We have a family tradition of having a GIANT hamburger as our birthday cake!!

Yesterday, I joined an AMA class with Coach Mila, and she was so helpful and patient with my American R sound. I can’t appreciate her enough, because now I understand how to pronounce that tricky “R” sound. Now I want to share a bit about what used to confuse me about it. I’ve just discovered that there are two ways to pronounce the American R sound. I used to practice the first way, and yesterday Mila helped me learn the second way. After that, I did some research to understand the difference. Let me copy and paste a description I got from ChatGPT. The two valid American “R” shapes 1️⃣ Bunched /r/ (first image) - The tongue body is pulled back and bunched up toward the palate - The tip stays down (does not touch the teeth or roof) - The sides of the tongue lightly touch the upper molars - Very common in General American English ✅ This matches the instruction “the tip of the tongue must not flick to the top of the mouth or teeth.” 2️⃣ Retroflex /r/ (second image) - The tongue tip curls slightly upward and back - The tip does not touch the palate - The tongue root is still pulled back - Also fully native and correct in American English ✅ Labeled as retroflexed (apicopre-palatal) — a classic phonetic description I used the bunched /r/ (first image) because that was the only way I found online. However, Coach Mila taught me the second way, and I find that the retroflex /r/ (second image) is much easier for me. It makes my “R” sound clearer. I just want to share this as a way to thank you, Coach Mila, and I also hope it can help others like me.