G'day, you mob!
Pete here and welcome to another episode of Aussie English.
So this is going to be an advanced pronunciation lesson where I teach you the difference between the
pronunciation of L and R; /l/ and /r/ in Australian
English. Are you ready?
Let's get into it. Alright, guys, so I know just how many of you
have trouble with these two sounds: L and R in English, they are very
similar. But the key to learning the difference between these is just practise,
practise, practise. Anyone can do it.
So don't give up hope if you're finding these two sounds to be a pain in the bum.
So today is going to be an advanced lesson where we compare these sounds and we go through exercises
in order for you to learn to produce them, to pronounce them like a native speaker.
It'll be broken up into four different sections.
In Part One, we're going to practise pronouncing the /l/ L sound in English.
In Part Two, we will practise the /r/ R sound in English.
In Part Three, we're going to do a comparative pronunciation exercise
where we will say minimal pairs with the L sound and the R
sound so that you can practise going between the two and producing both sounds.
And in Part Four, this is going to be a listening comprehension test to where you will have to see
if you can hear the difference between /l/ and /r/ in Australian English.
Lastly, guys, I have advanced tutorials breaking down the articulation
in the mouth, the placement of the tongue and how to make the L and R sound in
English. But I'll tell you how you can get access to those videos later on today.
So when you're ready, let's get into it.
First, let's go over the sound /l/, the L sound in English, which is
represented by this IPA symbol on the screen now.
Now you guys are probably thinking, Pete, what the hell?
There are a whole bunch of different L sounds in English, including the Light L, which is what
we're going to tackle today, the dark L and the syllabic L, with and without
lateral release. And you are 100 percent correct.
As I said, we're just going to tackle the light /l/ sound in today's lesson.
This is the one that gets confused with the /r/ R sound in Australian
English. A little note about spelling.
There are words where l appears in the spelling of words like walk, talk,
folk, and half.
However, the L is not pronounced, ok?
So, just be aware of that.
You'll hear the light L sound in English when it's followed by a vowel sound.
So it's going to be at the front of a word or at the front of a syllable with a vowel sound after
it, such as 'look', 'let', 'laser'.
It can be inside of a word, as I said, for example, 'falling',
'whaler', 'elite'.
And it can even be at the ends of words that are then followed by another word that begins
with a vowel sound, as in 'all in', 'fell out',
'male emu'.
So let's practise this sound.
I'm going to say the L sound three times by itself and then we're going to practise some words and
phrases with the light L sound.
Let's go. /l/
/l/ /l/
'fly',
'loo',
'bling'
'play'
'alive'
'cloud'
'tall off'
'leech'
'glow'
'dealer'
'glass'
'lake'
'collect'
'fall over'.
Now, let's go over the sound /r/ for the letter
R in Australian English, and this is represented by either of these symbols in
IPA. I usually use the upside down /r/.
You'll hear R at the start of words or at the front of syllables when there is a vowel sound
pronounced after the R.
This is just like the L sound.
So for example, 'red', 'rated'.
And then within words, for example, 'boring' or
'correct'. A little note about spelling.
When the letter R appears after a vowel sound and is followed by a consonant sound or no
sound at all, in Australian English, it's not pronounced.
It's silent. And it just indicates that that vowel sound is a long vowel.
For example, 'Ford', 'learn',
'beer', 'wall'.
This is because Australian English is non rhotic.
Just like Received Pronunciation in British English, meaning that the R sound is only
said if it's followed by a vowel sound.
So in the case of words like beer and war, the R sound isn't said
unless words coming after those words begin with a vowel sound.
For example, 'beer is great', 'war always kills'.
When this happens, it's called the Linking R.
To learn more about this, check out my video on the Linking R above.
One more note about spelling.
You may even hear this sneaky little R sound pronounced in words when there
is no R in the spelling of these words.
This is called the Intrusive R, and you can check out my video on the Intrusive R above here
too. Some examples include 'Australia/r/ is big.'
'Australia/r/ is big.' 'Law /r/ and order',
'law/r/ and order'. Alright.
Anyway, time to practise the R sound.
So I'm going to say the R sound three times and then I'm going to go through a list of words and
phrases with the R sound in it.
Are you ready? Let's do it.
/r/ /r/
/r/
'fry'
'roo'
'bring'
'pray'
'arrive'
'crowd'
'tore off'
'reach'
'grow'
'dearer'
'grass'
'rake'
'correct'
'four over'.
Awesome work, now it's time for Part Three!
So in this section, we're going to go through some minimal pairs and these are words
that are exactly the same, except for one sound that is different
between the two words, a minimal pair.
But before we get into that.
I know how important good pronunciation is to English learners just like you.
My students often tell me about how they worry about not sounding professional at work, not
being able to communicate clearly and lacking confidence when they speak, which often holds
them back from speaking at all.
I've helped thousands of students overcome these issues and level up their English
pronunciation inside my Australian Pronunciation Course.
The course helps students level up their speaking confidence, allows them to communicate
easily and effectively and most importantly, to sound more Australian.
When you join the Australian pronunciation course today, you're going to get instant access to
detailed video tutorials for every single vowel sound and consonant sound in
Australian English.
You're going to get video exercises and tongue twisters so that you can perfect these
sounds and sound much more like an English native speaker.
And you're going to get access to 25 Advanced Pronunciation Lessons that cover
things like the Australian R, the syllabic N and the syllabic L.
All of these advanced things that you can learn to sound much more like a native
Australian English speaker.
So join today! And let's level up your pronunciation skills together.
I'll see you in there. Anyway, back to the lesson.
So minimal pairs are really important for learning how to pronounce the difference between two
similar sounds distinctively.
So in this exercise, I'm going to repeat 14 pairs of words or phrases
that are minimal pairs where the only difference is going to be that one has the L
/l/ sound and the other has the R /r/ sound in it.
The first one is going to have the /r/ R sound and the second one is going to have the /l/
L sound. Are you ready?
Let's go. Fry.
Fly.
Roo. Loo.
Bring. Bling.
Pray. Play.
Arrive. Alive.
Crowd. Cloud.
Tore off. Toll of.
Reach. Leech.
Grow. Glow.
Dearer. Dealer.
Grass. Glass.
Rake. Lake.
Correct. Collect.
Four over.
Fall over.
How did you go?
Alright, guys, now it's time for the final part, Part four, and in this section, we are
going to test your listening skills, your ability to hear the difference
between these two sounds.
So don't be discouraged if you find this exercise really difficult.
It is a pretty difficult exercise, just repeat it multiple times and keep
practising so that you can try and hone your listening skills to be able to hear
the difference between these two sounds.
When you can do that, you're also going to be able to produce these two sounds when speaking
as well. Remember, repetition is key.
So I'm going to say 14 different words or phrases from the minimal pairs that we went over
in part three, except I will only say one of these minimal
pairs in each example.
Okay, I'm going to display them both on screen, the two minimal pairs as spelling.
And your job is to work out which one I'm saying.
Okay, so we're going to use the letter A to represent the
R /r/ sound and the letter B to represent the /l/ L
sound. OK, remember, write down which one you hear, A B, A
B, on a piece of paper and I'll tell you the answers at the end.
Are you ready? Let's go.
Fry.
Roo.
Bling.
Pray.
Alive.
Cloud.
Tore off.
Leech.
Glow.
Dearer.
Glass.
Rake.
Collect.
Four over.
Good work. I hope you got them all right!
So for those listening to this episode on the Aussie English podcast, the answers
were A, A, B, A, B, B, A,
B, B, A, B, A, B, A.
Displayed on screen as well.
So that's it, guys. Remember, if you find these sounds hard, make sure to repeat this
episode, repeat this exercise.
Just keep doing this again and again and again.
If you want to go through the detailed videos of the tutorials so that you can learn how to
position the tongue in your mouth, everything like that for these sounds, as well as all the other
sounds in Australian English, make sure to check out my Australian Pronunciation Course in the
description below or just go to
www.aussieenglish.com.au/apc Thanks for joining me and I'll see you soon.