8 Sounds English Speakers Can’t Make

Ever tried to roll your Rs like they do in Spanish? But that's only the beginning, because across the world, languages hide impossible sounds that English never prepared us for. Things like ‘nose vowels' and the ‘side-hiss L'.

The good news? You're not dumb if you can't do them. They are genuinely hard – your brain is just stuck on English settings!

So I'm going to show you why these tricky sounds are so hard for you in the first place, and the exact techniques you can use that make them a whole lot easier.

Here are 8 sounds English speakers can't make, and how to finally tame them. And yes – you'll definitely learn to roll your Rs!

If you prefer watching videos to reading, hit play on the video version of this post at the top of this page. Otherwise, here's what you'll discover in this article:

1. Nasal Vowels

French and Portuguese have a sneaky trick that catches everyone out: the nasal vowels.

If you try to say bon in French or pão in Portuguese, the sound doesn't just come out of your mouth – it sneaks up into your nose as well. And this is where English speakers crash and burn…

In English, our noses barely get involved in speech. Not really. Apart from the “ng” at the end of song, our noses are just along for the ride.

So when we try bon in French, we usually get “bone.” Or pão in Portuguese turns into “pow.” Close enough… but you don't want to say that!!

The funny thing is, half the battle is simply hearing the sound in the first place. If your ear can't tell that there's a nasal buzz going on, you won't know what you're aiming for.

So your first job is to binge the real thing: listen to conversations, songs, podcasts, stories – until your brain finally locks onto that nasal quality.

Once your ears are tuned in, here's how to find it yourself: Say bon while pinching your nose shut. If the sound stops dead, you've nailed it. If it keeps going, you're still sneaking air through your mouth.

That buzz is exactly what French and Portuguese need. And once your nose learns to pull its weight, you won't sound like a tourist anymore!

2. German, Turkish & Mandarin Ü

You know how some languages have those vowels with the two dots on top? Well, the ‘U' with the two dots is a troublemaker. German, Mandarin and even Turkish use it. (No, Mandarin doesn't use letters – but it has this sound. Bear with me!)

Let's start with German. It has some troublesome sounds for English speakers, and the umlaut letters are important to get right because it can change the meaning of the word…

Yeah – that U seems to be a real pain! It's like saying “ee” with your tongue, but “oo” with your lips…

(By the way – If you really want some great pronunciation practise, my German Uncovered videos have all of this inside – same with most of these languages and sounds. So go check that out later.)

Now what about Mandarin Chinese? The “U” sound shows up in a sneaky way. You'll spot it in words like “woman” or “female” and if you mess it up, you could end up saying “anger” instead. “Anger” is the U sound without umlauts!

So how do you actually hit it? It's the same trick as before – tongue stuck on “ee,” lips rounded like “oo.” But in Mandarin, the Ü often follows N or L, which makes it sound even tighter and sharper.

If you really think about it, every sound is possible to make, otherwise nobody would learn languages. You just need to focus: start listening to native speakers – as much as you possibly can.

And I don't normally advocate movies as the best way to practise, but movies can be incredibly useful for watching people's mouths so you can see exactly what they're doing and hear how they speak.

And you don't want to waste your time listening to slowed-down recordings. There's no point. You need to hear genuine conversations – real people speaking slowly, speaking fast – just naturalyl.

3. Russian ы

Russian has this vowel that completely messes with beginners. When you first see it, it even looks confusing – almost like the letters “b” and “l” stuck together. But it's not a consonant at all, it's a vowel and it sits in this weird space between “ee” and “oo.”

I know – it sounds really strange! But only because it doesn't exist in most other languages. Now, to a Russian speaker it's perfectly normal. The sound is deep in the mouth.

Here's the problem: You have zero muscle memory for this sound! And when you hear it, your brain automatically looks for the closest matching sound in English. And it goes, Oh, that must be ‘ee'!

Luckily, you can train your mouth to make the right sound without even thinking. Just be willing to sound silly for a while – that's the toll to cross the bridge!!

But let's say you'd rather learn Korean. Well, Korean has a very similar vowel. Not the same – let's be clear – but close enough that it creates the same kind of struggle.

What really throws learners off is the romanisation – the way Korean is sometimes written in the Roman alphabet to make it easier for us to read it. They write this sound as “E-U” and our English brain reads this as “ew”. But that's nothing like the real sound.

Just like for the other sounds, it helps to see a native speaker's mouth by watching Korean TV for example. Ready for the one you've been waiting for?

4. The Rolled R

This is the rock star of impossible sounds: the rolled R! Spanish, Italian, Russian – entire languages are powered by it. But English? Sorry man – we never learnt to make our tongues vibrate! So beginners end up growling like a broken lawnmower.

When I was learning Spanish back in the day, I had to practise rolling my Rs to death, so you're definitely not alone. Everyone struggles with it at first.

Italian rolled Rs are a little easier, but it really depends on the word. Grazie isn't so bad, but chilometrò – now that's harder, because of the T in front of it.

And this is a real thing – most hard sounds are affected by other letters around them (as you'll see when you meet R's evil cousin!)

But first, I'm going to show you a really cool trick. Ready? Relax your tongue on the ridge just behind your teeth and blow air until it flutters, like a motorbike sound. Don't overthink it. Now add some sound. There we go!

Czech has a bit of a nightmare R. It's a rolled R – rrrrr – plus a “zh” sound – as in measure – and you're supposed to say them at the same time!

It's totally possible – it just takes time and effort, and watching native speakers' mouths so you can see the technique.

Unless you're moving to Prague, you probably won't need it. But if you nail it, every Czech will love you forever. And the Guinness Book once called it the rarest sound on Earth! Not a bad party trick, huh?

5. The Danish Soft D

Denmark takes “strange” to a whole new level – and everyone in Scandinavia agrees it's a bit wild!

Danish has this unique sound that's supposed to be a D, but it doesn't sound like D. It sounds more like a L or is it a “th”? Seriously – it's an oddball, and this makes it very hard to learn.

So, English speakers really struggle with this sound because in English, the letter D is always a clean, hard tap of the tongue: D, D, D.

Well, it's interesting that this funny D even exists, because Danish comes from Old Norse, the Viking language, but they never had this strange sound back then. It actually evolved. Yep! Used to be a regular D – the sound just got lazy over time, and now it can't be bothered!

Well, there you go! Now you can learn Danish and then Swedish and Norwegian will be an absolute breeze, because their D did not evolve into “-elth!”

6. The Japanese F

Japanese has an “F”, but it's not like an English F. In English, we bite our lip – “ffff.” In Japanese, your lips do no biting because there are literally no Japanese sounds where your teeth even touch your lips. Isn't that crazy?!

Now, I've learnt Japanese, so just trust me on this: It's not all that hard to do – you just have to practise in sentences. And tell your brain that it's not a F, of course! Because that's really where English speakers go wrong – it's easier to just say “Fff”, so they do.

The Japanese F is halfway between “hoo” and “foo.” And that's why we've all been saying “futon” all wrong!

You can keep calling it a “futon” when speaking English. But if you're speaking Japanese, you'll want to do it the right way…

That's why Fuji isn't “Foo-ji.” It's closer to “Hoo-ji.”

7. The Side-Hiss L

If you've ever stared at a Welsh word and wondered what on earth that double L is – it's not an L at all. It's a hissy sideways sound made by blowing air around the sides of your tongue. Yes, like a cat!

And remember this one, because if you ever go to Wales, Iceland or even Mexico, you'll need it to pronounce a lot of place names!

In Navajo, it's the same letter – they just write it differently. But you know the Indigenous language of Mexico – Nahuatl? Nahuatl takes that exact hissy L and glues a T in front of it! That's the ‘tl' sound you hear at the end.

But that's not all. Icelandic puts yet another spin on it. It's almost like you're saying “turtle” really fast.

8. The Arabic ʿAyn

You knew this was coming – admit it! Arabic has a sound that will make your throat panic. It's written with the letter ʿAyn and to English speakers, it feels like trying to swallow and talk at the same time! We literally have nothing like it – not even close.

So when we try it, we usually swap it for a plain “ah” sound, or we tense up and start coughing. You can get away with a normal “ah,” but to a native, it sounds totally wrong.

When I first learnt Arabic in Cairo, this sound was my arch-enemy. I butchered ʿAyn for weeks. It was humbling, but also kind of funny.

So why is it hard? Because English never uses those throat muscles for language. Your pharynx is just there for swallowing, and suddenly Arabic wants you to give it a speaking role?

It comes from deep in the throat – almost like squeezing your throat shut, but still letting sound out. And you can't really fake it. So try this instead: Say a relaxed “Ahhh”. Now start to swallow – feel your throat narrow – and at that exact moment, add voice.

Fun fact – this sound is so unusual, it's classed as a ‘pharyngeal consonant'. It means a sound that you make by gently squeezing the space deep in your throat. Hardly any languages in the world have one!

But Arabic built entire words out of it. If you skip it, you're speaking a different word.

So yeah – it's tough. But if my Egyptian teachers could train me out of my “ah-ah-ah,” trust me, anyone can do it!

Sounds English Speakers Can't Make FAQ

Start Making These Sounds

Here's the thing about these “impossible” sounds – they're only impossible until they're not.

Every single one of these sounds is made by millions of people every single day, which means your mouth can absolutely learn to make them too. It just takes patience, a bit of humility and a lot of listening to native speakers.

The trick is to stop thinking of them as impossible and start thinking of them as unfamiliar. Your brain wasn't programmed for nasal vowels or throat-squeezing consonants because English never needed them. But that doesn't mean you can't rewire it!

So pick a language, find some native content and start training your ear. Watch people's mouths, mimic what they do and don't be afraid to sound ridiculous whilst you're learning. That's how everyone gets there.

And remember – if a five-year-old in Paris can nail nasal vowels, or a kid in Moscow can handle ы without breaking a sweat, then you can too. You've just got a bit of catching up to do. Now get out there and start making some noise!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.