How to Practice the Flap T American English Pronunciation

I recently did a video on the Flap T — is
it really a D sound?  The main thing that

we learned in that video is that the Flap
T and D between vowels don’t have a stop component.

In this American English pronunciation video,
we’ll learn exactly how to make the sound,

and practice it.

T and D will both likely be pronounced this
way when coming between two vowels, or after

an R and before a vowel.  Example words: 
party, better, ladder.  To make this sound,

the front part of the tongue will bounce against
the roof of the mouth about here as a transition

between other sounds.

For example, the word ‘better’. For the vowel
sound EH, the tongue tip is down and the jaw

is dropped: better. And it will quickly bounce
here before pulling back into the R sound.

Better. Very fast against the roof of the
mouth there. Be careful that the contact between

the tongue and the roof of the mouth is minimal.
You don’t want a lot of the tongue raising

and touching, just a little, otherwise it
will sound heavy, sloppy and unclear, and

may have a slight stop component. We don’t
want this sound to have a stop.  It’s an

issue I’ve noticed with my Russian and Polish
students.

A great way to practice this sound is to hold
out the sound before and after, and make sure

the movement of the tongue in the transition
of these two sounds is very light and quick.

Let’s practice.

better
university

hospital
middle

thirty
forty

I hope this video helps you understand exactly
how to make this flap sound. Remember:  practice

by holding out the sound before and the sound
after to isolate this very quick movement

of the tongue.

That’s it, and thanks so much for using Rachel’s
English.