Like "HER", "HURT", one of my American friend told me that's one sound, not two sounds, and he said when I say "HER", the "R" sound is not much enough, so how can pronunce it correct? Especially can u tell me when you pronunce this kind of words, where is your tongue position in your mouth, Thank you very much!
how to pronunce "er" in American English?
I pull my tongue back slightly when I say an R. Try growling like a dog; it's the same sound.
so where is your tongue position in your mouth? Does it touch anywhere?
Hmm, let me try it....the sides touch my side teeth, because by bunching up the back of my tongue, the front gets a little flattened out and widened.
In American English, the vowel in these words is pronounced simultaneously with the rhotic consonant. The 'r' in American English (and in virtually all other pronunciations of English) is pronounced by slightly curling the tip of the tongue back and holding it near the back of the alveolar ridge (the hard ridge behind the upper teeth in the mouth). In words such as "her" and "hurt," this is done simultaneously with the positioning of the rest of the tongue for the vowel in the word, and the vowel and consonant are pronounced simultaneously.
It's not nearly as difficult as this description makes it sound. In fact, it's a natural tendency, which is why it is prominent in American English.
British English would theoretically pronounce the 'r' in essentially the same way, except that the 'r' is often not pronounced at all unless it precedes a vowel sound, so you don't hear the above as often, if at all. It's something that one typically hears the 'r' is final or has another consonant following it.
It's not nearly as difficult as this description makes it sound. In fact, it's a natural tendency, which is why it is prominent in American English.
British English would theoretically pronounce the 'r' in essentially the same way, except that the 'r' is often not pronounced at all unless it precedes a vowel sound, so you don't hear the above as often, if at all. It's something that one typically hears the 'r' is final or has another consonant following it.
the sides touch my side teeth? so where is the tip of your tongue? if you bunch up the back of your tongue, so the back of your tongue will go up, and does it touch your palate or your up your up teeth?
It's easy: pull your tongue back a bit, flatten it, and make the sides of your tongue touch your top teeth. DO NOT let the tip of your tongue touch your front teeth; if you do, you will be making an L sound. Vibrate your vocal chords. You have a good American R.
let me crack your front teeth and u ll be able to proniunce the ERRRRR sound
To american nic :
I did pronunce "her" alomot like the way you say, but I don't pull my my tongue back, flatten it, and make the sides of my tongue touch my top teeth. my friend said the "R" is still not enough, so maybe I need to pull my tongue back a little, or maybe anyone knows the reason I don't have too much "R", let me know please!
I did pronunce "her" alomot like the way you say, but I don't pull my my tongue back, flatten it, and make the sides of my tongue touch my top teeth. my friend said the "R" is still not enough, so maybe I need to pull my tongue back a little, or maybe anyone knows the reason I don't have too much "R", let me know please!
No, the back of your tongue doesn't quite touch the roof of your mouth, and the tip is not touching anything.
yeah, the back of my tongue doesn't touch the roof of my mouth, just touch my upper teeth, and the tip is not touching anything. I will talk to my friend, and make sure that I pull my tongue back a little, and the "R" sound is enough, thanks everybody!
The back of your tongue can be anywhere, as it is not part of the articulation of the r-sound. The actual position of the rest of your tongue determines the vowel that you pronounced simultaneously with the 'r,' if any (a "rhoticized" vowel when present).
There is an alternative pronunciation of the standard English 'r' that puts the tongue in a different position (referred to as "bunched 'r'"), used by a minority of native speakers, but it is acoustically identical to the standard articulation, so one need not worry about it.
Different sounds in any language are almost invariably easy to pronounce fundamentally. The difficulty is in explaining how to pronounce them. I can often get non-native speakers of English to pronounce just about anything in English with no trace of an accent after a few minutes of practice, but getting them to understand the correct position of the tongue, lips, etc., for pronunciation is sometimes problematic (lots of diagrams sometimes), and of course even if they say something without an accent, doing it with careful practice and doing it automatically in flowing conversation are two different things. However, it does prove that they _can_ do it, which in turn proves that they _can_ theoretically speak without any accent with sufficient practice (some actually do reach this goal, if they are well motivated).
There is an alternative pronunciation of the standard English 'r' that puts the tongue in a different position (referred to as "bunched 'r'"), used by a minority of native speakers, but it is acoustically identical to the standard articulation, so one need not worry about it.
Different sounds in any language are almost invariably easy to pronounce fundamentally. The difficulty is in explaining how to pronounce them. I can often get non-native speakers of English to pronounce just about anything in English with no trace of an accent after a few minutes of practice, but getting them to understand the correct position of the tongue, lips, etc., for pronunciation is sometimes problematic (lots of diagrams sometimes), and of course even if they say something without an accent, doing it with careful practice and doing it automatically in flowing conversation are two different things. However, it does prove that they _can_ do it, which in turn proves that they _can_ theoretically speak without any accent with sufficient practice (some actually do reach this goal, if they are well motivated).
In theory at least, anything's possible.
The back of the tongue can't touch the roof of the mouth, in any case!
The back of the tongue can't touch the roof of the mouth, in any case!
I still can't get it, I just meet my tutor once a week, maybe need some more practice, anybody want to help me? nick_martin35#hotmail.com.Thanks.
<<Different sounds in any language are almost invariably easy to pronounce fundamentally. The difficulty is in explaining how to pronounce them. I can often get non-native speakers of English to pronounce just about anything in English with no trace of an accent after a few minutes of practice, but getting them to understand the correct position of the tongue, lips, etc., for pronunciation is sometimes problematic (lots of diagrams sometimes), and of course even if they say something without an accent, doing it with careful practice and doing it automatically in flowing conversation are two different things. However, it does prove that they _can_ do it, which in turn proves that they _can_ theoretically speak without any accent with sufficient practice (some actually do reach this goal, if they are well motivated).>>
I've said it before and I'll say it again: You CANNOT speak without an accent. "Speaking without an accent" is as meaningless a concept as "speaking without using sounds". What you consider to be the lack of an accent is itself an accent.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: You CANNOT speak without an accent. "Speaking without an accent" is as meaningless a concept as "speaking without using sounds". What you consider to be the lack of an accent is itself an accent.