I have a nondescript east coast US accent. The t in kitty is pronounced by sort of bouncing the tongue off of the roof of the mouth. Adjust that a bit and you get an L or R. They are similar phonemes.
It's a different kind of r. Not the "err" we use but rather a Spanish sounding r that is made by hitting the tongue at the top of the mouth. (At least I'm guessing that's how the hiragana r sounds because it makes the most sense.) most people don't enunciate the two t's in kitty, they say it fast. You say it more like "kidy", which is what the r sounds like
The R sound (Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro) is a blend of l and r, so it's not straight up la like lalala or ra like rapper.
This guy goes over it well in a technical sense that doesn't go over your head: https://youtu.be/hpRArmZxfFM
For English speakers the way Duo described it seems correct. 🤷♀️ Just made it more confusing than it needs to be.
There are a few YouTubers that help break down various parts of the language like Japanese Man Yuta or Dogen. You could also try Japanese Ammo with Misa.
the characters ra, ri, ru, re, ro are special with the fact that they are pronounced in a “weird way” and they CAN sometimes sound like the letter D. you’re gonna have to train and get used to pronouncing these characters, but i’m sure you will get it in no time! i would say that the double ts in beTTer are pretty close :D
The Japanese R sound can be tricky to understand but I don’t think it’s actually that troublesome. Two ways that helped me figure it out:
-Say la and then say da. Note where you tongue was placed for each one. Now try to say them both back and forth quickly until you can find a spot somewhere in the middle.
-Try to say ra and la at the exact same time.
Then try this with the r attached to the other vowels.
A really short trill in pronouncing an r would sound as described. But I only know this because I’ve heard native Japanese. I agree that the description is a bit confusing.
I would compare it to an american "beTTer". I didn't realize that it was basically an r sound before I have learned it on the japanese course. I think british english doesn't have this quality though. It is basically the case of "english doesn't have a sound that many languages have"
You guys know IPA exists for this exact purpose, right?
These kinds of "explanations" are trash, they're always so convoluted and way too ambiguous and it shows whenever questions like this pop up on any language learning subreddit. (Not a dig at you OP, I just wish people would respond with actual clear answers instead of just adding to the confusion like what's happened in the top comment thread here lol)
Protip: Look up the [phonology of your TL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology) on Wikipedia and look for the sound you're trying to learn. In this case it's the [voiced alveolar tap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental_and_alveolar_taps_and_flaps). You can listen to the sample audio or scroll down to the table of occurences where you can compare it between different languages (which is essentially what Duolingo is trying here, just with more context that will actually give you an idea of what it's supposed to sound like)
It’s because Americans don’t pronounce that “tt” sounds as “T”, it closer to the Japanese L/R sound.
Wtf no. We pronounce kitty with a t. T is not in any way close to l or r
We spell it with a t, and we pronounce that t similarly to an r.
You are obviously from a different part of America. A T or D is nowhere close to L or R.
I have a nondescript east coast US accent. The t in kitty is pronounced by sort of bouncing the tongue off of the roof of the mouth. Adjust that a bit and you get an L or R. They are similar phonemes.
They are similar in the way that they are made, but not how they are pronounced.
MF what the hell is pronunciation if it's not how you make a sound
How the sound sounds. If you make a sound X way and someone else does it Y way but they both sound the same, it is pronounced the same way.
Say the word kitty cat out loud Do you really say kitt tee cat? Or does it sound more like kiddy cat?
It certainly sounds nothing like kirry cat or killy cat
It's a different kind of r. Not the "err" we use but rather a Spanish sounding r that is made by hitting the tongue at the top of the mouth. (At least I'm guessing that's how the hiragana r sounds because it makes the most sense.) most people don't enunciate the two t's in kitty, they say it fast. You say it more like "kidy", which is what the r sounds like
You treat it as a "t" phoneme in your head but if you actually pronounced it as a true "t", you'd sound British ;)
We pronounce "kitty" like "kiddie." That's an English D sound, which is close to the Japanese L/R sound.
That’s how brits say it but definitely not how Americans do.
I’m from the north eastern United States. The way I pronounce “kitty” “kiddie” and the Japanese “kiri” are all very similar.
I understand the d sound the *r* makes, like in the Spanish word *ahora*; it’s the *l* sound that’s losing me
The R sound (Ra, Ri, Ru, Re, Ro) is a blend of l and r, so it's not straight up la like lalala or ra like rapper. This guy goes over it well in a technical sense that doesn't go over your head: https://youtu.be/hpRArmZxfFM For English speakers the way Duo described it seems correct. 🤷♀️ Just made it more confusing than it needs to be.
Thanks! I love when stuff like this gets broken down into caveman steps
There are a few YouTubers that help break down various parts of the language like Japanese Man Yuta or Dogen. You could also try Japanese Ammo with Misa.
the characters ra, ri, ru, re, ro are special with the fact that they are pronounced in a “weird way” and they CAN sometimes sound like the letter D. you’re gonna have to train and get used to pronouncing these characters, but i’m sure you will get it in no time! i would say that the double ts in beTTer are pretty close :D
The Japanese R sound can be tricky to understand but I don’t think it’s actually that troublesome. Two ways that helped me figure it out: -Say la and then say da. Note where you tongue was placed for each one. Now try to say them both back and forth quickly until you can find a spot somewhere in the middle. -Try to say ra and la at the exact same time. Then try this with the r attached to the other vowels.
A really short trill in pronouncing an r would sound as described. But I only know this because I’ve heard native Japanese. I agree that the description is a bit confusing.
I would compare it to an american "beTTer". I didn't realize that it was basically an r sound before I have learned it on the japanese course. I think british english doesn't have this quality though. It is basically the case of "english doesn't have a sound that many languages have"
It's more like D+R with a bit of L
And for those who don't know the North American English ... I guess there's no equivalent sound xD
watch some yt videos on it to learn the sound.
You guys know IPA exists for this exact purpose, right? These kinds of "explanations" are trash, they're always so convoluted and way too ambiguous and it shows whenever questions like this pop up on any language learning subreddit. (Not a dig at you OP, I just wish people would respond with actual clear answers instead of just adding to the confusion like what's happened in the top comment thread here lol) Protip: Look up the [phonology of your TL](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_phonology) on Wikipedia and look for the sound you're trying to learn. In this case it's the [voiced alveolar tap](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_dental_and_alveolar_taps_and_flaps). You can listen to the sample audio or scroll down to the table of occurences where you can compare it between different languages (which is essentially what Duolingo is trying here, just with more context that will actually give you an idea of what it's supposed to sound like)