rr thingy

[Vincamerica]

If I may. Another good way to practice the "rr" sound is to make the sound a person makes when they feel very cold. The word is "burr". But if you exaggerate the word you will roll the r's with your tongue more easily, like "burrrrr..."

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Francisco Gabilondo Soler was a fantastic Mexican writer of songs for children. He's better known as "Cri Crí, el Grillo Cantor" ("cri-crí" imitates the sound of crickets, as he is known as "the Singing Cricket".)

Here's a little song for practicing "rr" sound in Spanish: http://www.cri-cri.net/Canciones/corochicharras.html
(Sorry, the spelling in the page is not perfect)

"Mp3" button plays the song.

Have fun!

[elgrego]

People in Scotland have it easier when learning Spanish. We roll our "r's" and our vowel sounds are similar to that of Spanish

[poli]

Yes that's true. Being Scottish puts you at an advantage in the rr
department

[JPablo]

¡Escocia! ¡Escocia! ¡Escocia! ¡Ra!¡Ra!¡Ra! (Just to cheer things up even further!)

[swr999]

For US English native speakers, the word "arroz" may be a good way of getting the rr ball (or the tongue) rolling (so to speak).

Also, maybe this point has been made, but the rr sound is used with the rr itself, and also with a single r when it's the first letter in the word.

[Don José]

Originally Posted by irmamar

Some Spanish speaker people have this problem as well. They usually pronounce a soft r or a French r. There's no problem if you can't say a strong r, everybody will understand you

A friend of mine suffered from that problem. Being a teenager, he wouldn't ask for a 'cigarro' (cigarrete) but for the more colloquial 'pitillo' instead, just to avoid people joking and imitating him. So I wonder if they develop a vocabulary where those rr words are absent.

In Spain it's well known that many foreigners wouldn't pronounce the rr properly. We are used to it and we understand them. However, when speaking Spanish, your english r sounds much better than the French r. A French friend who has been living for many years (at least 10) in Spain can't pronounce the rr yet.

[Caballero]

What do you think of the Costa Rican r?

[SPX]

Originally Posted by Don José

A friend of mine suffered from that problem. Being a teenager, he wouldn't ask for a 'cigarro' (cigarrete) but for the more colloquial 'pitillo' instead, just to avoid people joking and imitating him. So I wonder if they develop a vocabulary where those rr words are absent.

In Spain it's well known that many foreigners wouldn't pronounce the rr properly. We are used to it and we understand them. However, when speaking Spanish, your english r sounds much better than the French r. A French friend who has been living for many years (at least 10) in Spain can't pronounce the rr yet.

Yeah, I am one of those people who simply can't do the RR. I've tried and tried and tried and the closest I can come is the French R, and even it is unreliable when it comes to my ability to do it.

I think it's interesting that you say the English R sounds better than the French R. Why is that? Because with a French R there at least is a roll, even if it sounds a little different. (To me, they sound very similar.) But with an English R, there is no roll.

I want to make sure I am understood. I'd also prefer to not sound ridiculous. Would you suggest that I pronounce RR words--as well as words that begin with R--simply like a hard English R instead of attempting to roll it French-style?

I remember talking once to a Guatemalan Spanish about the word "rey." I pronounced it simply like the English word "ray," which he seemed to find quite unacceptable, ha ha.

I also am concerned about how to make the differentiation between words like caro/carro and pero/perro.

[Rusty]

Some people love to hear your American English accent, much like we easily detect and love to hear all kinds of accents. When you speak Spanish, since it isn't your native tongue, you'll have an accent. You can work extremely hard to erase it, sounding more like a native speaker, but your word choices may give you away.
If you simply can't roll your 'r', you may want to adopt another sound. Your listeners will dismiss it away as your particular accent. "Don't worry, be happy." - Bobby McFerrin