How would you teach someone how to make the "R" sound?

Question

I've exhausted all resources, including yahoo answers, and let's just say what I found was um less than helpful. (Talking like a pirate, just say the sound, duh, move to the east coast, etc..)

Can anyone give any serious suggestions or is this question doomed for stupid answers?

Answer 1

I depends on what the error is. If the person is substituting /w/ for /r/, then you need to teach them not to round their lips. If tounge placement is a problem, teach them to say it from /l/. Make them say an extended /l/ sound, then slowly move their tongue back, until an /r/ sound is made. You can also teach tongue placement by voiced /th/ and /z/. When you say voiced /th/ (as in mother or father), then /z/, your tongue moves back, and it is easy to feel. If you move your tongue back further, you produce the /r/ sound. This can be tricky, because you don't want the /r/ to be produced as a fricative. Here's another tip: have them produce the /zh/ sound (like the /s/ in measure). They have to open their mouth slightly to say this sound. Take a coffee stirrer and use it to push their tongue back to make the /r/ sound. If these do not help you, then I would suggest you find a book on Speech Therapy, or find an SLP for this person.

Answer 2

The "L" sound is between the finest sounds that a touch one will draw close. My granddaughter is very virtually 4 and nonetheless makes use of a "w" sound as a substitution. Developmentally, her oral muscular tissues are not as advanced as yours it truly is why she will be able to't make the sound. If she purely became 2 and is speaking in finished sentences, i imagine you've little or no to rigidity about and ultimately she will be able in order to regulate her muscular tissues to imitate the sound. purely income from the humorous thoughts she says issues now. She'll mature in time and the a lot less stress on her the more beneficial efficient. Jane

Answer 3

I'm not sure if you're looking to help a non-native speaker of English, or a child. If you're working with a young child, bear in mind that the "r" sound is developmentally appopriate for the 7 year old. If you're working with a younger child who is having trouble, you may want to hold off on heavy duty intervention until he or she is a little older.

Also, the "r" sound is different depending on whether it is in the beginning, middle, or end of the word. "R" at the beginning is usually easier than the r-controlled vowel, like -er, -ar, and -or. At the suggestion of the speech therapist, I'm helping a child who has trouble with r-controlled vowels by having him repeat nonsense words (he's ingrained in saying regular words incorrectly, but nonsense words help him to say the words correctly). I'm seeing some progress by building on what the child knows, praising progress, and emphasizing the use of speech to carry a message.

I hope this helps. I know how frustrating glib answers can be!

Answer 4

Teaching immigrants for many years, I found that the best way was this: using a mirror and asking them to curl their tongues lightly but firmly touching the alveo-palatal ridge with the lips barely open (facial muscles relaxed) to blow air out in a steady stream. It really works with a little practice. I found that many times people retroflex their tongue too much and the sound becomes darker and harder to connect to other sounds. Hope this helps. Good luck

Answer 5

Actually, I had that speech "impediment" when I was a child. I talked like I was from Boston. I pronounced no R sounds what so ever. The method that help me was with the tongue. Basically, my speech therapists told me to curl my tongue towards the back or roof of my mouth. And then once I got that down I had to practice saying 'R' words. It took several months for me to correct.

I hope this helps!

Answer 6

My daughter was completely unable to make the r sound when she was little. One day my husband told growl like her favorite dog did when a deer was in our back field. That little girl would work her heart out saying (or trying to say grrrrrrrrrrr). About ten days later she was grrrrrrr-ing about and we heard the most perfect r sound going! I think it may have been the hard g preceding the r that helped. Hope this helps a little and have a grrrreat day! Annie

Answer 7

In advanced foreign language courses (university level) the textbooks do spell out anatomically how different sounds are formed by the mouth, soft palate, nose, etc. so your question is a good one. There is always a way to teach different phonemes. For some reason "R" is a particular challenge in many languages: for instance in speaking Spanish, you roll it (like rapidly saying a series of D's) in French you "blow" an R from the back of your throat, in German it sounds almost like you grunt it.

The best one I can come up with for our (English) "R" sound, is to form your lips in a small "ah"shape, and then attempt to curl your tongue while saying "oo".

Hope this helps.

Answer 8

You must curl your tongue up to touch the roof of your mouth while making the sound 'rrrrr'.

Answer 9

I found it helpful to use a mirror. Provide them with pictures of where their tongue should be. Practice where your tongue should be for R and L.

Answer 10

You could try imitating a dog growling - that sounds like rrrrrrrr to me.