Thread: soft L

Okay, sorry if this request seems at all obvious but I'm curious as to what an 'L' sound is when in front of soft vowels, and how one could write an approximate sound to this using the latin alphabet. I know it is similar to the 'l' in failure and resolution, but I could not find a commonplace phonetic grouping of latin alphabet letters to replicate the sound. Therefore I would appreciate a very brief recording of the sound.

Thank you.

I could be wrong so you will have to get conformation from someone else as well. There is no equivilant to the two different sounds in the latin characters because they are different ways of sounding the same letter.

The first sound, a hard 'l' is produced further to the front of the mouth, while the second, the soft 'l' is pronouned further back, with the back of the tounge slightly lowered. I can go into more detail of how exactly the two are pronounced phonemically if needs be.

The sounds are similar to that of the 'clear L' in 'leaf' (hard) and the 'dark L' in 'call' (soft).

I think that is right, but like I said, I would check with someone else as well. Sorry if I am wrong just hope I help a little.

A better example would be a hard L in 'call' vs a soft L in 'coil'.

I got them the wrong way round...oops

A better example is if you actually listen to a Russian hard L and soft L. Native! Record!

Russian soft L is very similar to German L.

Listening to them both repeatedly and practiceing the different sounds is the best idea, worked for me, frankly, comparing any english "L's" will not give the true sound as heard in Russian.

Originally Posted by scotcher

a soft L in 'coil'.

Almost all Russian prononce hard L in 'coil'

so do Americans.

You need a native speaking tutor for a few lessons to get the pronunciation down. Or at least to get a start on getting the pronunciation down.

I did not know even that failure has soft l

Originally Posted by Indra

I did not even know that failure has soft l