How to Pronounce the TR Consonant Cluster - American English

ESL: How to pronounce the TR consonant cluster?

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Cải thiện nói tiếng Anh Mỹ / 미국 영어 발음 향상 / 話されているアメリカ英語を向上させる / Улучшаем произношение американского варианта английского языка / Meningkatkan berbicara bahasa Inggris Amerika / Melhore sua pronúncia do inglês americano / Mejorar el habla Inglés Americano / 美語 / बात अमेरिकी अंग्रेजी में सुधार / تحسين لهجتك الأمريكية الإنجليزية / שפר את המבטא האמריקאי שלך

...with Rachel's English!

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[wsrhodes]

One of my students noticed I pronounced "contract" as "conchract" and asked why? So I looked for a "Rachel" video on this and of course, there it was! Thanks again for always being there.

[rachelsenglish]

Yes, if you follow the link to the other video in the first part, you'll see that DR can sound like JR.

[dhaka]

I've just learnt that 'try' is pronounced by the native speakers as 'chraai' instead of 'traai'. Amazing!

[rachelsenglish]

That's correct. The first syllable ends in T and the next syllable begins with R, which is different from the TR cluster, which together begins a syllable.

[WingngaiWong]

Very useful for Chinese who is learning English. Thank you!!!

[rachelsenglish]

The first one is familiar to me, the second one less so. It's common to drop the H on words like have, has, him, her, his. So "I haven't" could be pronounced this way, with a dropped H, and sound like a double contraction.

[xantares]

American R sounds are somewhat unique, they're an ur sound and are not made in the front of the mouth like in most other languages. We say "chrai" instead of "try" because the sound goes from the front of the mouth "T" to the back of the mouth "ur" and we cheat by starting in the middle of the mouth with "ch".

[mathersmarshall]

TR sounds like "戳(chuo)" in Chinese.

[nnl]

Hi I'm a Vietnamese guy learning English and I think most Vietnamese made the same mistake too when pronouncing the TR. Thanks, your video helps.

[jamesbonofffradestin]

I got this. But that one is difficult like hell. About pronunciation, you're the best teacher I've ever seen. For sure.

[ramzy-]

Best video, for TR Consonant Cluster. Thank you Mrs. Rachel.

[rachelsenglish]

That is a common substitution. Do the word slowly in a mirror -- see that the bottom lip doesn't come up, it will want to! Instead, bring the very tip of the tongue through the teeth. You will have to do this over and over to break the habit!

[orhoushmand]

I have a funny story about my way to pronounce r: My original way to pronounce it it the guttural r (by vibrating my uvula), I'm used to pronounce it like that from Hebrew, my native language. Recently (January 2018) I'm trying hard to pronounce American r (by raising the tip of my tongue and rounding my lips), and I found a difficulty to pronounce t or d before it, I didn't think to change it to a short ch or j, but pronounce ch or j before American r is really easier for me than pronouncing t or d before American r, while I have no problem to pronounce t or d before guttural r.

[A_real_tiger]

As a Russian-born I had so much trouble with that cluster, because it sounded so rough and unnatural. After watching your video, I’ve fixed that ! Thanks a lot !

[catalinarincon]

Rachel, thanks for all this information is very useful. You are the best.

[lillymalatji]

It realy helped me, I struggling with the grade 4s

[jasonchen]

Thanks for your explanation about the TR consonant cluster. I like your vedio.

[MsMRkv]

The question is, can I pronounce TR like a regular tr without adding that sh sound? Because in my native language we have almost the same sound but we don't make it a CHR.

[quieresatencionyotedoyaten]

Perfecto para que aprenda a pronunciar palabras en inglés gracias o mejor dicho thanks

[yuanchengzhu]

as a Chinese native， I don’t think people mispronounce try and chai. But true and chew are more difficult to distinguish.