When I first learned the Japanese R, I thought it kinda sounded like an L,
although not exactly. I was able to replicate that unique sound with a mindset
that the Japanese R sounds like a “flicked L.”

However, when I was searching for ways to improve upon my pronunciation, I
often read that the Japanese R sounds exactly like the English flap t, or the
“tt” in “butter.” At least in American English.

This honestly confused me. I won’t deny that they sound pretty similar. Might
even be the same exact sound. But, the mentality for me is completely
different.

Whenever I make a Japanese R, I am mentally thinking of its L-like quality.

Whenever I say the word “butter”, I am mentally thinking of a “d” sound as if
it’s “budder.”

Basically, saying “taro” and “tado” has a different mouth feel for me. Or
“haru” vs “hadu”.

I’m just curious if there might be a slight difference between the English
double tt and the Japanese R because they clearly “feel” different to me. Or
do you think this is a mentality problem because my native language is
English?
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2020-06-28T03:07:56.913
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2020-07-11T20:46:27.327
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question
pronunciation
Is there a difference between the English flap t and the Japanese R?
I consider the R- sound and the "tt" (or "dd") sounds from your example of
"butter" to be completely different. I can't substitute the R- sound into
"butter" - creating an abominable word in the process - and have it sound
close enough to "butter" without confusing people at the supermarket.

I find the best way to think about the R- sound is by comparing it to the
sound made when Rs are rolled. Italians don't say "pizzeria" with the same R
as you'd hear in a word like "rotate", nor do they rev up the roller and
extend it - it is much more clipped and sounds like the R has been rolled, but
stopped after only a single "cycle" of rolling. Of course, if you can't roll
your Rs, this becomes much harder to test – but I suspect if you can't roll Rs
then the R-sound would escape you too!

Example: [Here](https://forvo.com/word/pizzeria/)'s a somewhat low-quality
sound of an Italian pronunciation of "pizzeria". You may hear the quick turn
at the R sound.
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2020-06-29T06:06:29.967
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answer