How to Pronounce the /ɜ/ Sound
In this lesson, we are going to learn how the sound /ɜ/ is produced by looking at the articulatory organs.
What Type of Sound Is /ɜ/?
/ɜ/ is similar to /ə/ sound but it is always longer and it always precedes the letter "r." Therefore, you might sometimes see /ɝ/ instead of /ɜ/ in the American phonology.
How to Produce /ɜ/?
To produce it, stretch out your lips and make them unrounded, then make a long /ɜ/ sound. As you can see in the picture, when producing the /ɜ/ sound, the mouth is open like when saying /e/ but it is not as rounded as when producing the /ɑ/ sound.
Which Letters are Pronounced as /ɜ/?
/ɜ/ Around the World
As you can see in the table below, none of the common languages around the world have this sound, so you will need a little practice to be able to produce it.
| Existence | Example | |
|---|---|---|
| Mandarin | x | - | 
| Spanish | x | - | 
| Hindi | x | - | 
| Bengali | x | - | 
| Portuguese | x | - | 
| Russian | x | - | 
| Japanese | x | - | 
| Vietnamese | x | - | 
| Turkish | x | - | 
| French | x | - | 
| German | x | - | 
| Italian | x | - | 
| Persian | x | - | 
| Standard Arabic | x | - | 
| Korean | x | - | 
| Indonesian | x | - | 
| Filipino | x | - | 
| Hungarian | x | - | 
| Dutch | x | - | 
| Polish | x | - | 
| Romanian | x | - | 
| Swedish | x | - | 
| Czech | x | - | 
| Greek | x | - | 
| Ukrainian | x | - | 
| Urdu | x | - | 
Listening
Let's listen to the pronunciation of the /ɜ/ sound which has been mentioned below:
Down below, there are two other sounds similar to the /ɜ/ sound. At first, listen to the /e/ sound and then listen to the /ɑ/ sound:
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