Thread: Practice your pronunciation

Dear Russian language learners, here are some tips for you how to practice saying (and remember better) the letters of the Russian alphabet. Thank you.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5O9l-dpnXvU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN9ept0VBBU

Phonetic Drill / Тренировочное упражнение на отработку произношения парных звуков [р] → [р’] (/r/ → /r’/) and [х] – [х’] (/h/ → /h’/).
Dear Russian language learners, I’ve recently been asked if there’re “any tips on producing the soft sounds for [р’] and [х’] ”. So, the tips are as follows:
(1) To produce the hard [р] /r/ you should roll the tip of the tongue against the upper teeth ridge (хоРошо, Рад). Its soft counterpart [р’] /r’/ is also rolling, but pronounced with your tongue flat and lips spread as if you are smiling (пРивет, Рим).
(2) As for the next pair [х] /h/ – [х’] /h’/, it’s important to know the difference between the Russian [х] and its English equivalent. The English ‘h’ reminds of a vowel, i.e. the organs of articulation are relaxed and the air comes out without obstruction, while the Russian [х] is tense, the air comes out with hindrance, the organs at the ‘centre’ of articulation are constricted (Холодно, тиХо). To make it palatalized [х’] you need to spread the corners of your mouth, make your tongue flat, move it a little bit forward and shift the ‘centre’ of articulation of the sound a bit forward, too (Химия, баХилы).
Practice saying these two pairs of consonants with the video provided. Thank you.
https://youtu.be/TcZEm-ik-R8