The trilled r.
Hey all,
I have tried and failed for many years to produce the double rr sound in Spanish. What am I doing wrong? How should I go about learning how to do this? I don't want to have an extremely heavy accent every time I speak in Spanish.
Thank you/ Gracias
7 Answers
I always tell my students (when I have them) to try practicing it with a vowel sound on each end for example:
"erre" "arra" "urru" "erro"
That's probably the easiest way to practice if you can make the sound. Next, practice out loud as much a possible when you are alone. Keep repeating that sound! Also, if you talk 6 inches away from the corner of room walls, you can hear you own voice as others hear it. This is like talking into a microphone with earphones through a sound recording system without all the electronics!
And then if this helps try saying it at the beginning:
Rodríguez, rojo, romper
There are some drills here which you may find useful to practice with.
http://spanglishbaby.com/2012/05/drills-to-help-your-child-roll-her-rs/
I learned to do it by doing these every day in the shower! Maybe you will find them helpful too?
In kindergarten in Mexico the teachers use this to help kids with the "rrrr" !
Erre con erre cigarro. Erre con erre barril. Rápido corren los carros,cargados de azúcar del ferrocarril.
Hello!
I just wanted to say thank you for all the wonderful and very helpful answers I've recieved. You all are amazing!
Some people just can't seem to get it, even native speakers. I know a Peruvian that can't get the "rr" sound, and just substitutes with a "z"ish sound. I personally think he could find a closer substitute, but hey. I would suggest practicing the drills first, just because you haven't yet doesn't mean you won't be able to figure it out. Good luck!
Some people can make the sound of a cat purring. If you can, you aren't too far from the trilled r. Just add voicing from the back of your throat to the purr sound your tongue is making.
Simply do a web search for "how to pronounce the Spanish rr" and you will find several sites that give tips on this. Remember that we non-native Spanish speakers will always speak with an accent. I empathize with and share your desire for that accent to be not too heavy. Also, we may never know how close we are to pronouncing the r's correctly. It may be like the tones in Chinese; it is said that a westerner will nevel get them right.
