>>Bonjour,
>>
>>I the words "je crois" the 'r' is clearly not pronounced (to my ears). Is this a rule that the 'r' in this position of a word is never pronounced? Or an exception?
>
>It's pronounced, but not as "r"; in French, that "cr" combination is more like "kw." I'd pronounce "je crois" as:
>
>zhuh kwah
>
>Tamar

Actually

Quoi would pronounced as kwah But I would prefer to drop the trailing h as in kwa http://fr.thefreedictionary.com/quoi

Crois would be pronounced as krwa - similar pronunciation - http://fr.thefreedictionary.com/cro%c3%aes