Consider practicing this in front of a mirror with your mouth open until you are comfortable with producing the sound. Another way to think of the French “r” sound is to replace the “r” with an English “h” sound, but try to really rough it up, almost gargling as you make the “h” sound.
If you want to be really accurate, shoot for a “dz” sound, like “dzees” for “this. ”
For instance, instead of “how” you would say “‘ow,” and instead of “hospital” you would say “‘ospital. ”[5] X Research source
For example, try pronouncing the word “joke” like “zhoke” and “judge” like “zhuzh. ”
For instance, instead of “sang,” you would say “san. ” And instead of “ring,” it would be pronounced “rgrin” with that guttural “r. ”
For example, “recorder” can sound completely transformed as “rgreh-caw-der”.
A helpful hint is to remember to smile when you produce “i” in words. This helps you to pull your lips apart to say the long “ee” sound.
For example, the word “you” with a French accent might sound slightly more like “yee. ” But don’t exaggerate that “ee” sound too much, because your lips should still be rounded. When you are pronouncing words with “u,” make sure it is very short. The French “u” is not a long vowel sound.
For example, instead of “po-[lice]’ de-[part]’-ment”, think “[poe]’-leece [dee]’-part-[men]. ‘”
For example, with a French accent you will say the word “Atlantic” with stressing at the end (e. g. , at-lan-TIC). Native English speakers will stress the middle syllable in “Atlantic” (e. g. , at-LAN-tic).
Do not confuse intonation with stressing of syllables. Intonation refers to the pitch, or rise and fall of the voice.
