How to Pronounce the Hebrew Resh [ר]

[@marisaaav]

Oh my gosh. I've been trying to do the Hebrew R for days now. In the shower, while I'm doing chores, before bed, lol. It never worked. I tried your first technique and it came out instantly. I'm so happy!! Hahah, thanks for the video!

[@辣条小火车]

Nonnie same!! 😄 He videos are super helpful!! 😊 Same though it took longer for me, because I just didn’t noticed that much at first, until this video corrected me!! 😂

[@Polyglot_English]

Детерминизм это Свобода 🤙 🤙

[@HudsonGouge0]

Same story

[@goldenwonderland]

Out of all foreign languages, this is probably the hardest sound I've ever tried to pronounce in my life. But thanks to your tutorial I'm getting the hang of it. Thank you

[@aabdis]

For me, I think the hardest sound I've ever tried to learn is the "ы" in Russian. It's like this weird, deep, guttaral thing that sounds like you're starting to throw up and trying to hold it back. NEVER could get the hang of that stupid letter! lol

[@aabdis]

@TEHRAY Don't have any experience with Chinese. Korean though, the hardest part for me - at least in what little I've played - was the vowels. Man, half the vowels in Korean all sound the same!

[@carolynloftin4352]

You are AMAZING! It's always bothered me, as a non-native Spanish teacher, to hear my students say, "owh-lah" for "hola"...now I'm trying to speak ivrit to sound like a native. I can't wait for more of your videos!

[@rhaehodges]

I feel that I can now speak Hebrew much more passionately! Thank you so much for this video.

[@rhaehodges]

It's weird to watch you morph into another person just by the progression of the accent haha the stresses!

[@SammytheawesomeILikePotatoes]

Rhae Hodges hes a very good teacher for conversational! I’ve been learning biblical and this is so different! But even with the different accents between the two languages he’s helped me with conversational

[@robinmitchell368]

Love this explanation, especially the voiced/voiceless. My speech language pathologist brain relates perfectly to this explanation.

[@Chavarules1]

I struggled with replicating the sound for years and both techniques worked for me the first time I tried them! Absolutely amazing!

[@humilulo]

the purpose of the uvula is to be able to pronounce resh. ;P

[@Sikara_the_lion_cub]

humilulo cool info!!! Interesting...

[@servantofaeie1569]

humilulo nope, it is to pronounce /q/

[@screamtoasigh9984]

@@servantofaeie1569 see the winkand tongue?

[@humilulo]

@@servantofaeie1569 /q/ .. nice! i stand corrected! :) I think you are absolutely right.

[@screamtoasigh9984]

@Laura S#FAUX forward.com/opinion/398738/no-sephardic-pronunciation-is-not-more-correct-than-ashkenazi/ www.jewishamericanheritagemonth.com/sephardic-2/ashkenazim-and-the-sephardic-pronunciation-of-hebrew-jewish-link-of-new-jersey.php

[@BlessedinKentucky]

Genius technique to get where in the throat to make the sounds and to get the body memory of how it feels! Todah! I'm so glad I found you instead of floundering around with how to pronounce this beautiful language with its unique sounds!

[@Linguistix]

I'm soo beyond thrilled that this technique worked for you! It's great to have somewhat of a tangible connection, and sometimes hard to believe that the same sounds (or similar) exist across languages / language families! 🙏

[@alg4379]

This is also my struggle with the French 'r'.

[@Melly_Elly]

Wow. This is SO helpful! I'm going to Israel in a week and have struggled speaking resh correctly. The starting with chet and adding voice worked for me. Thanks!!

[@jessicarebekah504]

Excellent techniques! Thank you for making this helpful video, Ruben. :) Now I can improve my "resh".

[@anapgmonteiro1]

So incredibly useful - resh as a vocalised chet! Like a lightbulb went off in my head! Thank you so much for this!

[@be.love.shine.]

God has truly blessed you with the gift of languages. Thank you for sharing what you've worked hard to learn, wisdom and helping unify the world in understanding 💓

[@charles.neuman18]

This is really helpful. It's hardest when the ר appears at the end of a word, like נהר. And מקרר is about the hardest situation I've found! Good for practice I guess.

[@charles.neuman18]

I'm thinking at the end of a word it's less scrapey. When I listen to מקרר, the first ר sounds more scrapey than the second.

[@thaisamedeiros3775]

Wow! Best video about "Resh" ever! It helped me a lot! God bless you! Thank you so much!

[@1mamao]

I'm blown away! I can't believe it worked! :D Thank you! That first technique was the best explanation/tutorial I've ever heard.

[@AlexHolland123]

I thought my pronunciaton of the r was pretty good but this video totally helped me pronounce it better! the g example was perfect

[@EthanWZinho]

That was perfect, and very helpful. Thanks so much!

[@ChloeBadoe]

To my French brain, the difference between resh and chet was almost impossible to hear. Resh is a lot closer to the vocalized G sound, thank you for making that connection!! It's still really hard to do but now at least I hear it

[@Linguistix]

Chloebadoe I think in some instances a French R can be voiceless (or sound that way) esp after voiceless consonants (Très to me sounds more like טְחֵי) and maybe that's why? Either way I'm glad the G technique worked!

[@ChloeBadoe]

Linguistix Pronunciation I can't think of any French use of vocalized R, at least not in QC or Parisian! English vocal R has kind of a lame foreign quality 😅 but I finally understand why my israeli friends told me to use it!

[@Chloe-qd5vx]

Because of your video, I've improved my resh in just a couple weeks! Thank you so much! You helped me to pick up on this new sound so fast. The "start with G" tip made it click for me.

[@LindsayAndLumi]

Thanks so much for these two techniques and lots of examples comparing two accents. The thing that I struggle with, and wish were addressed more completely in your tutorial, is words that contain both resh and chet, sometimes right next to each other, sometimes separated by a syllable or two. When I hear myself trying to pronounce them as different sounds, they are extremely similar. I wonder if a Hebrew speaker would even be able to understand me. Thanks again!

[@gemjul9562]

the only sound I still can't pronounce..my first language is Russian.. since I turned 3 I could pronounce Russian R normally. All my life I knew that there's only one normal beautiful R. (English R is easy too but it's different) But that sound R in Hebrew it's like something we all were told to avoid in Russian 😟it's even not a French R which I can pronounce from time to time. my problem is - I pronounce Russian R too professionally..😅😅

[@M4th3u54ndr4d3]

You can pronounce the russian R. This R is the mizrahi, sephardic and biblical pronounce. The people will understand you. And is much more beautiful than modern israeli ר

[@Exmuslim_noahide]

Не пытайся исказить рейш ,. Буква рейш должна произносится точно так же как и в русском , в библейские времена и вообще на всех семттских языках она твердая , просто гребаные ашкеназы из Германии которые говорили на идише исказили звук так что не следуй тенденции и произноси рейш правильно

[@Exmuslim_noahide]

@@M4th3u54ndr4d3 exactly , modern hebrew pronunciation of reish is actually wrong bcz of freaking askenazim from German

[@M4th3u54ndr4d3]

@@Exmuslim_noahide this is not true. There are a lot of mizrahi who also pronounce the Resh like german/french R. In some dialects of Aramaic, the resh is also pronounced that way. You don't need to be disrespectful and xenophobic.

[@Rolando_Cueva]

Ger Toshav не рейш, а рэш

[@Ridinghunter]

I stumbled across this video by accident and had little intention of even watching it through but it was excellent and thoroughly helpful: thank you so much! I shall be back for more!

[@soonerduck9622]

Wow! This is BY FAR the best advice/two-step approach. Thank you. On a more funny tangent, you mentioned '... that fleshy thing that hangs down in the back of your throat.' I was just minding my own business strolling down my neighborhood street when I randomly noticed a long chain extending from the roof to the ground of my neighbor's house. The chain was guiding the rain water from the open end of a roof gutter. The water exited the gutter and flowed down the chain, guiding it into a catch basin on the ground... then emptying the water away from the house. Could the 'fleshy thing' have a similar purpose, guiding any post nasal drip to a more localized concentrated spot down your throat for efficient drainage? I'm either a whack-nut with too much time on my hands, or I'm a absolute genius deserving a Nobel prize in medicine (though I don't know anything about medical stuff). I prefer the latter. Just having fun...

[@yvonneoverton3006]

Thank you for repeating the sound several times.

[@TheAcrophile]

Much like the French R, but a tad gentler. :)

[@beebarfthebard]

Definitely giving you a shout out in my next video. I'm learning Hebrew to read the bible and am doing an art project to go along with my study. Nothing too serious, but it's like iconography stuff, meant for me to practice and have fun. I'm doing gimel and dalet and trying to record myself saying derech and it's taken me a week for just one word! This series of videos is amazing! Toda Rabbi!

[@nezinha34]

Can’t thank you enough for this video! I’m finally confident pronouncing the “resh”! So happy!

[@Linguistix]

This is such great news!! So glad this clicked for you!! יאללה!!

[@bennetleff4088]

This is so GOOOD, I sent this to 8 different friends who I'm trying to school! Thanks Linguistix

[@ACaffeineAddict]

Wow, great techniques! Nice job!

[@greggggg]

Thank you so much for the tips! As a native Italian speaker (Spanish R) I'm struggling a lot to master the Resh sound. Sometimes I pronounce it too hard and it sounds like Chet. This video helped a lot!

[@Linguistix]

Bravo Greg! Glad these techniques clicked for you!

[@deelovesjesus2911]

This was Phenomenal! Todah Rabah! :)

[@DanielGanorLearnHebrew]

Very nice explanation!

[@jacobnferguson]

First technique very helpful, thanks!

[@AnemicChia]

תודה רבה לך!!! Thank you!!! This is perfect!

[@benjamin-df2qv]

the most beautiful language ✡

[@almogd8506]

thank you! or you can say תודה רבה לך! :D

[@benjamin-df2qv]

@@almogd8506 רק אמת אח

[@DavidMuscleman]

No, not even close.

[@edensharoni4049]

I'm here in 2024 lol, I speak Hebrew in my home but I can't pronounce "resh" or "R" and it's so frustrating. Every time I speak I notice that I say R like W and resh like ch

[@Sasquatchferryman]

Dude, you rock lol I was having so much trouble trying understand just what was going on lmao

[@evergreenerin]

Fun to watch, awesome series. Super duper helpful. With your help I someday hope to say my boyfriends name, Tomer, without completely butchering it. Keep em coming!

[@formulaone07]

I've been wondering how to get the "resh" right since forever and this is the first time that I heard that it's close to "het"! Thanks!

[@alenewalker1188]

Wow I really love your teaching technique. It really works. One of the hardest words for me is beseder. I am American and I come off with a really hard R every time. When I hear a Hebrew speaker speak it, it sounds like besedel. Is this just my ears deceiving me I wonder. Thank you ever so much.

[@devorahgreenfield3795]

This was helpful! I will practice both methods and see how it goes. I have often been confused with being French when I speak Hebrew and now I know why. By the way, the English translation at the bottom of the screen is very detracting as they get most of the words wrong. If the translation can be fixed or removed it will enhance the viewing experience. Continued Success.

[@andreaeisenberg6384]

Reuven, I've missed you! Why did I just get this sent to me today?? Well, this was genuinely awesome. I speak French (as does my daughter) and they think I'm French when I speak Ivrit in Israel (same for my dtr when she first moved there). The resh is by far the hardest thing to do. This will really help.

[@eileenbakker6100]

Totally fantastic! Thanks!

[@TTKxen]

Great video! Many videos I have seen focuses on learning the language with little emphasis on pronunciation many thanks

[@beatnick92]

So true!

[@marcelodasilvamartins6345]

Thank you very much for your tips! I discouvered your Channel this week! I Like It so much! God job! Hugs from Brazil!

[@dianet9749]

It would be helpful if the speakers emphasised where in the mouth the sounds come from and maybe to make a few more repetitions of the basic sounds. The videos are very helpful.

[@e.z.6916]

Great teaching! You are very talented. I suggest you add key words to your description because your videos don't come up easily in search.

[@Linguistix]

Thanks Eliz!!

[@bethstark9307]

Thank you very much! I had no idea how to make that sound, but now it totally makes sense. Thank you!!

[@carlaodacosta]

That is the best resh explaniation I ever seen.

[@bobbyboo1478]

As a natural Hebrew speaker The back of my mouth makes a different shape when I say chet and resh so I didn't get the similarity to the f-v case

[@Linguistix]

Hey Bobby! Does natural = native? Either way, mouth shapes do vary and while this technique aims to help those who have little to no idea as to how this sound is produced, the two sounds as a voiced and voiceless pair do work for [let's call it] near-native fluency, which for many watching this video would be a significant improvement. It doesn't even mean that the shape of your mouth needs to be identical (I don't think I made that claim in the video) but the manner and placement should be similar. I appreciate the comment!

[@victort.4798]

It helps for me to think of it as a French 'r'. Maybe other French speakers will find that useful It's kind of a French 'r' with a little more roll to it. But not too much or it'll sound like chaf

[@debm2252]

Thanks so much! Watched your video twice and finally got this! I was struggling and rolling resh like a Spanish r. In google translator it even sounded like an English w to me.

[@Linguistix]

That's fantastic! So glad these techniques clicked for you! 🤗

[@uncocoloco6862]

Me, coming from ח-video: Hmm, I can't pronounce that, I will move on ר, it looks easier. You: Let's start from ח 😂😂

[@livingsmallwithelisa]

Thank you for such an easy to follow technique.

[@Ak.Fishing_]

How would I know if it worked lol I will try recording תודה!

[@nathanaelscarlett737]

The man's face and expression killed me when he did it inna french accent hilarious😂, you deserve the likes Efficient explanation, practicqlly useful and funnyyyyyyy

[@Goguygo1]

This is so clear and helpful! Thank you

[@FairyRat]

Holy shit man, this is extremely helpful. I've been living in Israel for 11 years now and always struggled with ר. Now it makes way more sense when you put it in the relation with כ. Thank you bro.

[@Linguistix]

I'm so glad that association clicked for you!

[@disinterestedhomo6002]

This is amazing. I had been pronouncing it close to that but i was not confident that that was right at all! Thanks for your help

[@matsutatsu0]

Thank you!

[@ptyantai]

Wow! Wonderful technique!!! Thank you soooooooo much!

[@Linguistix]

So glad it worked for you too, Peter!

[@nastasialuca5596]

That's so smartly laid out :)

[@Linguistix]

Thanks, Nastasia! So glad it's easy to follow!

[@godfather95mbs33]

Unbelievably useful video. Thanks

[@Linguistix]

Really happy this resonated with you!

[@travelleryu]

Not a native english speaker, but I speak Urdu and it sounds the same as 'ghayn' letter in Arabic.

[@SammytheawesomeILikePotatoes]

jode this is conversational Hebrew. And that is correct. In Biblical Hebrew it is very different

[@Maddie1402_]

I'm so glad, I didn't have to learn that sound. I've always tried to teach my Russian friend our "r" sound which sounds almost or maybe even exactly like the Hebrew "r" sound using your first technique and I've never succeeded, she just couldn't do it, so that's how I know it must be pretty hard to master.

[@neelie12341]

so help full not only for speaking but hearing also .. makes understanding Hebrew much easier .. Todah or that would be tODaH

[@justice3043]

Excellent content. I was wondering how to make that sound. I knew I wasn't doing it right

[@curlnamedlauren]

this was so helpful!!!!

[@FranklinGuerrero777]

Thank you for this vidéo! :)

[@humilulo]

the 'vibration' is called 'vocalization' in linguistics. B is a vocalized P. G is a vocalized K. These are 'voiced' and 'voiceless' consonants.

[@Linguistix]

You're absolutely right @humilulo!

[@microchip470]

Another way to learn the Israeli Resh is to practice gargling and then add an 'R' sound to that. To get the pronunciation closer to today's Resh, just come off the trill a little bit.

[@beatnick92]

I've always thought that to do a good resh, you must quickly collect a little pool of saliva and balance it on the back of your tongue. Then use your uvula to flip it up and down in the pool of saliva extremely quickly. It works perfectly, but to be good at it you must speak Ivrit constantly throughout the day and look for words which have a resh somewhere in them so you have a lot of opportunities to practice-- my Yemenite friend was good at this. That is how I noticed what she did to produce this resh. People who speak it as a first language have the different parts of their mouths ready at all times for all these sounds that come up, while we English speakers have our muscle memory as an entirely different set of exercises. These videos can help us form new muscle movements, but we have to practice :)

[@Crazylaowai]

Great overview thank you! I was rolling my Rs like Spanish but now I get it!

[@ricardocano9625]

Awesome! Really appreciated these hints!

[@Linguistix]

I'm so glad these clicked for you!

[@jackiejanes7555]

It worked!!

[@Linguistix]

Wahoo!!

[@ashesfalldown492]

I am glad to know I wasn't the only one substituting the Russian "r" since I am more fluent in Russian than Hebrew. This video really helped me though with the pronunciation and hopefully I am a bit closer

[@tzzqe3511]

привет, ну что, помогло?

[@Bittzen]

I sat on my bed for 1 and a half hours nonstop practicing םקרר because the two resh consecutively following each other was so weird and even dried my mouth out, making it harder to pronounce. I've been reflecting on how I pronounce it each time, and now I'm nailing it and not blowing out as much air each time. I think if someone else is experiencing this particular problem, try more clearly pronouncing the vowel that's between the two resh. Also try to put your tongue more up and forward a tiny bit when you're transitioning from the resh to vowel and to the the next resh. Well, maybe you're tongue position is different than mine where you may be messing up. Just try keeping attention to your tongue positions at all times and noticing where it needs correction, then give more focus at that point.

[@papamidnightfpv]

What a great way to teach it. I've been trying to make the noise by myself and I sound like a wookie. I get frustrated when I start sounding french and my tongue stops working. Now I know how to set up my mouth ;-}>

[@shebear7542]

brilliant help, thanks.

[@JLP4444]

Helpful, but I feel like I need a special video for when a word ends with resh. I can't come close to pronouncing resh like presented in the video (e.g., "refrigerator") in those cases.

[@samanthaforte6870]

you really helped me a lot. thanks a lot. a lot. a lot. a lot.l a lot. a lot.

[@Zroolmpf_Celmbror]

Good video. My practice word was Israel. Lots of examples online of how different people say it!

[@tranquilomusic6650]

I used to the R in Spanish because it was my first language

[@Ron-dv8jj]

So resh is basicly just a hybride between ch/hk and R sound? An R sound but you try to add a slight ch/kh sound in it.

[@Linguistix]

Not exactly. The 'Resh' sound and the English 'R' sound have nothing to do with each other, phonetically speaking. R is used to represent Resh for lack of any other better representation. The Resh sound *is* however a voiced version of CH and the placement is nearly the same, so we try to use CH as a reference and then add your voice. Don't bring R into this haha!

[@mujemoabraham6522]

Semitic R sounds is different than Germanic , don't mix between them !

[@screamtoasigh9984]

It reminds me of purring! No wonder cats are always cranky, they can't get past the resh, unless they swallow a bird! (Rabbi's Cat trailer):kzbin.info/www/bejne/hGeui3uomqqJbrs

[@mujemoabraham6522]

Semitic Hebrew Resh is exactly like Aramaic, Assyrian, and Arabic but Eastern European R is like German letter R sound.

[@tFighterPilot]

@@mujemoabraham6522 Actually all eastern European languages have the same R sound as Arabic. The modern Hebrew R has indeed come from German.

[@PorElila]

You are a genius! thank you so much for sharing your techniques! I was fighting for years with the the resh sound, finally, I think it becomes quite decent. 😃 (Ps. I am not native English speaker... )

[@lucianonicolasrivadero5814]

I'm from Argentina and the Spanish is my native language. So, it was very difficult for me because the R Spanish is more in the tongue. Thanks for this help.

[@Linguistix]

The Rs are definitely different in Spanish and Hebrew but there are more and more Spanish speakers in Israel and you hear a lot of the 'flipped' or 'rolled' Rs instead of what we review in the video. I'm glad it helped you! Suerte, capo!

[@lucianonicolasrivadero5814]

@@Linguistix תודה רבה חבר. בהצלחה.

[@zyrohnmng]

I absolutely loved the explanation of the pairing between ח and ר! I picked it up almost instantly. I was familiar with the chet sound from German, and kept trying to use a weird German/French r sound...It was bad. Now, I'm just struggling not voicing the Resh, but most of the time I'm fine. Only some sound groupings are throwing me off now. Thanks!

[@maltototte95]

"ר" is the exact same sound as the French "r". In French, "r" is pronounce "ח" when preceded by an unvoiced consonant, and "ר" otherwise just like Hebrew. It's not really a language thing, it's just how the human palate is designed.

[@maar162]

@@maltototte95 it's actually a little softer

[@audreystrauss1886]

This was very helpful!

[@nehamiah810]

Wonderful!~ thank you

[@Andy-dh9tq]

This was very helpful thank you

[@andreaeisenberg459]

Still love referencing your videos, and my husband is watching them now too. As I've progressed, I've found one thing really hard!! Any advice for voicing a resh and a chet together, like in far-- רחוק

[@brandonmasha8133]

Personally, I have no problems with pronouncing resh, or any other letters for that matter, with the modern Israeli pronunciation. However, when I read Hebrew, or pronounce words and phrases that I learn, I prefer to use a more Semitic pronunciation which agrees with the Hebrew alphabet, i.e. Mizrahic rather than Ashkenazic pronunciation; "ר": Pronounced as "R" in Spanish/Icelandic. "ק": Pronounced as "Q" in Greenlandic. "ת": With "Dagesh" - pronounced as "T" in most world languages. Without "Dagesh" - pronounced as "Þ" in Icelandic ("TH" in English "THIN"). "ח": Aspirated "H" pronounced at the back of the throat - when transcribing Arabic with the Roman alphabet, it's usually written either as "Ħ/ħ", or more commonly as "Ḥ/ḥ". "ו": Pronounced as "W" in English. "ט": The sound for this should be somewhere between an English "T" and "D", or simply an unaspirated "T" - essentially best transcribed as an English "TT" (think of both "T"s in Spanish "TORTUGA", or "T" in English "BEETLE"). "ע": So far, I could find no equivalent for this letter's sound in any non-Semitic language, but unless you use the modern Israeli pronunciation - or the European/American Jewish pronunciation (Ashkenazic & Sephardic), it's not the same sound as "א". Like "א" though, "ע" is a "vowel consonant". If you look up this letter ("ayin" for fellow non Jews), you can find its pronunciation in Arabic, and in Mizrahic pronunciations of Hebrew.

[@brandonmasha8133]

TL;DR - I prefer to pronounce the Hebrew letters as their Arabic equivalents as it's easier to then spell the words that I use. Also, I think Israeli pronunciation shouldn't sound so German when it's a Semitic language, even though I do understand why it's pronounced that way.

[@ExtraPencil2]

Embarrassed to say I made Aliya three years ago--my Hebrew is so bad that the pizza delivery guy switches to English. I'm in Ulpan Gordon, but am not sure I've made it into kita bet... yet. (In my defense, I didn't know the letters when I first arrived.) So this is me trying. You make it much, much more doable. Thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!

[@Linguistix]

Oh I'm so glad to hear! And you're definitely not alone. Hebrew can be extremely dense and tricky and that's before you bring in pronunciation 🤣 Keep pushing (or simplifying) and I'm sure you'll get that pizza guy to keep it in Hebrew every now and again!

[@ExtraPencil2]

@@Linguistix thank you. I don’t want to be one of those Americans who assumes everyone should speak English!

[@joshd.4603]

That was super helpful. Thank you!

[@辣条小火车]

Yay!! Let’s double subscribe!! I subscribed on both of my channels, because your videos were just so amazing and helpful, too!! 😊 Keep it up, Reuben!!

[@RuthHenriquez1]

Really helpful, thanks.

[@Hawaiian_Shirt_guy]

I've heard native hebrew speakers turn it into a V sound at the end of a sentence. קר come out like kav instead of car. Some British accents do that as well.

[@tomsaltsman]

"Voiced consonant" is the normal term I expected to hear about the differences between v and f, b and p, and z and s. "Voiced" means the voice box is needed to produce the right sound, not just the tongue and teeth.

[@meriansobczak]

🙌 Shalom, this is so amanzing!!! todah rabah!

[@AiranSafra]

Thanks for your video, very helpfull!