need to.
Rest after the long trip.
We need to rest after the long trip. I bought four shorts at the store. I bought four shorts at the store. I bought four shorts at the store. Shirley is celebrating her birthday. Shirley is celebrating her birthday. Shirley is celebrating her birthday. Shirley is celebrating her birthday. The early bird gets the worm. The early bird gets the worm. The early bird gets the worm.
We were working around the world.
Were wr Were work. W arc Work around the world. W r Old dark L World.
We were working around the world. We were working around the world? We were working around the world? We were working around the world.
Red leather, yellow leather, lavender leather. Red leather, yellow leather, lavender leather. Red leather, yellow leather, lavender leather. Okay, that's it. Do this every day, and I guarantee that the R is going to be a lot easier for you to pronounce and also to use spontaneously when speaking. And if you like this video, you might also like my daily pronunciation, morning routine and my vocabulary drills. All the links are in the description or right up here. Have a beautiful week, and I will see you next week in the next video.
