Rolling my R's
Hello, my name is Timothy. I am new to this site. I am a college student who is taking my first Spanish class. I am studying Journalism and Political Science. Speaking Spanish fluently will help me in either/ both these fields. I just started this, but I cannot get past the R sound. I can't seem to get anywhere because so many of the sounds I am trying to make have this Rolling R. I get the D sound, I get the little sound. Right now it seems impossible when trying to do it with el cuaderno or one of the many words that have this sound,
Can anyone help me?
8 Answers
The single "r" (ere) is just a slight flap of the tongue against the hard palate except when it is the first letter: rojo, ruido, Ramón then it's like erre. The double "r" (erre) is a sustained roll and can best be practiced by saying the letter's name "erre" or some other syllables with the combination vowel-erre-vowel: erro, orro, urro, arrí.
Learn to talk to yourself when your driving or alone to practice the difficult sounds.
By the way, the "d" sound in Spanish is made with the tongue pressed against the back of the front teeth and not flapped against the hard palate as in English.
I suggest this for "pero"
say "pear" - very short pause and then "ro" with the tip of your tongue touching the palate (as suggested by Jubilado) The trick is to not pronounce the "ro" with opened pursed lips as in English - the lips don't move. Also I am assuming you know the Spanish "o" sound.
My advice is to first work on the sound in isolation (i.e. just make a rolling RRRRRR sound), and then pick one word with a double R sound and practice saying it over and over until you get it right. Restaurante is a good one because it has a double R and a single R sound in the same word. Words like corriente are good as well because you have to place the double R sound within a word. After that, work on saying those words in a sentence.
Good on you for working on that sound. I know a few people who are skipping over learning that sound (not to mention pronouncing their vowels like they would in english). It's going to be a pain in the butt for them when they figure out that they are eventually going to need to learn it.
I just started this, but I cannot get past the R sound. I can't seem to get anywhere because so many of the sounds I am trying to make have this Rolling R
Keep working on it. After 10 years of Spanish I still can't do it consistently and it hasn't impeded my ability to communicate at all. I'm sure there are times when I sound like crap because I can't do it, but no one has any major problems understanding me.
I'm not saying don't learn how to do it, but rather accept the fact that it takes time and practice so don't beat yourself up. Not being able to roll them won't prevent you from being understood.
Buena suerte!
Can you make a sound like the purring of a cat? Try to add voicing to that. This little trick helps some folks. I know it takes time for some people, but I've seen those who say they'll never get it, get it. It just takes some time and practice to make sounds you weren't brought up making.
Reverse engineering here...
Seeing it the other way around as suggested by jubilado:
If I told you to pronounce the Spanish word "todo" (everything/all) most likely what I am going to hear you say in Spanish will be "toro" (bull)
That sound can be also found in the Irish word "Irish" as pronounced by Irish people. Or the Irish phrase "me friend"
Now, from there take jubilado's advice for the pronunciation the beginning R's or double R's (RR) sound.
Does that make any sense to you?
Look at this post, It has been very helpful to me!! The Trilled R
Hope this helps, there is loads of good information on it.
This is the phrase I made a breakthrough with: ¿A qué hora es la clase de español?
At what time is the Spanish class.
