Pronunciation of initial "r"

[945762246]

Hi @YuQinCai, @Constance_Fang and the ChinesePod team, my question is this:

In the pronunciation-3 lesson of the “say it right” series, you nicely introduce the pronunciation of the initials

• J, Q, X
• Zh, Ch, Sh
• Z, C, S
  I wonder how the pronunciation of the initial R works in Mandarin. I have the feeling that it is pronounced slightly different than, say, the “r” in English “right”, with the tongue being more at the front. Could you say more about this?

Thanks!

[YuQinCai]

You can check out` Professor Xu’s video pronouncing the r sound here.

A lesson on e vs. i would be nice

Hi there guys. I thought these videos might help your questions. They were part of an experimental pinyin browser tool, which I will see if we can get made. In the meantime, I will see what I can do from my end to allow you to see all the noised spoken by @daxulaoshi. @thejco, We only had the pleasure of filming with Professor Xu for two days before he had to go abroad. The Say It Right series is not intended to be a complete solution to all of Mandarin sounds, but a great starting-off p…

“R” sound is like “l” sound but not moving your tongue to touch your teeth like “l” sound, and not as back and curl as “r” sound in English.