Can you hear the difference between the words:
Can you say these words accurately?
Do you know how we say these words in American English?
Can you say the sentence:
like this?
The sound we are going to work on today is the /R/ sound in American English
as in:
There are two typical errors that Vietnamese people make with the /R/ sound when speaking English:
Speakers of Hanoian Vietnamese tend to use the /z/ sound or a trilled /r/ sound instead of the English /R/ sound
at the beginning of words and before vowels
so they will say /*zaɪt*/ or /Raɪt/ instead of "right"
and /*bɔzɪŋ*/ or /*bɔRɪŋ*/ instead of "boring".
Second, both southern and northern Vietnamese simply forget to say the /R/ sound
at the end of words and before consonants.
This would not necessarily be a problem because British English
(and Australian and South African English) actually follows the same pattern
and the /R/ sound is not pronounced at the end of words and before consonants.
But in British English the vowel coming before the non-existing /R/ sound
is many times pronounced longer,
which Vietnamese people fail to do.
Therefore, Vietnamese English in this respect becomes a mix of British English (by not pronouncing the /R/'s)
and American English (by saying short vowels before the /R/ sound)
and as such it gets confusing for foreigners.
So Vietnamese people would say /*lən*/ instead of the British /lɜ:n/
or the American /lərn/ and they say /hɔs/ instead of the British /hɔ:s/ or the American /hɔrs/.
In this video
- we will learn how to say the /R/ sound accurately
(especially at the end of words and before consonants)
- we will practice saying words and sentences with the /R/ sound using American English
- and we will test your newly acquired skills.
So, let's correct these mistakes and start SPEAKING accurate American English.
Are you with me? Let's go!
In English, there are two main ways to pronounce the /R/ sound: rhotic and non-rhotic.
American (including Canadian), Irish and Scottish English are all rhotic accents,
which means that in these accents the /R/ sound is clearly pronounced in all positions,
not only before a vowel but also at the end of a words and before consonants.
On the other hand, British, Australian and South African English are non-rhotic,
which means that in these accents of English the /R/ sound is only pronounced before a vowel
and the /R/ is never pronounced at the end of words or before consonants.
If the /R/ would come before a consonant or at the end of a word,
these English accents either make the preceding vowel long or say an /ə/ sound instead of the /R/.
To give you some examples, the word "hard" is pronounced as /hɑrd/ in American English
but it is /hɑ:d/ in British English so in British English the /ɑ/ sound becomes longer.
The word "beard" is /bɪrd/ in American English but it is /bɪəd/ in British English
so in British English the /R/ becomes an /ə/ sound.
The word "fur" is pronounced as /fər/ in American English
and it is /fɜ:/ in British English so again the vowel sound before the /R/ is made longer in British English.
Finally, the word "paper" in pronounced as /peɪpər/ in American English
but it is /peɪpə/ in British English, so the /R/ is simply dropped.
It's important to remark that both American English and British English
(except for Scottish English, which uses a more rolled /R/)
use the same /R/ sound when they pronounce it so by following the instructions in this video
you can learn how to make the /R/ sound correctly even if you would like to speak with a British accent.
At Sonus we train our students in American English
so in the following I will be talking about American English when I say "English".
The /R/ sound never occurs at the end of words or before consonants in the Vietnamese language.
It only occurs as a first letter of a word and it is always followed by a vowel.
Speakers of Hanoian Vietnamese tend to use the /z/ sound or a trilled /r/ sound instead of the English /R/ sound
so if you speak Hanoian Vietnamese and you want to speak English with an American accent
you first have to learn how to make the English /R/ sound
and then you have to practice to pronounce it in all positions in words.
The southern Vietnamese dialect uses a sound that is quite similar to the English /R/ sound
but only as the first sound of a word followed by a vowel, such as in "rau", "rạch" or "rồi".
Therefore, people in the South of Vietnam usually have no problem pronouncing English words
where the /R/ sound comes before a vowel,
and they can say the /R/ quite well in words such as "right", "dream" and "boring".
So, if you speak Vietnamese with a southern accent and you want to speak English with an American accent
you probably only have to practice to pronounce the /R/ sound at the end of words and before consonants.
Now, let's learn an easy way how to make the /R/ sound. You'll need to do 3 things:
First, round your lips a little and push them slightly forward.
Second, curl your tongue a little like this:
but just a little. The rounding of your lips will help this curling of your tongue.
Third, pull your tongue back and also curl its tip up to point towards the roof of your mouth.
So the shape of your tongue will be like a cup:
the back of your tongue is raised, the middle is lowered and the front and the sides are raised.
Imagine that your trying to hold a small ball in this cup and it can never roll of your tongue.
The tip of your tongue can get quite near to the roof of your mouth but it should NOT touch it.
You might feel the back of your tongue is touching your upper teeth, this is OK but the tip of your tongue will NOT touch anything.
When you pull your tongue back first it may feel somewhat uncomfortable
if you are doing it right because it feels as if you were trying to swallow your tongue
and you might have a little gagging reflex as the back of your tongue moves closer to your throat.
Finally, blow the air out with a vibration in your throat. /R/ - /R/ - /R/
You should sound like an angry dog: /rrrrr/ - /rrrrr/ - /rrrrr/
Be careful not to open your mouth too much. Don't drop the jaw.
Say the word "ring". Now say "ring" with a long /R/: RRRRRING.
Saying the /R/ long will give you time to focus on the tongue and lip positions.
Remember to hold the small ball in the cup that is your tongue.
Pay attention to 4 things:
- that the tongue is pulled back towards your throat
- that the tip of the tongue is curling up but NOT touching your upper teeth or the roof of your mouth
- that your jaw is up
- that your lips are a little rounded.
You should say a consonant sound /RRRR/ not a vowel sound /əəəə/.
Here are some examples with the /R/ sound at the beginning of words:
Pause this video and practice saying these words to get the /R/ sound right.
Use a mirror to check your lip and jaw position to make sure that you CANNOT see your tongue.
If you are saying the /R/ sound right, you should NOT be able to see your tongue
because it is pulled back towards the throat and the mouth is almost fully closed.
Pause now.
OK, now that you can say the /R/ sound accurately, let's practice it in different positions in words.
First, let's move the /R/ sound to the middle of a word and put it between two vowels.
Say the word "scoring" with a long /R/: "scorrrrring".
Now some of you will say that it's still easy while others might start having problems.
Be careful not to make the /ɔ/ long and say /skɔɔɔɔɔrɪŋ/.
This is not correct.
The key to a correct /R/ sound is that you use the tongue to make the sound
and you should keep your mouth almost fully closed
so you will not say a vowel sound instead of the /R/ consonant sound.
Pause this video and practice saying the word "scoRRRRRing" with a long /R/ sound
and focus on your tongue movement: tip of tongue is pointing up but it's NOT touching anything.
If you feel like you have lost the /R/ sound, just go back to "ring" and practice that a few times with a long /R/ sound.
Pause now.
Let's put the /R/ sound at the end of a word:
Imagine you want to say the word "scoRing" with a long /R/: "scoRRRRRRRing"
but you stop the word after the /R/ sound so you will only say "scoRRRRRRRe", "scoRRRRRe".
It's the same as "scoRRRRRing" but without the "-ing" part.
Say the word "score" with a long /R/: "scoRRRRRRe".
This is where the real challenge starts.
Now some of you probably have said something like /skɔɔɔɔɔɔɔɔɔ/ or /skɔɔɔɔr/
because you relaxed your tongue and relied only on your lips
and/or you opened your mouth too much.
Pull the tongue back, curl its tip up and move the jaw up after the /ɔ/ sound
Check the jaw movement with your hand like this:
Remember: don't let the small ball roll off your tongue: "scoRRRRRe", "scoRRRRRe".
Pause this video and practice saying the word "scoRRRRRe" with a long /R/ sound.
If you feel that you have lost the /R/ sound, just go back to "scoring" or "ring" and practice them a few times.
Pause now.
To finish off this exercise, let's put the /R/ sound before a consonant:
Say the word "score" with a long /R/: "scoRRRRRe"
and then add a /d/ sound: "scoRRRRRRReD".
This is the final challenge.
Again, make sure that you are not saying the /ɔ/ vowel long like /skɔɔɔɔɔɔd/, this is NOT correct.
Curl the tip of your tongue to say the /R/ sound
and place your hand under your chin to feel that you are moving your jaw up on the /R/ sound after the /ɔ/ sound.
Pause this video and practice saying the word "scoRRRRReD" with a long /R/ sound.
If you feel you have lost the /R/ sound, just go back to "score" or "scoring" and practice them a few times.
Pause now.
Pause this video and practice the /R/ sound with the following progressions:
The main objective of the word progression practice
is to make you aware that the /R/ sound that we say at the beginning of the words
is basically the same /R/ sound that we say in the middle and at the end of words.
The tongue position of the /R/ when you say "ring" is the same as when you say "caring", "care" or "cared",
so if you can position your tongue to say "ring" well then you can also say "care" and "cared" accurately.
Pause now.
Here are some example words with the /R/ sound:
/R/ at the beginning of words:
/R/ between vowels:
/R/ between a consonant and a vowel:
/R/ before a consonant:
/R/ at the end of words:
Pause this video and practice saying these words with the correct /R/ sound.
You only need the tongue to make the /R/ sound:
pull it back, curl the sides and the tip up without touching the roof of your mouth with the tip.
Moving your jaw up will help you put your tongue in the right position easier.
Focus on the "cup" in your mouth holding the little ball.
Pause now.
Hi guys, my name is Chau and I am an Academic Co-ordinator at Sonus
and I would like to quickly explain to you in Vietnamese how to say the /R/ sound accurately.
Are you ready? Here we go...
All right guys, I hope this translation was helpful,
now let's continue our video by looking at some minimal pair words
and then practicing the /R/ sound so that you can speak English like me.
If you find it difficult to make the /R/ sound at the end of words,
then use the "Hook & Hack" technique to master the /R/ sound in word final position.
You need to do the following:
First, say the word "red" with a long /R/ at the beginning.
Then say the words "are" and "red" together with a long /R/ sound
and focus on saying the /R/ sound accurately.
Finally say "are" on its own with a long /R/ sound.
Pause this video and then practice with these word pairs:
Pause now.
If your goal is to speak English with an American accent,
then you'll always have to pronounce the /R/ sound in words.
However, Vietnamese people often forget to pronounce the /R/ sound at the end of words and before consonants
so let's look at some minimal pairs to practice saying the /R/ sound accurately:
Watch and listen and then practice saying these minimal pairs.
By the way, "potty" is a toilet for small children, so be careful, you wanna go "party" and not "potty".
Let's also look at some minimal pairs with /R/ vs /L/ sounds.
Confusing these sounds is not a typical Vietnamese error
but I think practicing these word pairs will certainly help you reinforce the correct pronunciation of the American /R/ sound.
The tongue positions of the /R/ and the /L/ sounds are very similar:
the back of the tongue is raised and the tip is curled up.
However, the main difference is that in the /L/ sound the tip of your tongue MUST touch the roof of your mouth
or the teeth while in the /R/ sound the tip of your tongue must NOT touch anything.
Practice these minimal pairs and feel how the tip of the tongue changes its position:
Pause now.
In the first activity, we will test your ability to hear when the /R/ sound is pronounced in words.
You will hear 4 words and you will have to make 4 decisions.
We start at "1".
After hearing each word, you'll have to make a decision:
turn left or turn right, based on what sound you hear in each word
(1) if you do not hear the /R/ sound in the word, you have to turn to the left, and
(2) if you hear the /R/ sound in the word, you have to turn to the right.
After 4 words, we will arrive to a city.
Your job is to correctly guess the name of the city where we have arrived.
Let's do an example, I will say each word twice:
we're going to the left
we're going to the right
we're going to the right
we're going to the right
And we are in New York. Can you pronounce the /R/ sound in "New York"?
In the first set of words I will say each word twice. Are you ready?
Where are we? Write the name of the city in the comments.
In the second and third set of words I will say each word only once. Are you ready?
Where are we?
Here is the third set of words.
Where are we?
This second activity will improve and test your ability to hear the /R/ consonant sound in sentences.
You will see a sentence on the screen where one word has two options.
You will hear the sentence with one of the words being said
and your job will be to choose which word was used.
Number 1:
The options are:
Number 2:
The options are:
Number 3:
The options are:
Number 4:
The options are:
Which words were said? Write them in a comment.
The third and final activity will improve your ability to say the /R/ sound accurately in sentences.
Look at the sentences, listen to me saying them and then pause the video after each sentence and practice.
Focus on saying the sentences accurately and slowly first.
Only say a sentence faster if you can say it accurately at a lower speed.
Number 1:
- Pause now
Number 2:
- Pause now
Number 3:
Pause now
Number 4:
- Pause now
Number 5:
- Pause now
That's all folks!
Before you close this video, just one more thing:
I know this has been quite a long lesson
and I'd like to give you two cool gifts as a reward for watching the video all the way through:
The first gift is a free copy of the Sonus English pronunciation practice booklet
with over 30 pages of practice words, sentences, spelling rules, useful diagrams and audio files
all designed and collected specifically for Vietnamese learners of English.
To get it, simply click on "Download practice booklet"
subscribe to our newsletter and we will send you a free copy right away.
The second gift is that you can have your English pronunciation evaluated
by one of our experts for free.
To get this freebie, please click on "Free pronunciation assessment"
and follow the instructions on the screen.
If you like this video, please share it with your friends.
If you don't like it, share it with your enemies.
Enjoy your day and see you in the next SONUS American English pronunciation training video.
And don't forget to subscribe to our channel!
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