I just cant roll my r's
I know the instructions on how to roll my r's but it doesnt work. Do you need your throat (just a little) in order to do it? because I cant do it when just putting my tongue on the roof of my mouth and just blowing.
3 Answers
The air kind of goes through a little space that you leave between the tip of your tongue and the roof of your mouth. It's hard to explain. Just like when you are trying to make sounds by blowing over the top of a coke bottle, it takes practice to get it right.
The method that worked for me when I was first learning to roll my rr's was to say "rrrring...rrrring.....rrrring!" imitating an old fashioned telephone. Do that a few times and then try to say some words with double rr's like perro, Herrera, correr, etc. and you should find it much easier. If you lose it again just try to imitate the phone again a few times and then your tongue should be ready for speaking Spanish.
I also have a suggestion for teaching spanish speakers to make the "W" sound. Just have them say the word "guero" several times, then have them try to pronounce it but dropping the "g" sound. After a few attempts they should be able to pronounce the word "where" perfectly and from there move on to other words that begin with "W". I have helped several hispanic friends to learn to pronounce the English "W" using this technique.
Hope this helps.
Many English speakers are able to make the sound of a cat purring with their tongue. Can you do that? If you add voicing you are at least close.
I've taught Spanish speakers how to speak English and they have a terrible time with our letter 'w'... I even hear bilinguals still saying that with more of a gutteral sound than a 'w' so don't feel bad. Just think of all the Spanish speakers that prounouce words with an accent... the accent is because there are some letters that are just hard to adapt from their native tongue. One of my friends has lived and worked in Spanish work for over 30 years and she still says her R's like she just left Ohio. She is understood perfectly. It's such a common pronunciation mistake that people will understand.
Now, if you are learning Spanish to teach Spanish someday, you will need to really work hard to find someone that can teach you. There was one guy in one of my classes that took 6 mos. to learn... but he learned.
Did you look on the reference pages on SD on how to roll your r's?
