This is a common minimal pair for Cantonese speakers, especially those from Hong Kong. Cantonese speakers who speak fluent standard Mandarin are less likely to have problems with this pair as these two sounds exist in Mandarin. The speaker generally pronounces the /w/ sound when attempting to say the /r/ sound.
Exercise 1:
Listen to each word pair and concentrate on pronouncing the /r/ sound in the second word.
| /w/ | /r/ | |
| wing | ring | |
| witch | rich | |
| west | rest | |
| white | right | |
| weed | read | |
| whale | rail | |
| wander | Rhonda | |
| one | run | |
| wide | ride | |
| wage | rage |
Exercise 2: Listening and distinguishing the sounds
This will help you learn to distinguish the two sounds.
- Listen to the recording.
- Choose the word you hear.
- You can listen as many times as you want.
- Click the blue > arrow on the bottom right to move to the next question.
Tongue twister
- Repeat the following tongue twister.
- Focus on the two different sounds /w/ as in witch and /r/ as in rich.
- Repeat again, trying to say the tongue twister faster and faster.
Wendy’s a rich witch from the west
who rides the rich witch rail
wearing a white witch veil
waving a white rich witch wand.