Sunday, September 26, 2010

영어 Hint of the Day: How to Improve Your Pronunciation of the Letter "R"

I think that the letter “R,” is one of the hardest, if not the hardest, single letter for Koreans to pronounce.  Like the letter “L,” it is quite closely related to the Hangul “ㄹ.”  Every translation of the English sound “R” is basically….wrong.  The reason this happens?  Pronunciation in Korean uses very even and flat intonation with equal weight given to each sound.  In addition, the accent, if any, is on the very first sound when speaking Korean.  That is NOT the case in English, and accents can be on any syllable.

My single best hint for Koreans when pronouncing the “R” sound?  Make the sound for a LONG time.
Instead of “world,” pronounce it as “worrrld.”
Instead of “word,” pronounce it as “worrrrd.”

It is, of course, impossible to list all of the words that have the “R” sound.  It is one of the most dominant sounds in the English language.  So try my pronunciation hints above to improve.
Onwarrrd, and upwarrrd….

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