How to Make the German 'R' Sound [Quick Tutorial]

[@KentYTsang]

This was so fricativing informative! I have been learning German on Duolingo for two years and have never felt comfortable with the way I pronounced "R", as I learned how to r-r-roll my tongue's tip but did not understand what goes on at the back of the throat. Never expected such a clear and pointed presentation to solve my problem. Kudos to your teacher too!

[@Cubance]

This is one of the best explanations I've seen, that being said I'm still choking on my own tongue but at least now I know what I have to do. 😜

[@mmoraisdebrito]

totally agree

[@MimicMethod]

That's where you start!

[@melissajohnson5917]

😂😂😂just saw this...4years later

[@djkaeh5673]

This sure is tricky to get down, but this does explain well of what goes on behind pronouncing the German R. Vielen Dank! :)

[@MimicMethod]

Bitte schön!

[@7israelll]

To me, it seems like that I necessarily need at least a little bit of saliva on the tongue to speak it properly. Is that a correct assumption for a native or am I "cheating"?

[@MimicMethod]

The saliva flailing about gives an acoustic quality to it, but it's not necessary. The essence of the sound is the air pushing through the narrow channel created by the palate and the tongue.

[@sighisoaraa]

My voiced uvular fricative always slips into a uvular trill. I need to practice more.

[@MimicMethod]

This is common. The trill occurs when you hit a sweet spot. So for a normal fricative, you want to avoid that sweet spot. That being said, the two sounds are "allophonic" in the language - meaning people perceive them more or less as being the same thing.

[@EnglishWithAccentCoachNicole]

That was really helpful. Now, if I can just get my anatomy to do that to say zurück in an intelligible manner.🤐

[@petermaller4207]

The best lesson ever!!!

[@MimicMethod]

Thanks!

[@franciscostahl6897]

Amazing tutorial! It helped a lot.

[@ysi7016]

I'm so thank you your teaching

[@MimicMethod]

You're welcome Seung Yun!

[@crafty4722]

Ich bin danke

[@theodorechill]

Now I can give amazing speeches.

[@Bigjobs]

I have been trying to pronounce my german friend's name correctly for years. Moritz. I still can't, but at least this explains why!

[@MimicMethod]

Another thing about the name Moritz is it has a tricky /ts/ sound at the end. The key to that is to place the tongue in the /t/ position early, cutting off the airflow of the /i/ prior, giving a brief pause of silence. When english speakers say it, they don't give that break in airflow, and that contributes to the accent, along with mispronunciation of the uvular fricative

[@criscogo9756]

Why does it seems so hard? I can get the sound bu just for half a second and than it is gone.If I continue practicing, will the sound get better? Is there any other exercise to improve this "muscle"?

[@ngochongnguyen3379]

It is really a hard cake for me when I try to speak letter r in French and German. My friends laugh hahaha whenever I ask them to correct me

[@wagneralmeida5909]

Hi, Idahosa. I wonder if these 'exercises' work the same with the french 'R' sound, since it is also an uvular sound.

[@bvespertine]

They would, they're both the same sound.

[@MimicMethod]

Exactly - it's the same sound - language agnostic

[@edelweiss-]

Was ist "trink"?

[@tonifcbarca]

Drink

[@oaoekii9729]

Hey it's Nic