'r' at end of words is problematic
I'm confused how to pronounce 'r' at the end of a word like in hablar, mujer, color, etc. I've listened to many of these words from many different speakers, and it sounds much closer to an English 'r' than a Spanish 'r'. When I record myself saying these words with an English 'r' rather than a Spanish 'r', I sound much more like native Spanish speakers. In particular, 'er' seems to be a sound all on its own in Spanish, like 'air' in English.
I find it difficult to pronounce the Spanish 'r' at the end of a word anyway, to have to cut it off, instead of having a vowel to roll it into. So I'm wondering, for sake of ease in learning, if I should pronounce these kind of words with the English 'r' instead.
3 Answers
I am amused when S D members ( me included ) are caught up with how best
to pronounce this or that letter or word , when we examine both English
and Spanish closely we find that there is no definitive way.
A member wanted to know "why do we speak this way in Puerto Rico"?
We found that it was because most of the early settlers came from Andalusia
and they were in the habit of cutting off the last letter in a word , simple as that.
Our dear friend Annierats will attest to that because she lives there.
And so it is throughout the Spanish and English speaking world.
Surely it is better for us in these early days of learning to concentrate on
grammar and increasing our vocabulary , the way we pronounce words will
fall into line as we converse more with Spanish and English natives
No way should you use the "English 'r'" that is, unless it's really British English. The American "r" sounds too weird. Just go for the "rr" sound and back off a little. Many Mexicans sound like they're ending the word in a soft "d." But that doesn't sound too cool either. The double "rr" is way better than the American "r" sound and you'll sound OK.
