Accent and pronunciation improvement for Indian speakers – the case of rolling ‘R’
When it comes to English language, especially for a novice speaker from India continent, many sounds and pronunciations need extra attention. The ‘r’ sound is one such challenge for many Indians treading the English speaking universe.
The American/English ‘r’ sound is very different from the way many Indians pronounce it. Without realizing, some of us put extra stress on ‘r’; this extra stress/pronunciation may sound similar to ‘rolling r’.
This ‘rolling r’ sound results when we lightly placing the tip of our tongue just behind the upper front teeth, hitting it quickly – the ‘purrrr’ sound, for example.
Quick tips to improve ‘R’ sound
Here is a simple way to practice proper ‘r’ sound, to pronounce it the American/English way. Make a slight circle with your lips. As you do this, you will notice your lower jaw automatically push forward, slightly. Now, pull your tongue high in the back of your mouth; actually the middle of your tongue high in your mouth. You should feel the tip of your tongue lift up toward the roof of your mouth. Make sure that it does not touch the roof of your mouth or curl back toward throat. You can practice ‘r’ sound by repeatedly speaking ‘er’ or other short syllables.
Once you practice, you will also realize that there are further variations to the sound of ‘r’, depending on where it falls in the sentence/word. Let the sound of R flow; don’t put too much stress on this sound especially in the middle or in the end of a word. Now, don’t go the other extreme – don’t totally chew-up the sound of ‘r’ either. In word ‘Robert’, for example, the stress is on the first ‘R’ and middle ‘b’; let the second ‘r’ flow, without any pronounced stress.
Practice! Practice makes it perfect, not perrrfect! 
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Very interesting observations. I am really curious why the R sound is one of the most elusive. I find with Indians speaking English in the US other sounds such as v/w, p/b, b/v, and some vowel sounds are much more confusing than the R sound. R may get more stress, but it is understood by an American, albiet with an accent. But if someone says at Subway “I want a wedgie sandwich” instead of “I want a veggie.” sandwich, well it can be embarrassing! In such a case v and w are confused because the V sound as American English speakers pronounce it doesn’t come in Indian languages, so it’s a foreign sound. R, not so much, but it is good to know this technique as well!! Japanese people, on the other hand have a hard time pronouncing American English L and R as their alphabet falls just between L and R!
yes Jennifer, I was writing on v/w topic when you wrote this observation….thanks.
I won’t even recommend the “curled r”. One should aim for the bunched r, since the latter r places the articulators in a configuration that is called General American placement. Along with the bunched r, Indians should focus on the clusters like “art, cart, card, burst, hearst, heart, curt, hurt, curd, nerd, cord, court, Bert, etc”. Here, bunched r + alveolar-laminal t and d should help to generate American sounding noise.
In some way, the bunched r and velarized l are similar, except how the air moves (central or lateral).
The bunched r’s place is almost same as that of a palatal approximant.
Anyway, majority of accent reduction coaches don’t have the necessary knowledge of all fine details. That’s why they focus on issues that are known and easily fixable, like v/w, aspirated/unaspirated p, t, k. alveolar or retroflexed t/d, etc.
Even among Indians, not all have the same retroflexed t/d. South Indians have subapical and post-alveolar t and d. North Indians usually have retroflexed t/d. This tells us another thing: most if not all accent reduction coaches don’t even perceive the difference between a subapical t and a retroflexed t. To them, the latter two sound same, just the way the fricative th and the dental stop t sound same to Indians.
i like this blog very much and its so informative
thanks for sharing