Rolling rrs???!

[hilaland87]

hi!
im an english and cantonese speaker. I was introduced to spanish when my vocal teacher started teaching me classical music.

my name's Rosella

Okay, so i have a problem rolling my rs. A single r is okay, but a double r? its crazy. I cant even create the vibration in my tongue. Im not even sure how to push out the air. Everytime I try to push out the air I just create this english 'th' 'tha' sound. I was wondering, how did you guys learn it? If it was easy for you, how do you vibrate ur tongue? If you struggled, how did you manage to do it?

Can you guys roll your tongue? as in make both sides curve upwards. I could when I was younger but I really really cant now because my tongue is soo stiff.

I also got braces, so do you think it'll affect my rolling of rs too?

Ive never rolled an r in my life.

have a great day!!

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forums, Rosella.

There is a bunch of information about rolling the 'r' here and here.

[hilaland87]

Originally Posted by Rusty

Welcome to the forums, Rosella.

There is a bunch of information about rolling the 'r' here and here.

Thanks.

Unfortunately, those did not help much in my case. I can only (so far) make a 'thhhh' and 'zzzzz' when I try to roll my rrrs. I cant roll it at all. My tongue is as stiff as a board. The closest Ive come to is saliva bubbling at the back of my tongue. Not helping, I know. Any advice?

[Rusty]

My advice appears in the threads I linked to above, and in other threads you've found here in the forums.
There are other instructional videos on the internet, in addition to those found in the threads.

Don't give up!

[futbolista]

Hi Rosella,

I've always rolled my r's with ease, but I did get braces and they never seemed to hinder my r rolling at all, so I wouldn't worry about them.

[Capn Spanish]

I've been told that there are native Spanish speakers that never 100% get the ability to roll their R's so I wouldn't stress out too much about it.

[Rusty]

There are, in fact, a couple of regions where Spanish is the primary language and the 'r' is never rolled. So, if not being able to roll your 'r' is absolutely killing you, you could visit the regions where the 'r' is not rolled.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by Rusty

There are, in fact, a couple of regions where Spanish is the primary language and the 'r' is never rolled. So, if not being able to roll your 'r' is absolutely killing you, you could visit the regions where the 'r' is not rolled.

Yup. "Spanish Pronunciation: theory & practice" (John B. Dalbor, 1969) describes a few variations on how /r/ and /rr/ are pronounced, particularly alveolar fricatives and ulvular flaps and trills, and he also describes some of the areas where some of these variant pronunciations are commonly used.

[JPablo]

Besides all the good advices... In my book, the standard “rr”, in Spanish, is a must to master, if one wants to get to a point of being fluent and verbally agile in some kind of standard or “neutral” Spanish, if such concept could be ever achieved...

http://www.spanish.cl/vocabulario/tr...guas-con-r.htm

I have very good friends who are Chinese and they really have a problem to pronounce these “tongue twisters”... (Or should we say “tongue rollers”?

Yes, you can concentrate in many other meaningful things in learning Spanish, but if you want to sound as close as a Spanish native, I’d think you should have this skill fully mastered...

My two cents... :-)

Greetings and a great 2015 to all!

[Glen]

Welcome, Rosella. The breakthrough for me came when I realized how much air must be blown over the top of my tongue in order to make the (elevated and loosened) tip of it vibrate, so the sound of the rr rolls while the tip of the tongue actually vibrates.
The effort makes a good New Year's resolution!