R vs. W Sounds - American English Pronunciation

Improve your American Accent / spoken English at Rachel's English with video-based lessons and exercises.

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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[rachelsenglish]

Hi Tam, you have a good ear. You can think of it this way: the unstressed syllable is so short that the vowel sound is dropped, since the R can feel like a vowel sometimes. So you're hearing: pr-vide, etc.

[amaliekubel]

so my r sounds like w
“would you like to see my woom?”
“my favourite colour is wed!”
“so I wan over to the store the other day..”
“maybe I should go for a wun?”

[pantsjeanmen]

thanks so much . ive been bullied my whole life about the way i talk . you really helped a lot.

[briank]

This is a genius. Of course for the native speaker, it might be a boring video but for those who speak English as a second language, this is like row, no I mean wow!

[jackgaughan]

I am a speech therapist and I have never heard of the lips rounding for /r/ production like you use Rachel. Since your /r/ sounds as accurate as mine with the retracted lips, this emphasises that the key is the tongue positioning

[bruce]

this language itself is hard as hell not to mention they have linking words in the conversation between natives and accents

[jamiecronce]

I'm a speech therapist and I just want to say that you do not round your lips for the /r/. Your lips should actually retract with the corners of your lips pulling back, if only slightly.

[diegofelipe]

ONE KISS FOR YOUR TEACHER. AMAZING JOB.

[baadgallzii]

This helped alot, a lot of kids use to talk to me because I couldn’t speak right like I say “rat” as “wat”.

[awdalysaleh]

Thank you, really great, although I need more about 'R' .

[killianholm]

Thanks for this this really help my speach impediment.

[jordanlabreck]

For some reason, I still can’t say girl correctly. It always comes out as gurl but not girl

[rachelsenglish]

Speakers from India tend to flap the R sound, watch the video on how to make the R to work on a sound that you can hold out! Also, they tend to switch V and W sounds.

[FreakyFriday]

Thanks Rachel, your lessons are really helpful, keep going. I wish i have a teacher like you.

[gdfh]

Oh my gosh, i just learnt gow to spell r but not that good but its a lot better than i how i used to do it, thank you a lot!

[lukelukemusic]

omg. What a great help. I had no idea the tongue played such an important role in pronouncing the "R". As a teacher, you'd think I'd already know how to speak correctly.

[SergeHID]

Wow, I've been pronouncing the "R" sound incorrectly for years (like Rachel's second group). I actually felt that something was wrong, because the sound was not clear - now I understand why.

Thanks a lot, Rachel!

[madvel]

I am made fun of all the time for the way I talk I think is really going to help me. Thank you!

[MichaelPhongMitchell]

When I first came to the USA, I was told that I had trouble with the "r" and "w" sounds. My mother used to correct me all the time when I was eleven to twelve years old. I had to go to speech therapy to correct my "r" sound. War/raw and word were excellent examples with both the "r" and "w" in the same word.

[susyvargas]

Thank you Rachel! You are such a sweetheart. Thank you for always encouraging and motivating ESL students!