Pronunciation of the French R

[CharlyRaaad]

is this called a 'guttural r'?

[cellardream]

@CharlyRaaad yes, it is. the guttural r is a fairly broad term actually but this sound is included within the group.

[Snipekiller500]

i can do an amatuer r sound but it only works on easy words like tres and quatre. I still need help working on those rs

[Sarisusan]

For some reason I find saying 'arrete de rire!' with the english pronunciation kind of hilarious

[xxkid123]

i love the ending "aurevoir" (plus american accent)

[moonstaff1234]

I can do the exaggerated fine, but I can't do the articulated and casual :(

[ConlangFan]

I can do it perfectly :LL

[josquine]

i can do it..

[Shaymuff]

...Yeah I think when I go to France they'll just have to deal with the english r :3.

[flckrt]

why is it has to be that hard :(

it's just an r..

*frustrated

[jesusmylord8]

Well I am getting frustrated,Im learning French and think the grammar isnt too difficult.Although Im having bad time with the nasal sounds and the goddamn R I just cant pronunce it.

[jhormanrodriguez]

Thanks, cute!

[Hajjat]

Is this any different than the Arabic letter Gh (غ)? i'm hearing the same pronunciation for both! if anyone knows both French and Arabic please correct me!

[nilades]

@Hajjat well, in fact, there are two different prononciations for the french "R". One of them does sound like the arabic prononciation, and the other is more... I dunno how to explain, but it's less agressive and it's more like you have to roll the "R", but, not like spanish or italian people do! so i understand that it's very difficult for a lot of people to pronounce it the french way! just like it's very diffiult for a french guy to pronounce the english sound "th"

[Hajjat]

@nilades Thanks! so for the other pronunciation of french R, can I get that sound by combining the غ sound with a slight rolling of my r?

[etienne816]

en tant que francais: j'espère que c'est pas se foutre de nos gueule par hasard ?!

[peaps]

Franchement, je n'arrive pas a le faire. :(

[pierrebe4492]

@peaps wé je galèwe gwave a le diwe! ;)

[explik]

@bryanlortie, la plupart des Americains au Texas sont des descendants des colonies francaise des Etas-Unis qui ont ete vendut aux Etas anglaise par Napoleon, donc ils ont perdu leur langue naturelle. Sa t'explique pourquois ils font le "r" Francais ;) juste comme les Irelandais, ils parlent juste l'Anglais mais l'accent de la langue Irelandaise est rester.

[calidamagia]

Is it normal that my throat hurts? haha. It's so difficult to get it fluidly :/

[iberielli1]

J'adore francaise!

[veekay142]

The "stop laughing" sentence is making me laugh like crazy!

[DarkAncientZ]

I can't.... My "r" in french sounds like I'm spitting.

[zozzledquiff]

i can do the 'r' sound when speaking anything but french. da fuck.

[wantedbgh]

lool french will think im cute if i pronounce r like american *,.,*

[donkeizluv]

wow... i can do it right after she said, its exactly like kh sound in vietnamese :)

[thuctuto]

@donkeizluv realllyyyy??? :( omg i need to ace this...

[Anh3Ho]

Well, this is the hardest thing I have to face when learning French. Can't pronounce it at all T_T

[pixelated111]

The r is so hard! I mostly have the accent, but it's just the r :(

[chocomuffin1000]

Aww! Don't give up! French, once you know the basics, is easy to grasp...

[XxHawkFeatherxX]

I give up. First sentence and I give up.

[hynghiem]

I am giving up!!!

[stellalpinasonohra27]

I'm Italian and I'd really like to be able to pronounce the correct French R, but I still can't!!

I think without it, this language loses its magic, cause French sounds beautiful :)

But not with my awful R.. I have a perfect Italian R, WTF and i can't speak in a good French because of it!! Ça m'énerve U.U

By the way, like this video :)

[nilades]

@stellalpinasonohra27 i'm French and I know what you're talking about: I went to Italy a few years ago, and French people couldn't pronunce the Italian "R" correctly, while Italian people couldn't pronunce the French "R" (well, the two pronunciations of the french "R"). But, there is a small thing that makes all the difference: when Italian people pronunce their "R", their tongue touches their palates, am I right? But, I noticed that in the French language, the tongue doesn't move.

[MultiDstar]

@nilades that's about right :)

[Devantium]

i think the misspelling of pronounciation at the begining is very cute also

[TheLordsPrecious]

@Devantium You mean the *mispronunciation* of the word "pronunciation", right?

[masterpray28]

frruck thrrrris!! i'verrrr prrracticed thrrrat exagerrrrrrrrrrrrated frrrrrench arrrrrrnd my headrrrrrr is now shakenrrrrrrr... and my motherrrrrr thoughtrrrr i'm imitatingrrrr a motorrrrrrrrrr boatrrrrr....

[Christiangjf]

How come Edith Piaf, in her songs, it sounds like she'd say "Je rrrrrrregarrrrrrrde parrrrrr la fenetrrrrrrrrrrrrre" like an overly pronounced spanish R

[nilades]

@Christiangjf Yeah, Piaf rolls the "R" a lot, because of a very old "tradition". You don't hear the sound "r" very much in french, and by the time there was no microphones, during operas for example, they had to roll them so you could hear (plus, i think this is more beautiful!) and, i guess the tradition stayed... but that pronunciation of the "R" is not the only one in French, there's another one (the one that is mostly used in that video) that is much more "agressive".

[dedeen]

The French "r" is easy if you speak Arabic, since we have a similar pronunciation in our language, so it isn't too hard to change it to fit our needs. My first language is English, but I do speak some Arabic and French. Practice makes perfect.

[bubbleybubble123]

...yeah I still can't do it :3

[xxMiSsgUrLxx]

I have the problem with the 'r' sound. only because I can pronounce it either in english.... let alone in french

[Meph1k]

I'm polish. Our 'r' is another than french, american or british ;). Speaking english/american 'r' is very easy, but (sorry ro each Frenchman) french 'r' sounds just like someone has running nose. Yup, maybe If I had running nose, I'd get better marks on french lessons.

Au revoir ;)

[uzerofutube]

I thought this was a tutorial.

[hinatagirl282008]

I now realize I've been speaking French with such an American accent. I cant even roll my fricken R's right, how sad is that?

[thesweetxxxgirl]

Wahahaha thanks god I'm Arabic and I can pronounce the French r coz we have this sound in our language and I'll be taking French classes at school after 1or 2 years so this was helpful ..:)

[czarna566]

I have a question to native French speakers. How does it sound to you when a foreigner speaks French and pronounce Spanish/Italian/Polish-like "r"? Does it sound bad to your ears? Do you understand such a person easily?

[ms2333]

@czarna566 It depends where they're from - in some parts of France and much of (French-speaking) North America, it is pronounced the way you mention, also called an alveolar trill. In Paris and most other parts of France, it is done at the back of the throat as in this video, also called a uvular trill. I prefer the uvular one personally because that's how I learned.

[Mrjolamouk]

@czarna566 sounds really great. i love the different accents. and the pronunciation of the "r" doesn't influence the understanding. so...keep your accent

[nilades]

@czarna566 It's just up to me, but i find it really cute when Italian or Spanish people speak French but pronunce the "R" their way, and, I don't think this is a problem to understand!

[TheHeavensucks]

People will think I'm cute :)

[pianodemon66]

I really can't do it :(

[archiese0]

LOL ses drôle le monde qui ont de la misère a prononcer le R parce que quand ses ta langue maternelle ses naturel le R donc je trouve sa assez drôle !

[ViveLaTrompe]

rien problem !

[rbatheNORSEMAN]

I wish I could've spoken French sometimes. :( I'm American, and French was the first language I attempted to learn but all I can speak is English, some German, and some Spanish. I at least wanted French as an option to learn if I could pick it up!

[whuttube]

Thanks for the video, or revor!

[Keub78]

OK, au temps pour moi. C'est un de mes profs de chant qui m'avait dit ça...

[Keub78]

The real problem with the french "R" is this is a sound produced by the roof of the mouth... And the roof of the mouth is "formed" during the childhood...

[TheYipedo]

@Keub78 Pas nécessairement vrai. J'ai appris le français à l'âge de 13 ans et je peux te dire que j'ai appris comment prononcer le R français quelques mois après que j'ai commencé mes leçons. Maintenant je suis en train d'apprendre l'allemand et leur R est beaucoup plus "roulée". Ça m'énèrve. -_-

[Keub78]

Le vrai problème de notre "R" c'est que c'est un son produit par le palais... Et le palais se forme pendant l'enfance. En gros, soit tu l'as petit et tu peux prononcer le "R" facilement, soit t'es dans la merde...

[bryanlortie]

@Keub78 Je ne suis pas toute à fait d'accord. Je suis québécois et j'étudie le français dans un université au Texas. Il y a plusieurs élèves américains qui sont capables de prononcer le "R" très facilement, même s'ils ne sont jamais allés en France ou au Québec. Ça varie vraiment de cas en cas, je crois.

[SwirlieCurlies]

j'ai tres tres peur *jay tray tray pur* I need to get this accent on lock!... immediately. C'est tout :)

[barnbersonol]

over prononciation of the rrrr is frowned on in cultured circles, it's a typical urban feature, like the glottoral wha// (what) in estuary English.

[mo0nje]

how come the R is so frustrating? the same problem with the Japanese 'R' grr >.<

[TheChocolatzz]

Yeah, we already know that you 'regarde par la fenêtre'

[AcidMonkeyOo]

1:26 sounds sexual LOL

[pierrebe4492]

lol, and us, french, have difficulties to pronunce the other langaues' R !

[Jeff63800]

@pierrebe4492 I'm french and I can do the english accent :3

[panserbjorne69]

I learned English.

I learned Irish.

I learned German.

And what I can't learn is the French "r"... grrrrr!!!!!!!!!

[SammysLittleWorld]

@panserbjorne69 you learned irish?? I'm jealous!! ;______;

Ich bin aus Deutschland und kann Englisch, Französisch und Griechisch, will aber noch unbedingt Irisch lernen! >___< Hast du das in der Schule gelernt? O__o Greetings from Germany^^

[TheDrkKnght1988]

I need a lotta practice pronouncing that R sound. My throat is aching!! Aidez!!!

[seguingi]

Video trés amusantes sur la prononciations du R frace

Savez vous que le TH anglais reste souvent imprononçable pour un français

[Liam8488]

@seguingi

Je suis d'accord avec the TH anglais. Je parle l'anglais comme premiere langue, et remarque que les personnes francaises le trouve difficil a faire cet son. Il y a un chef francais qui font des programmes en anglais et francais sur notre tele, mais la seule chose qu'il ne prononce pas parfaitement et the TH en anglais. Tout autre et partfait! C'est aussi difficil pour les anglophones avec le R francais. C'etait vraiment difficil pour moi comme anglophone, ;)

[stvjful]

Très intéressant! Mais, êtes-vous canadienne ou française? - je ne pouvais pas deviner par votre accent dans la vidéo :p

[MEpianist]

hey, i think YOU'RE cute, just based on your voice! Ehr revwar!

[eracholo17]

Je CROIS que je peux le prononcer assez bien mais la seule difficulté que j'ai avec le "R" est avec les mots "être" et "quatre"....et autres mots du même genre.

Saluts de NJ (par NYC...pour ceux qui ne savent pas). Lol

[lolly3030]

its easy, just go "grrrrrr". Thats the french R. ;)

Greetings from Québec.

[ashleeeee5963]

muzukashii...

It's too difficult for me(TvT)

[nocturnallyinsane]

how do you sound the R? My french teacher told me to use the back of my throat but all that comes out is a chopped up R :( Help me please!!

[Kalymidou]

@nocturnallyinsane A chopped up R? What do you mean? Can you do the exagerate RRRR with your throat? (if you can't, tell me and I'll try to explain how to do it) If you can, you may feel some quite unpleasant vibrations in your throat, right? That "R" is too harsh and... it hurts if you do that all the day! So, now, keep the same throat/tongue configuration but try to do it WITHOUT vibrations. Only air (sometimes a little vibration) should pass though your throat. You got it??

[Liam8488]

@nocturnallyinsane

It's kind of like a Chewbacca sound, but less exaggerated, lol. Build up some spit at the back of your throat, and kind of do a GRRR sound mixed with a gargle.

[xXPurpleLoliTranceXx]

Lol, exaggerating

[SlimAyDee]

The R was always the hardest for me and I spent ages on it. I still can't do it perfectly when I have to speak fast. Meh. French has the hardest pronunciation.

[HeinrichKosta]

The exagereted is german accent ^^

[MatureViewer]

@HeinrichKosta Haha!! XD

[ImbarratoL]

@HeinrichKosta No way LoL I'm french and that's how a french guy would say it in a very exagerated way.

German accent for french doesn't sound like that, try to listen to hugh luarie trying to speak french and that's the german accent french haha

[angturil]

@HeinrichKosta Would kinda sound more like from belgium.....

[Dillson01]

sounds like arabic... huuuchghgh kalughghgh... kinda like hocking a loogie

[germanbobadilla29]

What tha ffff? Is this how you wanna do it? If you can't pronunciate it fine, it's ok, they'll understand you? My GOD!... You know nothing about the french. They hate those who don't say the words as they do.

[DevivilSon]

Mdr quelqu'un veut bien fermer les volets qu'elle se taise !

[xBl00dBrothersX]

oh fuck.. french is too hard.. I speak English and Spanish, and want to learn French before i graduate college.... The pronunciation is always the hardest part.. of learning a language like French. English, Spanish and French all come from Latin so I guess I should have an advantage... but it is still hard..

[wildeak]

@xBl00dBrothersX don't worry ppl in my spanish class including me pronounce things in Spanish with a french twang, you'll get it with practice :)

[vitinetani]

@xBl00dBrothersX english did not come from latin...

[Dillson01]

@vitinetani glad that im not the only one that knows this

[nightsdreamparadox]

@vitinetani Although English is a Germanic language, much of its vocabulary comes from French or Latin.

[vitinetani]

@nightsdreamparadox although much of it's vocabulary comes from french or latin, english is a germanic language.

[nightsdreamparadox]

@vitinetani ...which is exactly what I said.

[vitinetani]

@nightsdreamparadox not exactly.

[nightsdreamparadox]

@vitinetani No, it is exactly what I said.

[vitinetani]

@nightsdreamparadox no, it's not. but whatever, that discussion is pointless.

english did not come from latin, it is a germanic language but part of it's vocabulary comes from latin and french.

thats what's really matter, right? right. let's get over.

[krystal3091]

French R is like the Spanish J.

[TheRetardedSheep]

Thumbs up!!!

[joancamo]

my stupid french teacher always says that i suck pronouncing the french R, but it is so difficult for me!!

[howcrazy123]

LMAO "I am soooooo scared."

[nonodu81]

I agree, I'm French, and the person who speaks French with an English or American accent is so cuuuute *w* And I think everybody in France thinks the same ^^

[roryvillois]

@nonodu81

Pas vraiment, pour moi ^^' Je trouve juste que ça sonne engliche

(Not really, for me ^^'. I just find it sounds english.)

Not bad, but english. =D

[nonodu81]

@roryvillois Lol ! J'aurais pas pensé :p

La plupart des gens que je connais pensent comme moi c'est pour ça :3

Mais jsuis une fille attendrie pour un rien :p

[Marjojoe72]

@nonodu81 ouais j'pense la même chose que toi haha S'tellement cute quand quelquun parle avec un accent :) mais je suis québécoise donc entendre quelqu'un parlez français de France je trouve ça chou haha XD

[Marjojoe72]

@nonodu81 J'approuve totalement! :) c'est tellement cute quelqu'un avec un accent, surtout l'accent des français de France! :P

non mais c'est vrai je suis québécoise et vous vous dites DRUGSTORE, nous on dit PHARMACIE .. on a pas les mêmes expression lol =D mais c'est drôle j'ai deux amies françaises et j'adore leur maniere de parler si différent!

[nonodu81]

@Marjojoe72 J'ai pas mal d'amis Québecois, j'y suis restée longtemps, donc j'utilise pas mal d'expressions de chez vous aussi xDD J'ai jamais dit Drugstore Oo Chez moi tout le monde dit Pharmacie :P

Mais je te comprends, j'adore la façon de parler des Québecois, c'est trop cuuuuuuuute *w*

[Marjojoe72]

@nonodu81 cool :)

[TheCharlyvideos]

@nonodu81 I'm absolutely disagree with you opinion

[89gerardo]

@nonodu81 i speak spanish, thats cute too? xD

[nonodu81]

@89gerardo Si ! :D Me gusta mucho el acento espanõl también *w* La mañera de decir "u" que tienen los epañoles que hablan frances es muy monaaa~ :DD

[LeHuyAnh]

@nonodu81 That's strange to hear a French person say that, because you folks in France always mock how Canadians speak French. And at least French is a language in Canada, while French is completely foreign to an American.

[nonodu81]

@LeHuyAnh Yes, I understand what you say ...

Personally (I have a bad English, is it a true word ? X.x), I have been in Canada for a long time, so, I really love the "Canadian French" ... Mmh ... Maybe I have exaggerated when I have said "everybody" ... But, the idea is here ; the persons like me, the persons I see & my friends really love foreign accents (:

(Please forgive my bad English, it's difficult to express ideas like that in a language I only study in class X.x)

[XxPepper17xX]

@nonodu81 LOL i know! I speak french and moved to america, they're like, "bon jewer." and "par lez vouz francez?"

[Minajoseph11]

@nonodu81 There is nothing cuter than a French speaking English !! You have the best English accent in the word, even better than the British !!!

[nonodu81]

@Minajoseph11 Owh, thanks ! *w*

[sreepradha100]

thank u its good to pronounce

[hagst27]

Casual pronunciation of "J'rgardp'rlfntr" is flawless  :)

[longbongotimee]

i can't pronounce the french r worth shit.

[mrbelieve123]

Thanks for this.

[kerirain]

T.T ....T.T

[Kreloar]

I've never had any trouble pronoucing the French R. I live in Switzerland and here they don't have that much trouble pronouncing it either, expect it may sound quite rough sometimes. The Swiss German do have other problems though: speak j as ch and s as ss. So Jacques et chaque may sound the same. The Swiss tend to pronounce everything without their voice, so that's also the reason why the R can sound rough at times.

[alchimicomania]

I'm a french girl and i agree, we have a funny accent when we speak english... -_-'

Me, i love an american who speaks our language... XD so sexy ! XD

[longbongotimee]

@alchimicomania i enjoy learning your language. i'm taking french at school. we americans love your language, food, culture, etc.

[tlsetarb]

pa mal

[Caprifolio]

Sorry but I'm french and this way of pronouncing the "r" applies in any french region, south, north, even in Belgium or Switzerland ( with a "little" accent)...

[couleurpourlecorp]

I'm Spanish I keep trilling my r's!! ugh.

[superstbnj]

T'es française ? If you aren't very nice accent

[kebs007]

i can't get this R. Grrr.

[maxpanchoo]

Thumbs up if you hate thumbs up

[MrAnaon]

I am french and I think accent are so cute! ^^

[Akhin]

Nice job with this video,

i liked the "Exagerated", "Articulated", "Casual" modality. Good idea.

[10cutie10]

it scared me :O i thought i was gonna get spat at :O

[xfalxlenx]

Why couldn't I have just been born in Franch?!?!?!?!

[Nonolafolledu92]

@xfalxlenx *France.

[xfalxlenx]

@Nonolafolledu92 Typed it too fast ( :

[Ryxify]

@xfalxlenx Oh, i can assure you, you're very lucky to not be born in France.

[xfalxlenx]

@Ryxify oh? why is that?

I just want to become fluent in the language : )

[TheCursedBlade]

Hum, c'est très très convaincant quand elle a peur XD

[aobgeek]

She's right! We, french people, love your accent when you speak french, it's just lovely!!!

too bad we're not this cute when we speak yours... "zat eez sutch a shame!"

[xxmetioqurexx]

@aobgeek YES YOU ARE. i love it when a french person speaks english with an accent its sooo cute i love it especially a guy ^_^ trust me .. Americans do enjoy your french american accent !!

[andreakpan]

Très bien!

It helps me understand the casual mode, and that explains that sometimes I even can't catch the key verb.

:(

[Sharmilka]

It IS the most difficult Roman language to learn.

I manage to speak French R only when I'm choking... It helps when you have some water in UR mouth.

[DoubleReview]

I think french is the most difficult Romance language to learn...

[drgrungestein]

and if you master it, you can try to pronouce it the old french way, as in Edith Piaf's song "Non, je ne regrette rien"

[menglu21]

actually you r very cute

[Bonbonlala226]

Bonjour à tous! Moi je m'appelle Bonbonlala et j'apprends le français depuis 1 an. J'ai du mal à prononcer la lettre R en français,je le prononce doucement et mon prof me reproche topujours sur cette erreur! Hu hu hu

[bloodypepper]

HAHA "oh-revuorrr" XD

[69Shirai]

Arrête de rire! Impossible! j'ai exploser de rire juste en l'écoutant tellement l'exagération est trop! mais bon si ça peut aider les autres personnes à apprendre le français, tant mieux.

[cmalo15]

" stop lawwwphing" hahah j'adore :)

[AriaNoire]

If I try this in French class, I think people will laugh at me. So I'll just practice at home. But do the French like American accents?

[agapanth04]

@AriaNoire Oh Yes ! This is so funny :D

[agapanth04]

@AriaNoire haha yes ! You're so funny :D But we are not beter in English ...

[jkyep13]

sounds like you were trying to cough up a cat

[Akenaseryan]

If you have trouble, know that the french r only consist in expiring air casually but against the palate, it could'nt be more simple. It's only air going against the palate.

Try saying a e i o u without moving the mouth since only the tongue comes to use, and then instead of blowing air like you normally do, say ra re ri ro ru like I said.

[hot4stamps]

@Akenaseryan Thank you that helped a lot. : )

[HarperJackie]

To hell with the French language! Way to fucking hard!

[holyayanechan]

Im french, and my " r " in english is ... probably like your " r " in french XD

[camcamomille95]

Lol that's pretty funny... xD I feel lucky tk have French as my mother language - I don't have to learn that hard language. ^_^

[CarolAnnePoltergeist]

To say actullay it's helpful :)

But French pronouncing sucks,sorry (cause it's too hard unfortunately)

The whole class laughs at me :(

[TheAsianmusiclover]

@CarolAnnePoltergeist LOL my whole class laughs of it when the french audio is sounding (no offense people ). but it seems that I'm going to throw up trying to pronounce it, and i speak spanish and my language has a poor phonetic same as japanese ,even easier to pronounce than English.

[CarolAnnePoltergeist]

@TheAsianmusiclover That's why I'm learning Spanish lol :D

[13laciotat]

@TheAsianmusiclover : french "R" is very near spanish "J". I think it's difficult for english-speakers, not for spanish-speakers.

[TheAsianmusiclover]

@13laciotat LOL the "J" in spanish is pronounce as the "H" in english like in "home". It has nothing similar to the "R"

[13laciotat]

@TheAsianmusiclover : Aïe! le J espagnol prononcé comme le H anglais? La situation est grave..mais pas désespérée. Ouch! the spanish J ( IPA sound: [x]) as the english H (IPA sound: [h])? The situation is severe..but not hopeless. LoL

[qadmos]

@TheAsianmusiclover

French R is the voiced counterpart of Spanish J. Nothing to do with English H.

[TheAsianmusiclover]

@qadmos I dont know what you mean with "the voiced counterpart" my english is not perfect i know, but do you speak spanish to teach me that, the pronunciation of "J" in spanish is the same pronunciation of "H" in english, im talking about pronunciation and the way that it sounds, i dont know if some1 taught you about french "R" and spanish "J" and maybe that sounds similar to you, but for us ,english "H" and "j" spanish have the same pronunciation.

[AmeHF]

oh mon R, tu es tres difficile :((( je ne peux pas prononcer exactement :((

[XneonpussyX]

Its easy! French is my mother tongue and I noticed that when you make the R sound, its like making a scatchy sound in your throat mixed in with the rolling of the R.

[evelynthepenguin]

For English speakers, I think it helps to try to make the sound in the same place in your throat that you make a g sound, only a little lower.

[FlyingEvolutionist59]

Over a decade of studying French and I still can't pronounce the second r in restaurant to save my life.

[probano]

Man... I was about to vomit

[IAmPhatMims]

The R she pronounces at the beginning is really exagerated... Don't prunounce it like that you'll sound like you're choking.