Confused about pronunciation ら、れ、る、り、ろ

[Mini_Apocalypse]

I've done fine so far. I know all the other characters and how to say them. But i dont understand the ra, re, ri, ru and ro.

When they are said it sounds like its said with an 'L' at the begining. But in all my books it says you pronounce it as an 'R'.

Please dont tell me their pronunciation is inbetween the two, because it just makes me dribble when i try that.

[markystar]

it's hard to describe...

but this is how i think of it...

it's like a cross beteen a trilled R (like in italian)
and the L at the beginning of a word (like/love as opposed to all/animal)
and there's something like a soft D thrown in there for good measure.

hope this helps!

[Javizy]

Yeah, a soft D is a good start, your tongue should land somewhere just above the back of your front teeth. Try mimicking native speakers pronunciation as much as you can by shadowing the lessons and any other listening materials you have. This might be helpful to you as well: http://www.hellonavi.com/foldera/html/hassei/hassei01.html

I'd like to see a lesson from Yoshikai on how to roll your R's

[Belton]

Written explanations of a sound are inevitably doomed to failure, I think.

This blogger has a good stab at describing where your tongue goes to produce the r

My advice is to listen to a good sample recording of a native speaker and record yourself to hear what sounds you are producing. Practice. Practice some more.

(Worst case is if you don't quite master it you end up with a foreign accent, which you may well have anyhow. I doubt you'd produce a sound that will be confused with another mora.)

For just the kana sounds AiueAoi is interesting and fun... although it's a little indistinct and in a childs voice

Wordchamp has a large body of sample words recorded. It also has a feature where you try to match a word's waveform. (This may or may not help you get a better pronunciation as I'm not sure it describes the aspect of the sound you need.)

I'm pretty sure jPod has lots of recordings of individual words and the kana, although some of this is in the premium area.

[jaypunkrawk]

I've definitely mistaken it for a "d" sound. Listen to some native speakers and you'll get it. It finally just became natural to me after a while.

[Mini_Apocalypse]

Thanks guys! Some of the info was very useful. With any luck, with a little more practice i might be able to say it without dribbling too!

[Annihilator]

I'd probably describe it as a soft "D" sound. It's kind of like rolling your tongue in Spanish except you don't roll it, you only make the sound once. It sounds almost exactly like an English D when it comes after a ん, though, like in べんり. Try listening to how なおみ先生 speaks in the podcasts and you'll catch on pretty quickly.

[Psy]

It seems like this matter is getting over-complicated. The ら、り、る、れ、ろ (called the ラ行 「らぎょう」) is simply an R pronounced with a quick flick of the tongue to the roof of your mouth. Since this briefly mirrors the position for L, you'll immediately understand why R and L are so difficult for Japanese speakers. It is also why people argue about what sound ラ represents.

Listen to a recording, and then try it yourself. Remember, it's a gentle flick of the tongue and nothing more. If it seems difficult then just relax-- because you're trying too hard. (as an added note, the sound "りゅ" is also a bit tricky... to produce it, instead of trying to pull your lips back when you say it, push them outwards like a chimpanzee. You'll find the sound a lot easier to produce that way.)

[Fedgrub]

It seems like this matter is getting over-complicated. The ら、り、る、れ、ろ (called the ラ行 「らぎょう」) is simply an R pronounced with a quick flick of the tongue to the roof of your mouth.

Beat me to it Psy haha

[Flamehearted]

I always think of it as saying "RL" - e.g it is an R sound immediately followed by an "L". I was also told by my Japanese language partner that you could get away with an L - anthing but an English "R" !