Saturday 5 September 2015

pronunciation - How do you pronounce the Japanese "r"?


How do you pronounce the Japanese "r"? Is it more like an "l" or something inbetween? Would there be any picture or video explaining it correctly, please link it!



Answer



The sound that's transcribed in Romaji as 'r' is what's refered to in phonetics as an alveolar flap (or alveolar tap). It's a sound made by quickly tapping the tip of your tongue on the alveolar ridge (the same place you use to pronounce sounds like 't' or 'l') and to native American English ears sounds somewhere between an 'r' and an 'l'.



If you are an American English native speaker, you probably already make this sound when speaking your own language. It's what's the double-t is pronounced as in "better", for example.


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