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Pronouncing the Hebrew "R" | ||
Tags: Hebrew | Pronunciation | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Britomartis Groupie United States Joined 5754 days ago 67 posts - 74 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 9 of 17 05 June 2009 at 9:02pm | IP Logged | ||
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Try listening to spoken Hebrew a lot, and you'll get used to the sound and be able to copy it yourself. As far as I can tell, it's pronounced from the back of the mouth/throat, and it's not distinctively an "r" sound as native English speakers know. Thinking that it's an "r" will only mess you up. I had an advantage because I found it similar to the French "r" and the Arabic "ghain." The former helped me get away from the thinking that "resh" is a version of "r." I've actually been complimented on my pronunciation of "resh" by my Hebrew teacher, so it is possible to get beyond the American "r" sound!
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| mishels Diglot Newbie Israel Joined 5728 days ago 39 posts - 39 votes Speaks: Modern Hebrew*, English Studies: German, French | Message 10 of 17 06 June 2009 at 3:11am | IP Logged | ||
I agree completely. You will be understood instantly no matter which R you use. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| laban Triglot Groupie Israel Joined 5767 days ago 87 posts - 96 votes Speaks: Modern Hebrew*, English, Italian Studies: Norwegian, German | Message 11 of 17 06 June 2009 at 2:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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well, as one of my american friends once told me, the "resh" is the most difficult letter for him to pronounce, especially in words where there are several of them.
its kind of hard to explain how how make a sound without hearing it, and its also kind of hard for me to think of how its actually done, but i'll try to give you a few pointers that might help : 1. the tongue should go to the back of the mouth (as it is - don't try to play with it or anything just move it from its natural lying position a bit back), i think it might also covers and interfere the air/sound that's coming out. 2. the sound is actually "ree" when the stress is obviously on the "ee" part whereas the "r" is more silent. bear in mind that the sound comes from the throat so it will be a bit hard on you as an English speaker. 3. try practicing in front of a mirror, that helped my friend a lot, because most of the time you'll just place your tongue in wrong places - watching yourself and correcting these silly mistakes could save you some time, and health =). that's it for now, i just can't think of any other good advice on this matter. i think that in the old nordic/scandinavian languages they used to pronounce the rolling R they use today, as a guttural R - similar to what we use. btw, if you want, we could talk a bit so you could hear the sounds, if you don't have anyone else to practice with. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Lizzern Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5854 days ago 791 posts - 1053 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese | Message 12 of 17 06 June 2009 at 2:23pm | IP Logged | ||
In many/some dialects we still do. I'm no expert on Hebrew but I would start off with an R exactly like mine if I needed to speak it, and it would probably be close. I haven't really heard that much spoken Hebrew but the Rs I was able to pick out were familiar sounds... Liz 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| AML Senior Member United States Joined 6770 days ago 323 posts - 426 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish | Message 13 of 17 24 December 2012 at 2:32pm | IP Logged | ||
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I was searching for this same question online, and I came across this thread. In my same search I found this website, which helped me with the R.
I did not realize that the Hebrew R is the same as the French R. Although the video is a little exaggerated for teaching purposes, I can easily hear how they are the same. I've heard plenty of Hebrew speakers, and this French lady really does make the same sound as Israelis! French learners of Hebrew are really lucky. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tarvos Super Polyglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member China likeapolyglot.wordpr Joined 4652 days ago 5310 posts - 9399 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish | Message 14 of 17 24 December 2012 at 11:48pm | IP Logged | ||
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It's probably therefore also that the speakers of Hebrew I knew were cited as speaking
Hebrew with a French accent... From what I know, the R in Hebrew nowadays is uvular like the French one. Fortunately I have that one in my arsenal. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MichaelM204351 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5389 days ago 151 posts - 173 votes Speaks: English*, Biblical Hebrew Studies: Modern Hebrew, German, Spanish | Message 15 of 17 29 January 2013 at 11:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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I just practiced in the shower until I mastered it... :op
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| Falkenstein Triglot Newbie Germany Joined 3868 days ago 20 posts - 38 votes Speaks: German*, EnglishC2, Modern Hebrew Studies: French, Mandarin | Message 16 of 17 28 February 2014 at 12:13am | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a German native speaker and I can definitely say that the Hebrew Resh is not like the German R. I may be slightly
fussy, but I'm studying Hebrew for two years now and I'm still not happy at all with my pronunciation of Resh (and sometimes of Kaf). For me it's the hardest letter to pronounce authentically. When I use the German R it doesn't sound terribly wrong (unlike the American R......) BUT I hear that it's not the same sound and so far I wasn't able to produce native-like Reshs. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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