I just can't figure it out. It either sounds like ri-[y-variant] or rrrr[y-variant] whenever I try. I have always struggled with the 'r' sounds, but in my language the 'r' is a strong sound while in Japanese it's soft. Any tips? Similar struggles?
Though even so, the りょ sound is quite difficult, especially for part of the name of a character I like... at least I'm lacking confidence with it still...~
竜 and 両手 I think are fairly common words, at least in songs, so practicing copying how it's pronounced from songs with those lyrics might help? I definitely feel like I used Amanojaku to help get more used to the りょ sound, through, as mentioned, 両手.
This is difficult to figure out without one-on-one coaching, which I recommend. Generally, what I can say is that the Japanese /r/ is pronounced with a flat tongue, almost like an L, and probably closer to the roof of the mouth than you are used to. The Y (/j/) part is just a “glide” into the next vowel.
The Japanese R sound is called an "alveolar tap", which means that the tongue taps (briefly touches and then pulls back from) the alveolar ridge (the bony bit behind your front top teeth). The position of the tongue is similar to L, D, and N, so to practice you can imagine you're saying one of those consonants very quickly between vowels, like "adda adda", but try pulling the tongue backwards a bit as you end the sound.
As ポール explained, the Y in those types of readings isn't so much its own sound as it is a way of transitioning to the following vowel, which involves moving the tongue towards the roof of the mouth ("palatalization" in phonetics speak). So for りゃ りゅ りょ, the R is pronounced higher in your mouth than you're probably used to for the R sound in other languages.
The pronunciation can be challenging, but don't worry too much if you can't get it to sound exactly right. Since Japanese has so few phonemes, it's quite forgiving with people being able to still understand you if you get the sound close-but-not-quite-right.
