Today Duke asks us about a pronunciation point that some Chinese learners find easy and some find very difficult: how to say the sounds /r/ and /l/.

Yang Li and William Kremer practise the sounds in this programme with a volunteer, Simmy. Listen to the programme to hear lots of examples of the two sounds.

To make the /l/ sound:

Put your tongue behind your teeth near the top of your mouth. Make the sound by moving your tongue away from the roof of your mouth and opening your mouth wider.

To make the /r/ sound:

Don't put your tongue near your teeth but move it back in your mouth and then use your lips to make the sound.

Listen and Repeat Exercise

After you have listened to the programme download the audio clip on the right to hear William say the following words. Repeat the words after him.

red

led

ram

lamb

rice

lice

wrong

long

royal

loyal

pirate

pilot

misread

mislead

berry

belly

If you have a question about English, please send us an email to questions.chinaelt@bbc.co.uk.