It’s common knowledge that many East Asian learners confuse their R’s and L’s. The usual explanation is that these sounds don’t exist in their native languages.

However, that’s not true. The English R and L sounds do exist in Japanese and Korean, and native speakers of these languages switch between these sounds without a second thought. So what accounts for their confusion in English and how can we help?

Why the Confusion?

To understand this process, let’s look at a similar situation in English. With your hand under your nose, try saying “mmmmm” (the sound you make when you think something is delicious). You should feel some air come out of your nose. “Mmmmmmm.”

Now, with your hand still under your nose, say “yum.” Make sure to lengthen the vowel sound: “yuuuum.” You should feel vibration when you pronounce the M’s, but also when you pronounce the U’s. “Yuuummmmm.”

Now, say “yup.” You should feel much less air (if any at all) coming out of your nose.

This difference occurs because the vowel in “yum” is nasal (pronounced through the nose) whereas the vowel in “yup” is pronounced through the mouth. If this seems trivial to you, that’s because it is … at least in English.

However, this difference becomes important when you learn other languages. For example, in Portuguese, the nasal vowels can change the meaning of a word: while “pão” (nasal) means “bread,” “pau” (non-nasalized) means “stick”!

And just as Japanese speakers confuse R and L sounds in English, English speakers confuse nasal and non-nasal sounds in Portuguese … when they don’t understand that there is a difference.

So the first step to helping students master confusing sounds is to help them realize that they’re different! The key lies in getting students to put their mouth in the right positions.

Method 1: Tongue Positioning

To start off, have your student put their tongue in the right position. While the tongue touches the upper teeth to make the L sound, the tongue doesn’t touch anything to make the R sound:

If it helps, you can also make hand gestures like these:

Getting their tongue in the right position is a good start. Once they know what to do with their tongue, we can encourage them to round their lips for the R sound. You can do this by rounding your own lips and making a funnel with your hand in front of your mouth to emphasize that you’re rounding your lips.

Method 2: The “OO” Technique

Another way to remind students to round their lips is to add an “oo” (as in “boom”) sound before R’s. For example, if they’re having difficulty with “room” or “broom,” you can write them as “(oo)room” and “b(oo)room”:

Often, students find it more helpful to see the sound for “oo” in their native language. The “oo” sound is written う in Japanese, 우 in Korean, and 屋 in Chinese, so you can paste these characters before R’s like this:

If the “oo” trick doesn’t work, you can explain mouth positioning with a picture like this:

Method 3: The Slide Technique

Another gesture that works with Japanese students is having one hand curled upward (to represent the tongue) and sliding the other hand (which represents the length of the sound) through it. This will show students that they need to stretch out the R sound to achieve it. Here's a demonstration of this gesture:

After these explanations, many students will realize that the sounds are different. Of course, they’ll still need to practice them repeatedly, but at least they’ve taken a first step.

📌 Takeaways

So next time you encounter a student who confuses the dreaded R and L sounds, you know why they do it and what to do about it!

For your convenience, here are the tips again:

1. Have them make a “oo” sound to trick the mouth into the right position
2. Use pictures and hand gestures to show the difference in tongue positioning
3. Make a sliding gesture to demonstrate the R sound

If you want a comprehensive explanation of this topic, check out this video:

Finally, every student is in a slightly different stage when it comes to their mastery of different sounds, so make sure to try out different techniques!