R / RR pronunciation problem.

Question

I have learned how to roll my RRs in Spanish (yay for that), but I am a serious problem trying to reduce to a single R...... my native friend keeps correcting me.. I don't know what to do ...

Any tips? I told him that it kind of sounds like the sound in "butter", which to me is like a "d", but he says that is wrong. And that is more of an actual R sound .. like "ro"

He is Peruvian if that changes anything.

But really, any tips? :S

Great question...welcome to the forum! - --Mariana--, Jun 15, 2012

I get picked on for that a lot, too. After about two years, I can almost hear the difference between my -r-s and the correct ones. - Napzilla, Mar 14, 2014

Answer 1

Hi,guys I'm a Spanish native speaker and I can tell you that it´s the same sound you normaly use in the Spanish word NADA when you pronounce the -d- I hear it from you just like we pronounce the single -r- in words like - marido,marinero,mareado. So I hear Americans saying - nara- instead of -nada- That´s a very good example. Don´t you forget that the words beginning with -R- are pronounced just like -RR- like Radio.Radiador,Rama,Rollo.Reventón,etc..

Answer 2

This is really tough and you need to listen to a variety of native speakers (live, CD, or on the radio) to get it.

I find that the single "R" is more like "rd" at least when it's at the end of a word, e.g., comer, hablar, vivir, etc.

For example, comErd (I know, it's weird) but I say "com" then "Erd" where it's sort of like the "R" has a "D" attached to it. There's a single touch of the tongue to the palate with the "RD."

Listen to this guy. He trills the first "R" because it's at the beginning of a word...then at the end it's a "VER(D)."

This is so hard to explain and you WILL get it eventually, so don't worry.

Don´t trust Puerto Ricans´accents They tend to miss a lot in pronunciation.I heard the guy but I don´t hear that "d" at the end of the word. By the way I heard - El_Mexicalense, Jun 17, 2012

I heard him saying "vamo" instead of vamos. That´s very typical of Puerto Ricans and caribeans in general.They say- veldá- when they should say -verdad- They don´t usually pronounce the r´s in the middle or at the end. - El_Mexicalense, Jun 17, 2012

Sorry, he doesn´t say vamos but tenemos,he says- tenemo- instead. They don´t pronunce the -s- in plurals. Watch south americans like Argentinians and Chileans they don´t pronounce the final -s- in plurals - El_Mexicalense, Jun 17, 2012

Answer 3

The single "r" sound is more like one flip of your tongue on the roof of your mouth, rather than a few as with the "rr" sound. It's not much like the English "r" which is more of a movement in the middle/back of your tongue rolling towards the front. So instead of rolling your "r" many times, try just making one of those motions, sort of "flicking" the tip of your tongue up towards that place right behind your teeth where you roll your "rr"s. That's the best way I can explain it. Also, listen to lots of recordings or real people just speaking Spanish, and try to notice what their "r"s and"rr"s sound like.

Answer 4

I agree with you, the Spanish R sounds like the sound in "butter" to me. All my Spanish teachers (both native Spanish speakers and native English speakers) told me the same thing. But if I ask my friends (native Spanish speakers), they will say Spanish R and English R are the same. I mean those who speak Spanish as their native language never really pay enough attention to notice it, or they themselves might even pronounce the English R the wrong way )

Answer 5

I have the same question.

hard to pronunciate R and RR.

No. I said I can pronounce "RR" (double), but I am having problems reducing the sound to a single "R" sound. A single "R" sound is hard for me. - xktrvfs, Jun 15, 2012