Quote Originally Posted by Seraph View Post
I have noticed this similarity of the back part of the tongue position of ж, ш and r. But the front part of the tongue is in different position. Can go seamlessly from ж into a kind of r and back, but it isn't a normal English r. I was going to describe the similarity of the hard backed part of ж, ш and r, but I wasn't confident that anyone would agree. Front part of tongue has to do the hush thing for ж, ш, different than relaxed position for r. The hush with the front part of tongue for ж, ш is different than the English sh and zh.
The tip of the toungue is closer to the teeth, than for English r, but that's my assumption only.
How did you achieve good pronunciation in Russian and understanding of Russian phonology?