The R Sounds of English - Masterclass

Hello, hello, hello everyone. Welcome to the R master class. How are you doing? I hope you're well. We are broadcasting live and currently I'm still on my own. So I'm gonna wait for you guys to join. In the meantime, I'm going to share that I have a word stuck in my head and that word is shenanigans. It's like mischief or manipulation, manipulative activities, dishonest activities by someone or tricks kids do. Shenanigans. Stop with your shenanigans. I don't know why I got this word in my head but all day long I'm like walking around saying shenanigans, Shenanigans. Maybe it's the music of the word shenanigans. So stop with your shenanigans and let's talk. Say hi in the comments. So I'm broadcasting right now inside the influency community. So hello influencers. And I'm also live on my YouTube channel and my Facebook page. So I'll be taking questions first from the influency community when you have any. And I can also see comments from everyone else. So please say hi, let me know where you are from. And as you can see, it's the other side. Looks like it's the other side. R masterclass. Today we're going to talk about the R. You are getting a full on lesson about all the different R sounds in American English. And I will talk about other dialects as well if you want. So let me know in the comments. Hello. Hello. Okay, good. So we have Italy and Algeria and Egypt here in the house. And we have Norway. Hi Norway. Argentina. It's going really fast. Haiti. Hey. China. Vietnam. Dominican Republic. Amazing. I used to live in New York on Dyckman street. That's like 200th Street. And it was a neighborhood of a lot of Dominican Republic people. People from Dominican Republic who immigrated and who speak Spanish. And I wasn't speaking Spanish. And every time I would go anywhere it was just like a neighborhood that everyone would speak Spanish at and everyone would think that I'm also Dominican and they would speak to me in Spanish and they wouldn't believe me when I said that I don't speak Spanish. I always remember that I was like, I should know Spanish. That was 15 years ago and now I still don't speak Spanish. Unfortunately I did study it for a little bit back in the day. Back in the day. So we have Turkey. How long will it last? It's going to be 60 minutes and it's going to be recorded. So if you have to leave, unfortunately, then you can catch the replay on my YouTube channel and inside the influency community and on my Facebook page. Okay. May from Israel. Hello. Hello. Gustavo from Mexico. Very exciting. Okay, guys, on a scale of 1 to 10, how do you feel about your R? 1 means it's extremely challenging. I don't even know how to pronounce it. And 10 is. It's amazing. I have no issues. I don't even know what I'm doing here in this masterclass. I'm just here, here to chill in the comments. So one is really, really hard. I don't even know what to do with my tongue. 10. It's no issues at all. Where are you on the scale of one to ten? Fernando is like ten. Amazing. Okay, good. So ten is great. And the lower numbers is means that you are struggling. Okay, so we have seven, six, nine. Fabio, don't cheat. Kidding. Fabio is very experienced. This is why you put a nine. Right? You did put a nine. Like everything goes by very, very fast. So we have 7, 6, 7, 10. Great. So for those of you who don't struggle with the R, I think it's going to be extremely valuable for you as well to understand how to map out the different R sounds in English. And. And if you struggle with the R sound, this is great for you because I'm going to teach you the basics as well. So it's going to be the basic level training, but also high level training if you're more into understanding how to map out all the different R sounds in English, because there are a few. And this is why it actually sounds different in different dialects. And we'll talk about that as well. Okay? Okie dokie. Good. So we have some fives. Sevens minus one. Albert, don't be so hard on yourself, okay? But stay with me until the end. I bet that we can raise that number. Okay, let's start with a warm up. We're going to start with a warm up. No matter how your R sound sounds, just go for it. R, R, R. In the meantime, look at my mouth. Look at what I'm doing. Okay. R R La la la la la la. La la la ra. Let's do it a little faster. Are you ready? Ra ra la la la la la la la wa wa wa. Let's do it again. Ra ra ra la la la la. Again. Why have I chosen these three sounds? The R because it's the R master class. But the W and the L are sounds that are very close to the R phonetically. And a lot of people substitute the R either with an A sound or. Or with an L. Both exist in American English. Now, the R could be substituted with other sounds like. Or. I get it. We will tackle this in a little bit, but first, let me tell you about the American R. I call it the American R, but for our purpose, it's also the British R. Okay. When you produce the R, it's pretty much the same. There is slight difference between how you would produce it in American English and in British English, but. But it's so subtle, it's not relevant for our purposes right now. So to make the R sound, basically what you want to do is to raise the back of the tongue, push the sides of the tongue against the sides of your teeth, push your lips forward. Okay? So I'm actually going to move the text right now and only be here in front of you. So you kind of like pull the tongue in. The back of the tongue goes up the sides of the tongue, touch the sides of the teeth. Listen to me. This is probably the most important part about the R. This part. The tip of the tongue could go up, could go down, forward. As long as it doesn't touch anything. The tip of the tongue shouldn't be touching anything. Like this bite on the sides of your teeth. And you want to make this weird muffled sound that sounds something like this. Okay? It sounds a little bit like a dog growling or barking. That's another way to get to the R. If it's really hard, you can try this. You can open your mouth and just say, Right, Start with an ah and then say, bring the tongue up. Why? Because then you bring it up and the tip of the tongue touches the upper palate. So let's do it together. And now I want you to lift the tongue up as if you're lifting it up for an L. But instead of touching the upper palate, keep it in the middle. See what I did here? Like, you're pretending to pronounce an L, but you're not bringing the tip of the tongue to touch the upper palate. So use a mirror, use your phone camera, use something to actually see your tongue. Because let me tell you this, you might be thinking that your tongue is doing one thing when in fact it does something else. If you're not used to working with your tongue, if you're not used to pronunciation work, then it might get all confusing, right? Your tongue might not get to the right place. You might think that you're giving it the order to do something, but it wouldn't so use a mirror or your phone camera or your webcam, but don't start checking your phone because we're still in the middle of the training. Okay, good. So what can help is like, biting on the sides of the teeth, on the sides of the tongue. You cannot bite on your teeth to feel. To feel the sides of your tongue. And then you know that this is the part that needs to touch the teeth. Okay? So the tip of the tongue shouldn't be touching anything. You could lift it up a little bit and you want to kind of like tense up the tongue. Like, you look at my fist, right? Like my fist. I could have it loose and I could clench it, and then there's more pressure there. This is what needs to happen to the tongue. Now. There is something beautiful about the R sound. The moment it clicks to the right place. You don't need to put a lot of effort into the sound. So this is something really important that I want you to pay attention to. So if you're doing something else, come back and listen. Because the challenge about the R is that people put a lot more pressure or effort than they need. And then you're exhausted after speaking, then you feel tired, then you feel artificial. Not you. It feels like you're changing your sound because once you start putting a lot of pressure inside the mouth, it changes your voice. And then it's like, I don't sound like myself in English. That's why. Okay, so this is why pronunciation is so important. Not just so that your R sounds American. No, so that you feel effortless, so you don't get tired, so you don't change your voice unintentionally, so you don't add tension. That is not needed because tension creates tension. So it needs to click. And the sound is perfect if you don't put a lot of effort, just a little bit of tension in the tongue, like I explained. Now, the secret is this. Round your lips. Red. Let's do it again. Red. Some people might trill the tongue. That means that you're touching the upper palate. Pull it in and try to find that. That quality. Some people might trill it in the back, Right? There are different R sounds depending on the different dialect, different language. That means that the back of the tongue is too high. It shouldn't be touching anything. Only the sides of the tongue are touching something. The back of the tongue, the front of the tongue, not touching anything. And for some of you, you might need to practice it a little bit more. It might take you a little longer to Understand how to do it. You might need to watch it again and again until you get it. Okay, so I gave you the tip of the Allah. You can also start with the J sound. And as you pronounce the, you want to pull the tongue in. Why? Because for the J sound, the tongue is touching, is directing towards that place where you would direct the tongue when you pronounce the R. I know it was very complicated what I just said. The J sound is very similar to the R sound, only that the tongue is not touching anything for the R. So when you start with the sound, see, I'm even rounding my lips for it. And you pull it in the tongue in until it doesn't touch anything, you're likely to get to the R sound. Now that we have practiced a little bit how to pronounce the R. And again, it does take time. So don't get frustrated if you don't get it at this first attempt. Okay? Don't worry about it. I want to talk about the types of R, because there are two types of Rs and they behave a little differently in the mouth. And also I would practice them differently if I were just starting out with learning pronunciation. So the two Rs in English are the strong R and soft R. Easy to remember. You can also call them R consonant and R vowel. Let me explain. We'll start with the R consonant or what I like to call the strong R. The strong R comes before a vowel, as in the word red. So the strong R always appears before a vowel. For example, rich. So you start with the R and then it opens up to a vowel. Re. Re. Rich. Rock. Don't forget to round your lips, my friends. I'm looking at you. Rain. Rich. Rock. Rain. Pride. Great. Train. Have you noticed something? When I said the word train, let me know in the comments. I did something a little different. So let me read it again. And I hope you're practicing with me. This is not a lesson where you just listen to it. You have to practice with me, right? Because then you feel it. You get it. You got to hear it, got to see it. You got to experience it in your mouth. Pride. Great train. Very good, Susan. 10 points. Pride. Great CH train. TR turns into a ch sound. I just saw a funny reel today of an account of two teachers. One or two speakers. One is an English American English speaker, and one is British English. And they every time pronounce different words differently. And then they make fun of each other. And they were practicing the word tuna. Tuna. And the British guy said, Tuna. And then the American guy made fun of him. So sometimes the T turns into a ch even without the R in some dialects. Tuesday could also be in American English. Unrelated. Went on a tangent. Okay, so went off pride. Great train arrive. Could be in the middle of the word as well. As long as the R is before a vowel, it's a strong R. And then you want to make sure that you round your lips and that's like your strongest R. Carry deliberate. Okay? Deliberate, Deliberate. Our vowels appear. The R appears after a vowel, not before. So strong R. Our consonant is before a vowel. R vowels is after a vowel. It's also called R colored vowels. And the focus should be on the vowel and not on the R. And this is where it gets interesting across dialects, because in American English you will pronounce the r, but in British English, R vowels are not. The R is not pronounced in R vowels for the most part. I'll show you in a sec. Okay, so there are colored r. No, there are. It's a tongue twister. There are five R colored vowels. There are R colored vowels. There are five R colored vowels. Gotta say that again. Practice it with me. There are five R colored vowels. There are actually six, but we're talking about the main five because the sixth one is a special one and we dedicate a different section to it. R as in far. R. R. R. We have the oz and father there. And then you lift the tongue up for the R. So the focus is on the ah, fa, fa. And only at the end. 90% vowel, 10% far. That's it. Far. It's so far. Now, here's why the focus should be on the vowel and not the R. If the R takes over, fur, it might end up sounding like a different word. So I want you to focus on the vowel and not let the R take over the vowel. In fact, you could drop the R here. Fa. The house is fa. And then I just sound like I'm trying to sound British. Okay? Because in British English and other dialects of English, the R drops for in those positions for R colored vowels. Okay? This is why it's called colored. You just color the vowel. It's not a real R. It is, but you get what I'm saying? So R as in far or as in for round your lips. For this one, or this is the closest sound to a neutral o sound that does appear in a lot of languages. Or for. For again, if the R comes up too soon, fur, it's going to sound like a different word. Air, as in fair third ear as in fear, the fourth vowel. And then we have or, as in fury. We'll talk about this one in a sec. So let's break it down. Let's practice all 5R vowels, and then we'll get to the special one. So, R as in far. Now, I want you to tell me in the comments which one seems to be the most challenging one for you. Far. For fair, fear or fury are far, or for air, fair, ear, fear or fury. Type it in. Let's start with the R. As in far. As in father. We talked about it. Let's just practice it. Bar, star, 90% vowel, 10% r. R. Oh, that's pretty unanimous. Fury. You don't like the word fury? Okay. Bar, star, karma. Not karma. Karma. Bar, star, karma, guard, park, dark. Again. Bar, star, karma, guard, park, dark. That's the R as in far. As in car or round your lips. Okay. Sometimes some speakers might open up the lips a little bit and then say something like far, far. And then it's going to sound like the other vowel. So round your lips. The vowel is important here. Door, more. Drop your jaw. Create a lot of space. Not more. Gotta you. You gotta have that movement from the vowel to the R. You want to be able to raise the tongue somewhere. If your jaw is too closed for any vowel in English, then it's going to be hard for you, especially in our vowel. In our vowels, to lift the tongue up for the R, create space. Most speakers don't have the same space. Mouth opening as speakers of English because you have all these different vowels. You have to get used to dropping your jaw, especially American English. Jaw is very loose. There's a lot of space. Okay. So you got to be able to go somewhere. And if your jaw is locked, it's going to be hard to get to that sound. And also the quality of the vowel is not going to be the same. Door, more. Store. Let's do it again. Door, more. Store. Form. Did you fill out the form? Did you fill out the form? If you don't round your lips, if you don't keep the shape of the vowel, what is going. What is it going to sound like? Did you fill up the firm? Firm is a different word. F, I, R, M. We'll talk about it. Storm. Storm. Normal. Normal. I'm going to go back to my survey here. And fury wins as the most hated R vowel so far. I concur. I agree. That's my least favorite one. No, actually, I kind of like it. I'll tell you why when we get to it. Okay. This Is a good one. Air as in fair. Look at my mouth. So we have the es in red. And then you want to lift the tongue up for the R. Air. Fair, fair, fair. Round your lips a little bit at the end. Care bear stare. Care bear stare. Care bear. You're such a care bear. Hair wear. Compare. No, O for the word compare. It's a schwa. Hair wear, compare. Good. Keep the space in your mouth for the vowel. Focus on the vowel. This one is a good one as well. Ear. Here, this is a big shift from the E sound. The tongue is moving forward to the R. So the tongue is kind of like juggling there. It does a lot of shenanigans. Ear, ear, ear. A lot of times what happens is that people again, try anticipate the R. And then what happens is that they don't fully pronounce the E. So it ends up being something like fur and not fear. Ear. Ta da. Okay. Dear. When I practice it with my students, I. I like to ask them to use their hand when they practice it. Dear. And then you only pull it. It's kind of like you stretch your arm. Dear. And then you pull it really quickly for the R. Year. Steer gear. Weird. That's a weird word. Appear. Good. This is your favorite, you guys. The or as in fury. Now, I would maybe use a different word now to describe this. Let's talk about it as the or as in port. Poor, poor, poor. We have it here. Poor, poor, poor. This sound is somewhere between oo, O and ah in a way. Technically, it's the last cook. Look book, which could be new. Slash, interesting to pronounce. Challenging, that is, for speakers of English, the second language. It doesn't appear in a lot of languages. This sound. Cook. Look. Book. Before the R, the lips are a bit more rounded. Pour, Pour. So, like, think of as if your mouth is pronouncing an O, your lips are pronouncing an ooh. And then you shift to the R. Poor. Tour secure or hot potato in your mouth. That's a secret for everything. Now, there aren't a lot of words with this vowel sound. So that's the good news. You don't have to suffer through this pronunciation in many words. Okay? There aren't a lot of words. And in fact, in some dialects, like Canadian dialects, for example, this sound merges with the or sound. You might hear someone saying poor instead of poor. Okay, I know you didn't hear the difference. I'll say it again. The first one is the or. Listen. Pore. In American English, it would be spelled P O, R, E, pore, versus poor, poo, poo, pour. But if you can't hear the difference or make the difference, it's not a big deal. It's not as critical as the other vowel sounds. So this one is a bit more ooish, poor, tour secure. This is a new category and probably one of my favorite R sounds to teach, because there's always like a. An aha moment when I teach it. Like, oh, my God, now I get all these words that I couldn't pronounce before. And this one is the er, as in stir. So we can already look at. I need to get used to it. Add the word and see that it's spelled with an I. So technically, your brain takes you towards the E sound. Right? Steer. But no steer, steer. The wheel. Steering wheel is spelled with two E's and has the high E sound. This is a different vowel sound. This is the R as in stir. So the stir is another kind of soft R. So slash R vowel. But in this case, the focus is not on the vowel. In fact, you want to eliminate the vowel and transition from one consonant to the R as quickly as possible while ignoring the vowel sound. And it can be represented with four different vowel letters, all the vowel letters except for a and sometimes a combination of the vowel letters. So here's how it sounds. Firm. See what I'm doing? Fur. From the F to the R, there is no E, no eh, no ah, firm, firm, turm, burn, firm, turn, burn. Basically, it's like I'm practicing the pronunciation of the R. Fur, fur, fur, firm, firm, firm. In. In British English, you would transit. You would pronounce a neutral vowel closer to a schwa sound. So there is a vowel there. It's just very neutral. This is why I want you to think about it as if there is nothing there. Because the moment you don't think of it as a vowel, your mouth goes into a neutral position without planning it. Okay, Firm term. Burn. How would you say the first word? Let me hear it. Oh, someone was just asking about these words. We're getting there. I told you. Yes, sir, I told you. These are these. These are the words that mess with your brain. We have more of those. So the first word is not where. Where belongs to the as in red, right? The where, care, dare that we practiced a few minutes ago. But it's not the same vowel. This is not an S sound. It's a stir. So it's were, w, tun, r. Were. Were. We were. We were there. Where were we? Where Were. Where? Were. Where were we? Girl. So not girl. Not girl. Say the word bigger. Bigger. Bigger. Ger. Gur. Girl. So the end of bigger is the beginning of girl. Because it's the same transition G to er. In this case, it's a schwa R. The stir is a schwa R. But stressed. The stir is always stress. It's always the primary stress of the word girl. Good. Girl. Girl. Now, the reason, another reason why it's tricky is because of the L. Sometimes it's hard for some people to pronounce the L. Some of you might confusing Rs and Ls, which is, you know, could be confusing when they're one next to each other. And also it's a dark L, so it's not a typical L sound. It's created very similarly to the R sound. So you're just like pushing a little bit more here to pronounce the L. We'll talk about the L in a little bit. So were. Girl. World. So the world. It starts with the word were. Were. And then you just add ad L. D. We're World. If you skip the L, it's going to sound like word were. World. So don't skip the L. Were. Girl. World. Urgent. That's urgent. Earth, by the way, Earth. Planet Earth starts with ea, but it's the same sound as urgent. That's the stir. Okay, so this is why it's so tricky. Concerned. Here it's spelled with an E. Concerned. I'm concerned about you. What about that last one? Where's the R? Tell me, how would you say this word? I will take a sip of water in the meantime to create suspense and to drink. Now you're going to hear the water going down my throat because the microphone is here. It's always weird. Okay. Yes, very good. So this word has an L in the spelling, has two Ls, but the first L is actually pronounced as an R. So the L is not pronounced in, is pronounced as a stir sound. So it actually represents the stir. It's the only word that is spelled with an L and pronounced with an R. So it's not a rule that you need to remember. But listen up. Colonel. Colonel. Lieutenant Colonel. Colonel. So this is what it actually sounds like. Corn. Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel pronounce the same. Colonel. Colonel. Colonel. Urgent. Concerned. Colonel. Urgent. The Colonel is concerned. That was kind of lame. Okay, let's practice some sentences. Ron's last purchase was from a department store near his workplace. Let's break it down. Ron's. We have a strong R round Your lips. Ron's last purchase. Per. Per. Which sound is it? Stir. Purchase was from. This is a strong R because it's before a vowel, even though it's reduced. Still. A vowel. From a department store. Two soft Rs. Department store. If I drop the R here, Department store just sounds a little bit more British. Near his workplace. Work. Stir workplace. Less talking, more practicing. Ron's last purchase was from a department store near his workplace. One more time, my friends. Ron's last purchase was from a department store near his workplace. Rachel recorded a song for her dear friend about her poor little teddy bear. Poor, Poor. Remember it's your favorite sound. Poor, poor, poor. Poor, Poor little teddy bear. Rachel recorded a song for her dear friend about her poor. Her not hair. Her poor little teddy bear. Are you starting to map it out? Is it still very confusing or are you starting to see the different R sounds and where you should put your focus? Rachel, Strong R recorded. The first R is stronger. Round your lips. A song for her or for her? Stir. Stir. It's actually schwa. R. Dear friend about her poor little teddy bear. Don't forget to round your lips for the Rs. The difference between poor and poor. There is no difference. By the way, there is a question here. Good question. What is the difference between poor and poor? It's the same pronunciation. One more. Robert and Rose married in an old churchyard when they were 33 years old. Robert and Rose married in an old churchyard. Church. Church. Church. That's a stir sound. When they were. Were. Were. Stir sound. 33. 30 is a stir sound. 30. We have the flap T there. Don't. Don't be afraid. You got this. 30 sounds like a D. 33 years old. Okay, I want to move on and talk about similar sounds. If you are confusing the R sound with another sound, what would it be? Let me know. And you know what? Before we go into minimal pairs, I'm going to take a minute and chat with you for a little bit and answer some questions because I think we have some really good questions here. Or not. Wait, let me find those questions. Okay, you're answering my questions, which is amazing. Okay. The words form and fern sound the same. I think you were responding to something that I was saying, but technically they're different. So the word form has the sound form and the word firm has the stir sound. And if you do not pronounce the pure vowel for form, it is going to sound the same. Okay? So pay attention. Okay. Word. World. And weird. Were. Were. Were. World. Right. So we have the stir sound. And then weird. That's a E sound. And then it ends with erd. Weird, Weird. How to pronounce the word Squirrel. Squirrel. So they're like. There are different ways for me to break it down. I'm going to break it down in the most convenient way. So first of all, there is a cluster at the beginning for speakers of many languages. This cluster at the end is hard. You might add an E sound, a squirrel. So skw, squ, squ. And then it's a stir sound. Squir, squir, squirre. Right. And then think of it as if it turns into a strong R. And then an L. Squirrel. Squirrel, squirrel. There is no E sound here. It's all stir. It's all reduced. Okay, world. Again, let me break it down for you. Is there a way for me to write it down here? Think of the word were. W, E, R, E. Were. Were. Oh, I. I can't hear. Hold on. So it's like you're saying were and then were. L, D. World, world, world. You hear it? Okay. Okay. Yeah. It's not different R sounds. This is a good point. It's like they're not different R sounds. There are different vowel sounds with R. Right. But we do treat. We categorize them differently. Why? Because the strong R is indeed stronger. And your lips are more rounded. So the quality is a little different. Red. If you. If you don't pronounce it wed, it's going to change the word. But for the R vowels, you don't round the lips as much. Car. See? Just a bit. It's not car. Car. And it's like a touch. This is like a color. You color it with an R. Okay? So you. It's. It's kind of like you pronounce 30% of the strong R. So the difference is in the quality and the placement and the emphasis. And if you drop. And for those of you who really struggle with the R, that's another tip I can give you. If you drop the R for our vowels, you're still going to be 100% clear. So as a strategy, you can decide not to fully pronounce the R at the end. And then you would just be following, you know, a non American accent. It's called a non rhotic accent. And. But it's okay because you're still going to be clear. And clarity over accuracy is what you should strive for. Okay, good. Let's talk about some confusing sounds around it. So like, I gave you the example. If you. Sometimes, if the R is really hard for you to pronounce, then you might not create the right tension, and then your R might end up sounding like a W sound. So let's compare some R versus W. The W is very similar to the R. What? You round your lips. You want to round the lips the same way for the R sound so it looks the same. Listen. The difference is what the in what the tongue is doing. For the W, you just raise the back of the tongue a little bit. This is how the tongue looks like. For the R, the tongue has to be up W. R. So if your R sounds like a W, you gotta play with your tongue. Kind of like move it around, stretch it. Think of it like a jellyfish kind of like swimming inside your mouth until it hits the right place so it doesn't have that hollow, empty sound of the W sound. Let's compare. Red wed. Red wed. Red wed. If it sounds the same, work on the position of the tongue. Go back to the beginning of this training and practice the position of the tongue. Real wheel. Real wheel. Crest quest. Crest quest. If you hold out the R for a little bit, you will know if you're getting it right. Let's practice some sentences with minimal pairs. Rain. Wayne. Wayne was standing in the rain. Make sure you make a distinction between those two words. Wayne was standing in the rain. Let's practice it at the end for fo. Some people might pronounce the R as a W sound or as an U sound. Okay, so listen to the difference for the tongue needs to click. You can exaggerate it if this is your struggle. Fo. Sore. So door do. Sure. Show. I'll show you the shore. I'll show you the shore. Put same if those two words sound the same when you say them. And put different in the comments if you hear a difference between the two. Same if it sounds the same. Different if it sounds different. Okay. R and W. Wayne is A is a name and rain is rain. Okay. Wrapped. Oh, by the way, good, good, good point. Someone said the word wrapped. Actually, Maria, when there is a W before an R, it, we need to treat it as if it doesn't exist. We actually don't pronounce a W. It's as if there is just an R sound there. So you treat it like an R. Wrapped. Right. Wreck. Different. Different. Different. Very good, you guys. Okay, Yanina is asking Shore versus sure. Oh, I forgot to tell you something important about the or sound. Come back, Come back. Come back. Let's. Let's rewind for a second. Sure Versus Sure. This is like the Tradition. The official distinction. Shore. Sure. Sure, sure. So remember the or the fury vowel that you struggled with? In many of those words, you can actually pronounce them as a stir sound. For example, sure is the or as in pour, as in fury. But a lot of people would just reduce it to sure, sure, stir, sure. And I would, too, unless I want to emphasize it sure secure instead of sure secure. Okay, so here, Janina, I would say sure and sure. Okay. A lot of different pronunciations. You guys rock. That's very, very good. Different. Different. Different. Different. Good. Back to the slides. Let's talk about R versus L. Some dialects. Not dialects. Languages. Some languages don't distinguish between the R and the L. They might have a sound that is right there in the middle that they. This is how they would pronounce their R and their L, for example, in Korean and Japanese. So sometimes those speakers might replace Rs and Ls and have a hard time even hearing the difference between those two sounds. Right. So let's talk about the difference between the two. And within that, I will tell you that there are two types of Ls. I already mentioned the dark L. The light L touches the upper palate. La, la, la, la, la, la. Light. The dark L has more tension in the back. You can even pronounce it without touching. Well, well, well. Okay, so now we're comparing it with the light L. The light L touches the upper palate, whereas the strong R does not. With the L, when you stretch it, you hear the contact versus R. It's deeper, darker. So let's practice it. Right, Light. Let's do it together. Come on. Right, light. Right. Light. Right, light. Right. Light. Wrist. We don't pronounce the W here doesn't exist. Wrist list. Wrist list. Wrist list. Pre play. Can you hear the difference? And even if you don't confuse the R's and L's, this is a really good practice for you guys, right? To practice the R round your lips. Good job. Writer. Lighter. So here we also have the flap T. That sounds a little bit like an R, a little bit like a D. Rider. Lighter. The writer was looking for his lighter. The writer was looking for his writer. No, I fell into my own trap. The writer was looking for his lighter. The writer was looking for his lighter. Good. Let's practice Rs and Ls when they're at the end of words. For fall. Bear. Bell. Dear. Deal. All right, good. Let us review a little bit what we did. Let's go here. Okay, so let's review to Pronounce the R. You want to raise the back of the tongue, pull it in, sides of the tongue, touch the sides of the teeth, round your lips, tip of the tongue doesn't touch anything. There are two types of Rs. Strong R and soft R. Technically it's the same position, but the strong R is more intense, longer, a little bit. While the soft R colors the vowel, the focus is on the R. We have the R consonant that appears before vowels and R vowels that appears after a vowel. We have five main R vowels, R as in far or as in for air, as in fair ear, as in fear or as in fury. Sometimes you can pronounce it as a stir. And we also have the stir sound that is a kind of a soft R. But we actually skip the vowel there and pronounce the R with a lot of dignity and importance. Okay, before we go into tricky sentences, because I want to pair you from those hardships, I want to answer some questions. So type in the comments, any question you have about what I taught you today about the R sound and also specific words that you would like me to break down with the R sound. Okay, so we are focusing on the R sound. In the meantime, I will tell you that at the beginning of September I am Hosting a free 5 day pronunciation training on where I talk about sounds like I did today, but I also talk a lot about connected speech, intonation, rhythm, stress, prosody in general and also effective practice techniques to improve your pronunciation and fluency. We will have practice groups with coaches, conversation groups and challenges and it's 100% free. We haven't opened registration just yet, but we have a wait list so you can go ahead and join the wait list so you will be the first to be registered. We'll automatically register you when we open doors and invite you to join the Facebook group and start with the challenges. If you've been to any of my events, you know that it's a lot of fun and a ton of opportunities to connect, to speak with others, to actually work with my amazing coaches, work with me and be trained by me. So if you like this training, you are definitely going to love the five day pronunciation made simple training that we're going to have at the beginning of September. We usually have two live events each year, so this is going to be this year's event. There's going to be a lot of also social activities and a lot of speaking opportunities so you can already sign up for the wait list, but you can also keep your eye, keep your eyes peeled for your email. So we will announce it when we do. Okay, so now let's answer some questions. Yeah. It's a little difficult because in Mexico, we pronounce the R with a very strong sound, right? I have to say that it doesn't matter what your language is. The R is strong in all languages. In fact, the R is the last sound usually that kids acquire in any language. So in my language, the R is back here, right? It's very different than the R sound in Spanish. That would be the trilled R. Arabic, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian. Right. Like all the language. Romanian, Bulgarian, you would trill the R. All Spanish dialects, Brazilian, Portuguese is different. You might have that. You have several different Rs. Some dialects actually have the R in English. So it is a unique sound. And you have to just change your perception around how it's created, because right now you feel like you have to touch, like there has to be friction and contact to be able to pronounce the R. And we don't like in American English. It's just a different quality. It's going to sound to you very weak. But for others, the American R could be perceived as very strong. So it's all relative, right? So you need to get used to feeling as if you're not pronouncing the R until you train your ear to be comfortable with this R sound. A lot of people feel like they're just pronouncing a W and then an R sound. So it's just a matter of practice, repetition, recording yourself listening back to it again and again until you make it your own. Okay, but I hear you. R with flap T is difficult, right? So, for example, if we take the word party now, one word about the flap T. The flap T is a sound that actually is pronounced like the short R in Spanish. Pero, pero, pero. Get it, get it, get it. So that flap, which is perceived as an R in many languages, is a T in American English when it appears between two vowels. Okay? So for people who actually speak with a flap, who. Who have the sound in their language, when the R and the flap T are connected, it's like the brain explodes. So organize it in your head. When you know exactly what your tongue needs to do and what is the sound that you're pronouncing, it makes things a lot clear, clearer, a lot easier. And I can tell you from my own personal experience, when I used to substitute sounds when I first started learning pronunciation, right, I had to kind of like, really visualize the sounds, the words that I'M trying to say until it was clearer for me. Let's practice together the word party. Here we have a soft R. Par. Har. Par. So you just suggest that there is an R sound. You can hold it out for a little bit, and then I always explain it to my students as if it's a slingshot. Your tongue is a slingshot. You kind of like, pull it in for the R R, and then you release it for the T. Now, to get to the flap T, it has to be really quick. Party, Party. Now, if you're just starting out, if you don't have a lot of experience with the flap T, just pronounce it as a very light D party. And it's totally fine, especially after a flap, after a soft R. So if you struggle with it, just think of a very light D. How do you make a light D? Just the tip of the tongue. Da, da, da. Not this part da part D, but D D. And as you get better at it, you'll see that it's easier for you to pronounce the D sound. Okay? Okay. Should the back of the tongue touch the teeth harder or softer? Well, I think what you're saying is, should it touch the teeth both for the heart, for the. I can understand this in two ways. So maybe your question is, should it be, you know, kind of like harsh contact or soft contact, or it should push. You should feel it, right? Like, if you can't feel it, if it's too soft, then you won't get to the right quality. But also, you shouldn't be in pain. Okay, so it's. It's somewhere in the middle towards the harder sound. But be gentle or not hard. It doesn't need to be hard in the middle. And yes, it touches. And if I interpreted in another way, then, yes, the sides of the tongue should touch the sides of the teeth, both for the soft R and the strong R. I don't know who said this, but it's true. You guys sign up for the training. Okay, let's pronounce for Miriam the word letter. So here we have an L sound and the S in red. Then we have a flap T schwa, R letter. So you can also think of it as a light D letter. You can also pronounce that as a T letter. Perfectly fine. You don't have to pronounce a flap T. Clarity over accuracy. Hashtag. Hashtag clarity over accuracy. Okay, Write it down. Put it in the comments. Say to yourself, it doesn't need to be perfect as long as you're Clear. If you're substituting it with a completely different sound, let's say you say leather instead of letter. It's a problem because you're saying a different word. And then I would insist on encouraging you to get it right. But if you say letter. Still clear. Okay. If you want to practice the flap. T. Letter. Letter. Letter. The group link for the training will be shared on Monday when we officially open doors. But since there is still time and I knew that you guys are here, I wanted to offer you an opportunity to be the first to join. So as soon as we open doors, you will get an email with a link to the page. So just make sure that you get on the wait list. Okay. For the training, Nina says sometimes the stir comes out too soft. I think I'm raising the middle of the tongue. Is it something that. That might be. Might be happening? Yes. And also it's not a big deal because if you say first first, then it's kind of like you're leaning towards the British. And if you want to have a stronger R to have like more of an American quality, then just tense the tongue a little bit more. Kind of like curve it. Curve it a little bit. Right. And use your lips more. You also might not be using your lips first. Fur. See the difference? First. First. The lips really add that depth, both for the strong R and for the stir. So play with first of all. Not a big deal. Clarity over accuracy. And also it's not incorrect. It's like it depends on the dialect that you're speaking. And also different speakers have different levels of R. But you can play just for the sake of practicing with the. With your lips and with the tongue. I'm already in Beyond. Will this training be there? No, it's a separate training, so you will have to sign up for it. But I will also share it inside. Beyond. Beyond is my English practice because community and membership. I do not offer individual English classes. Thank you for inquiring. But I do have amazing coaches and we have two very active training programs beyond where you can work with me and my coaches. And also New Sound that will open in September. New Sound is my signature program, my most elaborate program where there's a lot of coaching from me and other coaches. Antonio has enrolled. I feel relieved now. Okay, how to say comfortable? I'm going to give you the shortcut. So technically it's comf. Ter. Ball. Comf. Three syllables. You can pronounce it in four. Comfortable. But I find it a lot easier for non native speakers to just choose comf. Comf. Ter. Ba. But you can also drop the R. Com. Ta Bole. Comfortable. If the R is challenging for you, no one would notice. This one is my favorite. Entrepreneur, or ner. Let's break it down. This word is derived from French. So words that starts with an en, they actually. They don't have the e sound, but an ah. On. On. Like Turn it on. On. T.R. t. R. Ch. Truh. Pruh. Right. It's a long word, but it's not as intimidating as you think. On. Tru. And then the final part is the nor. Poor fury sound. But a lot of people can just pronounce it as a stir. Entrepreneur. Entrepreneur. I think this is an easier pronunciation. Ooh, this is a good one. You guys are good. I like your questions. Ooh, I like refrigerator. Okay, we're going to be here all night. I'm kidding. Five more minutes. Okay, so all those words that have R, R, O, R. Error, horror. Basically what you want to do is you pronounce a strong r, and then technically it's a schwa. R. So it's R E, R, E, R. There is no O here. Okay. Practice it. Say it. I'm listening. Error. But when you say it fast, sometimes it just sounds like one long R. Error. Air. Air. Okay. Refrigerator. Wait, where is that? Let me choose. Ruff. R. Ju. Ra. Der. Flap. T. Refrigerator. Wrestler. Okay, One final question. It's not really about the R, but since there is an R here, I will address it. So the word ear exists inside the word year. Ear. That's a high E sound. That's our ear. Fear. Dear. Clear. One of the R vowels that we talked about. Ear. Dear. Fear. Clear. The word year has a J sound before. Now the J is exactly the same position as the E. Okay. It's just like you're moving the tongue in the back a little bit. Yeah. Ye. Yeast. Year. Year. The year is just like. Yes, you. Yellow. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Year. Okay. Okay. I got a lot of great questions here, but I'm afraid I'm not going to be able to get to all of them. So I'm inviting you to join the training where I will be answering more questions. There's going to be Q and A's. There are going to be two conversation groups a day, one pronunciation group a day with coaches where you'll get plenty of time to ask questions about the different topics, and that's it. So that's what's coming up. What else inside the influency community, if you're not a member of the influency community. Check it out, Go to my website, find the community and join because we have special events there, challenges. It's pretty awesome. Conversation groups and it's all free, ongoing all the time. So, yes. All right. This is the end of our R masterclass. I hope you enjoyed it. If you did, make sure you. You can share it and of course, join the training. I said that like, a thousand times. It's like, it's always hard for me to say goodbye, so I'm just going to be harsh and strict and tell you, you guys are awesome. I love you, but we will end now. Take care. Have a beautiful, beautiful rest of the day, and I will see you in the training, hopefully. Take care. Thank you. Bye.