R Sound

I am an ESL students. I have a hard time pronouncing the R at the beggining of a word. for instance, "RED." I read that to correctly pronounce this word I have to imagine seeing an "U" infront of the word "RED." Is this the case majority of times? Is there any exceptions?
Thanks for your reply.

[Marylin]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

I am an ESL students. I have a hard time pronouncing the R at the beggining of a word. for instance, "RED." I read that to correctly pronounce this word I have to imagine seeing an "U" infront of the word "RED." Is this the case majority of times? Is there any exceptions?
Thanks for your reply.

I find it very difficult to explain phonetics through written descriptions only but here is a good web site for you:

http://www.americanaccent.com/pronunciation.html

If you have speakers, please turn them on.

[engelska]

I just tried the R sound. I started with L. The tip of your tongue is up above the back of your top teeth, against the ridge of bone there. If you then move your tongue tip further back and higher up, you should get the R sound instead. Good luck. If nothing else, it's fun trying.

[Tdol]

There may be a tiny 'u' sound at the beginning, but it is tiny and just there to start the sound, so don't make it very big.