In most native English accents, R is pronounced by curling the tongue very significantly (more than most languages that I’m familiar with). People who aren’t used to this (often people who speak English as a second language) won’t curl their tongues enough, and the partially curled tongue will end up touching the roof of their mouths. This happens to be how you pronounce L, so in these accents, R and L will end up sounding the same.
Try getting into the habit of curling your tongue more when you pronounce R, and you’ll end up hearing a difference
My language has both kinds of R. One that makes the tongue go all the way back and another one that’s closer to the ‘L’ point but the tongue is kept looser and not touched fully, making the ‘R’ sound.
I tend to use the latter, mainly because it’s more effort to go all the way back. No. Mainly, it is because everyone else around me speaks that way. But now that I know, I’ll still keep speaking that way, due to the other reason.
Interesting, my approximation to an English r is more like a muted w than anything involving curling the tongue and still there’s a major difference between r and l sounds. (The r in my native language is also fairly unique, possibly regional.)
Edit: Just checked with a mirror and nope: raised tongue with the sides of the tongue pressing against the upper molars and a curled tip.
In most native English accents, R is pronounced by curling the tongue very significantly (more than most languages that I’m familiar with). People who aren’t used to this (often people who speak English as a second language) won’t curl their tongues enough, and the partially curled tongue will end up touching the roof of their mouths. This happens to be how you pronounce L, so in these accents, R and L will end up sounding the same.
Try getting into the habit of curling your tongue more when you pronounce R, and you’ll end up hearing a difference
R: curl the sides of the tongue up to your upper molars
L: curl the front of your tongue up to the roof of your mouth
Nice to know.
My language has both kinds of R. One that makes the tongue go all the way back and another one that’s closer to the ‘L’ point but the tongue is kept looser and not touched fully, making the ‘R’ sound.
I tend to use the latter,
mainly because it’s more effort to go all the way back.No. Mainly, it is because everyone else around me speaks that way. But now that I know, I’ll still keep speaking that way, due to the other reason.Interesting, my approximation to an English r is more like a muted w than anything involving curling the tongue and still there’s a major difference between r and l sounds. (The r in my native language is also fairly unique, possibly regional.)
Edit: Just checked with a mirror and nope: raised tongue with the sides of the tongue pressing against the upper molars and a curled tip.