We have two words today:

hotter which is a comparative adjective saying  that something is higher in temperature and

harder another comparative adjective  meaning something is more solid

So we're doing a little sound comparison  here. These words are confusing because  

of these short oh and this r vowel  that we actually pronounce as r.

So let's start with the easy  sound in these words the h sound.  

To do that you're just going to open your mouth,  everything is relaxed, and air is just going to  

move out of your mouth. Now let's go to that der  at the end. This is the flap t. We are going to  

pronounce this t as a d because it is between a  vowel and an er sound. So in those situations we  

can pronounce that letter t as a fast d sound or  the flap t sound. And to do this think of it as  

a super fast d sound. The tip of your tongue  is touching almost your front teeth. It's on  

that little piece of skin that kind of starts the  roof of your mouth. Then you're going to add that  

er. To do this think about square tense lips the  tip of your tongue is either pointing down or  

flipped back and the back of your tongue is pulled  high up the tip of your tongue is not moving.

Now let's look at the vowels. We have that short  open oh sound for this sound think of having your  

mouth open very wide in a wide oval shape. When  your mouth is in that shape the tip of your tongue  

can get very low in the front of your mouth in the  bottom of your mouth and the back of your tongue  

will be pulled high up oh

oh

ho der

hotter hotter hotter hotter

Now let's look at that r vowel and the word  harder. We are going to need to think about  

moving from that oh to that er you really have  to think about this. Because if you don't think  

about it enough you're going to make that r  too short and it's going to sound like it isn't  

there. So again we're going to start with the oh  your mouth is really wide open tongue tip is low  

back of the tongue is pulled high up. Okay.  Your tongue is going to stay really high in  

the back. You are going to then close your mouth  more to that square tense lip shape for that er.  

When you do this again, some people flip their  tongue back. Other people keep the tip of the  

tongue down. Doesn't matter what you do  just choose which works for you for that  

er part of this vowel. Again this is two parts of  a vowel that's going to make one new vowel. So we  

don't want a break in between those sounds  we want just nice smooth movement from that  

oh to the er are 

are are

Think about holding that er for  just a little extra second to really  

make sure it's there and let's add that h har der

harder harder harder

Let's try them all together hotter hotter hotter 

harder harder harder hotter harder

Now here's a quick tip. This is difficult  and if it's difficult for you take it slow.  

Go slowly at first and then get faster and  faster. And it's always okay to keep going slow  

if you need to. Especially if it's on a  word here or there because then you will  

be understood. And it's all about being  clear, not being perfect as you all know.

So let's try them one more time.

hotter hotter hotter harder harder harder

Give it a try I know people are going to notice  the difference. If you found this helpful please  

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Thanks everyone have a great weekend!