Welcome to the InFluency Podcast. I’m Hadar and this is episode number 54. And today we have for you the R bootcamp.

So, you are probably wondering why am I going all military on you? What is the R bootcamp and why do I need it? So, the R bootcamp is a daily drill that will help you use the R spontaneously without a lot of effort every single day when you speak.

So if your R is awesome and you use it easily, and do you have no problem pronouncing it when speaking and you never get stuck when you have all these weird words, like “world” and “squirrel” and “mirror”, then skip this one. This one is not for you.

However, if every now and then you feel like your tongue gets all tangled up inside itself or around and your teeth because of the R, or maybe you know how to make the R but you simply go back to your native R when speaking; or if you actually struggle with pronouncing the R and you’re not sure how to do it, then this episode is for you.

This is the audio version of a video about the R bootcamp. And if you feel that the audio is not enough, you can go ahead and watch the video, I’m going to post the link in the description below. But I think the ideal practice is to watch the video once and then play the audio whenever you can. So make sure you save this episode, and you do it whenever you can, ideally, every single day for a limited period of time so you can actually see and feel the difference. Cause that’s what we’re here for, the difference.

I’ve also included a freebie for you with a list of words, phrases, and sentences that have the R. This is like an advanced practice or luxury practice once you’re done with your R bootcamp. Okay? Are you ready? Let’s do it.

Hey, everyone. Welcome to the R bootcamp.

Welcome to the R bootcamp. This bootcamp is for you if you struggle with pronouncing the R in English and/or you struggle with using it freely when speaking, even though you know how to make it, it’s just not there for you when speaking. If you do this exercise every single day 10 minutes a day, you will see how easier it is for you to start using the R when speaking.

First of all, let’s understand what you need to do to get to the R sound. For the R the tongue pulls back, the sides of the tongue push against the sides of the upper teeth – ‘ur’. The tongue is curved in the middle of the mouth- it’s like just standing there with power, and the tip of the tongue is not touching anything. It can point up, up and back, forward, down – honestly, it doesn’t matter. What matters is that the sides of the tongue push against the sides of the upper teeth and there is tension in the back – ‘ur’.

One more thing is that your lips need to round – ‘ur’. You want to think of it like a growling dog. Or a pirate. Now, it doesn’t matter if the R is at the beginning or at the end, let’s get used to this position. ‘ur’. A lot of times it feels weird and this is why you’re not using it when speaking, so you got to get comfortable with that new position and new sound. Again, ‘ur’, good.

Let’s begin with ‘ruh’. Let’s do a few of those: ‘ruh’. What we’re going to do is we’re going to use the R before and after different vowel sounds to get used to saying and hearing the sound. ‘ruh’.  Now ‘ei’ – ‘rei’. Now ‘ai’ – ‘rai’, round your lips. Now, ‘row’. Good. Now, ‘roi’, like the name, ‘roi’, drop your jaw, ‘roi’. Keep the tongue down after you’re done with the R: ‘roi’. Good. ‘aw’ – ‘raw’.

One more time: ‘ruh ruh rei’, ‘ruh ruh rai’, ‘ruh ruh row’, ‘ruh ruh roi’, ‘ruh ruh raw’.

Now let’s try a few more vowels. ‘ruh ruh reh’, ‘e’ as in “red”. ‘ruh ruh reh’. I’m deliberately not using the R in words just yet. I want you to get comfortable with saying that new sound or weird sound or R sound, whatever you want to call it, before and after different vowel sounds, get comfortable with it.

‘ruh ruh reh’. ‘ee’ – ‘ruh ruh ree’. Round your lips. ‘ruh ruh ra’, ‘a’ as in “cat”, ‘ruh ruh ra’.

‘oo’ – ‘ruh ruh roo’. ‘ah’ – ‘ruh ruh rah’. Very good.

Now, let’s move on to comparing R’s and W’s: R – W. Make sure that they’re different: R, different quality – W; R-W.

Now, let’s compare R’s and L’s. R -L. For the L the tongue touches the upper palate, R – L, for the R it doesn’t. R – L. Again, R – W.

R – L. Very good.

Now, let’s try a few words where the R appears after a vowel. ‘ar’. Keep your jaw open and make sure that the tongue doesn’t go up for the R as you’re pronouncing the vowel at the beginning. ‘ar’.

Now ‘er’, as in “dare”. ‘er’. And again, try to go into words just yet. It’s really important to sit with just R’s and vowels, before and after, get comfortable with the sound. And the drills, that’s what matters, that’s what develops the muscle memory. Okay? That’s how you get comfortable with the sound and start using it spontaneously. Again, ‘er’. Push the lips just a bit at the end – ‘er’.

Now ‘ir’. ‘ir’: only at the end there’s the R. ‘ir’.

‘or’. Not ‘ur’, but ‘or’, as in “four”. ‘or’.

Now let’s practice clusters. Like ‘krrrai’, we’re holding out the R, ‘krrrai’. ‘brrrai’. Don’t try to find meaning in the words, I’m just making sounds. ‘brrrai’.

‘frrrai’.

‘strrrai’.

‘k’ – ‘krrrai’.

‘grrrai’.

‘skrrrai’.

‘sprrrai’.

Good. Ready for some words?

“Red”.

“Rat”.

“Read”.

“Rick”.

“Room”.

“Rook”.

“Rookie”.

“Rob”.

“Raid”.

“Ride”.

“Road”.

“Royce”.

Good. Some words with clusters. “Break bridges”. “Crazy credit”. “Strange street”. “Creepy creatures”. “Free my friends”. “Stripes and streets”. “Trick or treat”.

Let’s try some sentences. “Rice prices are rising and that’s really frustrating. Rice prices are rising and that’s really frustrating”.

“Park the car in the darkest part of the yard. Park the car in the darkest part of the yard. Park the car in the darkest part of the yard”.

“Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend. Rita wrote a great letter to her French friend”.

“We need to rest after the long trip. We need to rest after the long trip”. Now let’s prolong the R for each one of them. “We need to rrrest afterrr the long trrrip”. “We need to rest after the long trip”.

“I bought four shorts at the store. I bought four shorts at the store. I bought four shorts at the store”.

“Shirley’s celebrating her birthday. Shirley’s celebrating her birthday. Shirley’s celebrating her birthday. Shirley’s celebrating her birthday”.

“The early bird gets the worm. The early bird gets the worm. The early bird gets the worm”.

“We were working around the world”. ‘w’r’ – W-R – ‘w’r. ‘w’rk’ – W-RK – ‘w’rk’. “Around the world” – W-RLD – dark L – ‘w’rld’. “We were working around the world. We were working around the world. We were working around the world. We were working around the world”.

“Red leather, yellow leather, lavender leather. Red leather, yellow leather, lavender leather. Red leather, yellow leather, lavender leather”.

Okay, that’s it. Do this every day and I guarantee that the R is going to be a lot easier for you to pronounce and also to use spontaneously when speaking.

And if you like this video, you might also like my daily pronunciation morning routine and my vocabulary drills. All the links are in the description or right up here.

Have a beautiful week, and I will see you next week in the next video. Bye.