How to Pronounce the r Consonant (r ʀ ʁ) in German PERFECTLY

Hi my dear German learners looking for an amazing accent in German :)
In this video of our series about the perfect pronunciation of the German consonant sounds, we are going to be looking at the r sound (r ʀ ʁ) in words like
oder, hier, wir (vocalic r : r =a)
trotzdem (unvoiced uvular fricative)
drei (voiced uvular fricative)
Folgt mir auf Instagram: / learngerman4life
Folgt mir auf Facebook: / germanlangua. .
Folgt mir auf TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@learngerman4l...

[@Pidalin]

It seems like Germans could not choose between different R sounds, so they adopted all of them. :-)

[@letsgetitback]

I've never been so pissed about learning an accent. I just can't do it!!

[@LearnGerman4Life]

You can do it! We believe in you!

[@mattycopeland5543]

@@LearnGerman4Life no he can’t.

[@jammin5563]

​@@LearnGerman4Lifeim learning german and i must say STOP MAKING EVERYTHING SO COMPLEX Dare (the manly) Das (the neutral) Dein (the manly but affected) And female which i forgot meanwhile in english: The

[@RS-xb9lo]

​@@jammin5563Der not Dare 😭

[@jammin5563]

​@@RS-xb9loyou get the point

[@pinksky222]

“r” and “ich” is definitively a challenge

[@Kender591]

😭

[@maavet2351]

I speak hebrew and russian, so for me it's easy

[@diesesphil]

Just whistle and spread your mouth. The whistle should move towards the back of your mouth and create the perfect soft ch Sound.

[@jalmantle]

​@@diesesphilyo this very helpful

[@jalmantle]

​@@diesesphilthanks

[@Porygon-Z0309]

I grew up in Norway with german being my first language because of family. Only after moving here I learnt that I could not do the back-of-the-mouth r. I might speak fluently, but I am definitely the odd one out in a crowd

[@anonymousxxx9513]

The only few times I've heard [ʀ] in German it was used as a stylistic device in songs or for laying emphasis on a particular word but never in a normal conversation.

[@Suhaisuha1108]

Thank you for explaining It helped me understand these german r sounds I think It would be also nice if you elaborated voiced/unvoiced uvula sound/examples a bit more on another video :) Dankeschön 👍

[@danilogoes4515]

ʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀʀ

[@JohnSmith-jk7gf]

Could you please tell us which are the rules on when to use each of the last two? For example, for the word schwarz, it seems ok with both. So, when i read a word, how can i know which of the two fits the specific word? Thanks for your great job!

[@itsmekaarma]

Me being persian and already having to pronounce those in farsi

[@brisakruspe]

So when you say ‘drei’ you pronounce it with the back of the throat, I get it and I can pronounce it. But what I can’t and don’t understand is the rolled strong R? I thought it was like spanish which I can obviously say, it’s with the tip of the tongue, but how’s it possible to roll it with the BACK of your throat? As in ‘prost’ ?? Lol this is hard

[@LearnGerman4Life]

the Spanish rolled r can be found in Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland

[@user-lh4yp2lf2m]

it makes me cough 😔

[@miguelangelrodriguez64]

are those the same unvular frictive Rs that are in French?

[@aniawhitestocDryl]

yes

[@bredket3334]

I can't pronounce them when they appear two times in row like in word "regenerieren"

[@copsarebastards]

A very simple and difficult word for this: Traurig

[@RetroResearch]

Wonderful! Thank you! This clears everything up. Subscribing!

[@user-dp6dl2yn8w]

thanks bud

[@Jesus_equals_LOVEnForgviness]

I've only taken a couple years of German but I did notice the different Rs the Germans use. It's quite fascinating.

[@Compass.the.Jackal]

I can pronounce all of the r’s, but it’s way easier to use the alveolar trill.

[@LearnGerman4Life]

yeah it is, but you'll sound a little bit better with the German / French r in my opinion :)

[@MegaJellyNelly]

​@@LearnGerman4Lifethey can adopt the swiss accent, I think that would be okay

[@burgundowykutacz]

maybe could you make a video about differences between a schwa vs a

[@ramamonato5039]

According to 'die deutsche Bühnenaussprache', standardized by Theodor Siebs in 1898, the letter "r" should be pronounced with an alveolar trill, just like a Spanish "r". Old German singers also employ this Spanish "r" when singing German. Heino still uses it in his song "Das Lied der Deutschen". However, nowadays, only the Bavarians and the Swiss people pronounce "r" with this Spanish "r" type. Today, the Germans and Austrians choose a French "r" in pronouncing "r".

[@anonymousxxx9513]

The alveolar trill is particularly common in places where Low German is still vivid (a.k.a. the [very] north).

[@ramamonato5039]

@@anonymousxxx9513 In Indonesia, Indonesians, including lecturers in universities and teachers of German in senior-high schools, employ an alveolar trill in speaking German. This is one of the features of Indonesian-German pronunciation. Here in this country, we are not well informed that today's standard German for the letter 'r' is just like French-r. Therefore, most of us pronounce 'r' with an Indonesian or Spanish 'r', which is an alveolar trill 'r'.

[@anonymousxxx9513]

@@ramamonato5039 That's the traditional variant, and it's fine. The go-to standard for theatre plays, classical singing and so on, also called "stage German". And it's still used in informal settings, even if not as the most prevalent realisation anymore - which is now [ʁ]. On the other hand, the actual French uvular trill [ʀ] is plain uncommon. In fact I've only ever stumbled upon it as a stylistic device, and not frequently either. I have no idea where that myth comes from but native speakers do NOT burble their rs.

[@ramamonato5039]

@@anonymousxxx9513 Like I said above, Theodor Siebs standardized the pronunciation of the so-called Bühnendeutsch in 1898. Yes, I know it was the first standard pronunciation and used formally in Germany until 1950s before the coming of the next standard pronunciation "Deutche Hochsprache", which is now called 'Deutsche Aussprache'. Most Indonesians still make good use of old handbooks while learning German. Moreover, it happens because today's standard pronunciation is considered to be more difficult if compared to stage pronunciation. Indonesian learners are very easy to be demotivated in learning foreign languages if difficult pronunciation is taught to them. So, as one of the teaching strategies to avoid their stopping learning German is by allowing them to employ Indonesian/Spanish alveolar trill 'r' all the time, pronouncing German 'ch' with the voiceless velar fricative [x] in all positions, like Dutch 'ch', pronouncing the letter 'z' like Indonesian/Italian 'c' as in 'cinta/città', pronouncing German 'w' like Indonesian/English 'w', pronouncing all long vowels short, etc. Yes, luckily, although I am not a linguist, just a man who loves German and Dutch, I know that standard Netherlandic-German r's today is [ʁ] in initial position, but in final position, it becomes American-English 'r' for Netherlandic Dutch and it becomes [ɐ] for German German. The term 'French-r' is used to make people in general understand the point easily since not all people understand specific phonetic terms, like voiced uvular fricative. Some teachers of German and Dutch in KZbin videos use a glass of water and they gargle with that water in their videos. I also know this is just an easy way of teaching to make regular people understand the basic method for producing the German 'r' easily, which is actually not 100% accurate. Well, year by year learners of German/Dutch will find out the correct way of pronouncing today's Dutch-German 'r'. Long time ago these two languages were considered one language and employed the same traditional original alveolar trilled 'r', but not anymore now due to changes within German-Dutch societies.

[@anvartemir7877]

Bro what about the trilled R? I can hear this sound as well in some German speaking videos and etc. Does it depend on the word or it’s some dialectical stuff? If the first one then it probably means there are 4 R sound in German))

[@LearnGerman4Life]

You can find the trilled R in some dialects, especially in the south (also all of Austria and Switzerland)

[@anonymousxxx9513]

​@@LearnGerman4Life It's the traditional variant/stage German.

[@Pro-le5dt]

ICH HÖRE SIE REDEN UND GENIESSE, LIEBER MATTHIAS. EGAL, OB AUF DEUTSCH ODER AUF ENGLISCH. DIE BEIDEN SPRACHEN KLINGEN SO SCHÖN UND HARMONISCH! DANKE. MFG AUS MOSKAU, SWETA. 🖐️🌻

[@LearnGerman4Life]

🥰

[@sunnysideup9316]

That little dangly thing that swings at the back of my throat- Nicki Minaj

[@bald4083]

Cardi b*

[@FrenchwithBasu]

❤

[@AdrarAberkan]

0:00

[@samyakchhajed]

Can you please help me with the pronunciation of the word "rot"? I can't understand how to pronounce r in it.

[@LearnGerman4Life]

Practice, practice, practice. And sing German songs :)

[@_anastasia_wagner]

Do you move your upper palate towards the tongue or vice versa? I've heard different opinions

[@LearnGerman4Life]

Tongue towards upper palate :)

[@ym_reptv]

Hey can you help me with my pronunciation? Is it like r or like r? Am i saying it right? R?

[@jenm1]

I feel like I'm doing it wrong because it uses so much of my diaphragm and hurts my throat a bit.

[@user-yt2fz7um2x]

I'm not sure if I'm hearing it right no matter how many videos I watch:(( cause we use abjad and have 3sounds so close to eachother so one isغ(french R) for us but the other is it a ق(unvibrant french R) or خ(german ch) and I can't get which one is tge other German R. Can anyone help me with that plz?

[@abhinavvinod4879]

All will work because German has just one sound so they can't identify all 3

[@duytungphammotorvn]

I still don't get it right! Who invented this? 🔥

[@atlascollective3000]

How do I pronounce groß

[@Arelius]

Essentially like saying gross with the German R, and only saying the first part of the letter O. So like Oh, without the H

[@Mephilis78]

I'd you say "drei" at the end? Sorry, it's a short and I don't want to watch the whole video again just to hear the last second of the video lol

[@LearnGerman4Life]

yes, drei

[@garden2356]

My nightmare 😫 is that r sounds

[@apathetic9800]

🧘‍♂️

[@DemeterVT]

Kinda sounds like the french R, tho...

[@juliab3326]

I was born in Germany and can't pronounce the German Rs to save my life. I blame my Russian/Kazakh family.

[@Egyptian-Animals]

Only Arabs can pronounce the 3 types since we have all of them in Arabic.

[@Raexol]

So r never pronounced as r in English??

[@tiffanyhanson3701]

What if you don’t have the dangly thing?

[@LearnGerman4Life]

hahahahahah then you have to roll your Rs haha

[@eff9266]

repeat a few times please. a few. not once. even better when a few times the sound and a few times the example word or a few words. r r r trotztem trotztem r r r oder oder r r r drei drei

[@indemniti]

Could you pretty please help me understand how to pronounce "ruhig?"

[@LearnGerman4Life]

/ru:ich/

[@SkyDarmos]

I am German and I highly doubt that there are three different R-sounds. There should be just two.

[@LearnGerman4Life]

no, there are actually 3 : vocalic r, voiced and unvoiced uvular r ;)

[@SkyDarmos]

@@LearnGerman4Life I try to confirm that by listening to my R in trotzdem and my R in Reis, but I really don’t see the difference.

[@LearnGerman4Life]

the difference is that r + vowel (such as rot, or Reis) the r is voiced = having a slight vibration in your throut. In Preis, or trotzdem it is unvoiced = no vibration. And then there is the vocalic r = a such as besser - "bessa" @@SkyDarmos

[@SkyDarmos]

@@LearnGerman4Life Ok, thanks, though I would probably not notice it if someone were to use a voiced R in trotzdem. And then there are those dialects that use a Spanish R, and in those this distinction cannot exist. Anyway, interesting to know, but it would maybe just confuse the learner if they were told.

[@BjornHansen314]

I can tell just by looking at you, you have german ancestry.

[@BigBoyCarp]

trickiest for americans here in poland it's very common

[@MsTranthihai71]

❤