Hello, I have a question about British pronunciation. :)?

Question

Hi, I'm a Korean English leaner.

When I read the words which end with er, re or r (for example: here, there, chair, bear, for, etc..), do I have to pronounce 'r'?

Not America,
in England.....~~~

Answer 1

the R is pronounced if the word is followed by a word that begins by a vowel sound. (the so called "liason")
So, for example in:

here is...
there is...
for a while...
the bear ate...

the R is pronounced. Whereas in:

here goes...
there lies...
for her...
the chair broke... etc, it isn't pronounced.

beware that it is pronounced before a vowel sound, not necessarily a vowel letter.

for instance in:
her uniform; it is not pronounced.
for once; it is not pronounced.
for you; it is not pronounced.
(the y and w sounds are consonnats)
her honour; it is pronounced.

Answer 2

Britain encompasses England, Scotland & Wales.

Pronunciation depends on which part of Britain you're in - so there is no a simple answer to this.

I wouldn't be as arrogant (& wrong) as Rotifer in saying that the way I pronounce words is the correct way.

@ Rotifer - Thanks for your generalisation & borderline racist bigotry! As an ‘ignorant‘ person from the South East of ENGLAND - I don‘t preach to Northerners or the Scots about the ‘correct’ pronunciation of ENGLISH.

Answer 3

Sitting here saying these words to myself I can really understand why you ask. The letter r is there to give the word its sound but if you think about it you don't really individually pronounce the letter. I think whoever said you pronounce it slightly is closest. Its funny how when you speak the language every day you don't really think about this.
Hope this is helpful. Good luck with your studies.

Answer 4

Yes

Answer 5

in an english accent the R is not usually pronounced in those words, the scots and welsh would pronounce it slightly, the irish would pronounce the R very strongly (ps- the irish are not british, but i guess it helps to know how they would pronounce it as well)

Answer 6

Yes, the letter R is pronounced in all these words, except for in the south east of England where they are very ignorant and ignore the letter R at the end of words and pronounce it in other words where it should not be.

Hence, in good proper well spoken English, "law and order" is pronounced "law and order", but in the south east it is pronounced "lore and ordah". Since much of our television and actors come from the south east, this is bound to cause confusion, but it is sloppy speech. Just pronounce the letter R where you see it, even people from that area will expect to hear it from foreigners.

Answer 7

yes. go to dictionary.com and listen to the pronouciation of these words. Good luck. And my hats off to you for learning English. From what I understand, English is not the easiest language to learn.

Answer 8

Yes you do pronounce the 'r' in these words

Answer 9

yes the r gets pronounced, however different parts of britain have different accents so I know some people in england dont pronounce the r, but in parts of scotland it is pronounced.

Answer 10

Yes.