For years I struggled with the sound as a native speaker of Canadian English, and it hurt me deeply. I study linguistics and pride myself on having impeccable pronunciation of phonemes across languages, but for 20 years I tried and failed, until today.
I take singing lessons, and my Russian teacher was finally over my “speech impediment” today as it prevented me from proper Italian pronunciation for opera. I told her I really couldn’t do it, but then:
She told me to make the [d] sound over and over, then switch to [t], and back. Then make the [z] sound “like a mosquito” and move it back until the air pushes my tongue. Then bite the very tip of my tongue before attempting and smile. I visualised the area my tongue is in when I say “city” in casual Canadian English, or when “pronouncing” an r in Japanese.
After a few goes at this ritual, it worked. I can’t do more than 3ish taps in a row yet, but it will come with practice soon. Thank you babushka, I am free.
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via Learn Online English Speaking
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