#1  
Old September 30, 2014, 10:55 PM
hilaland87 hilaland87 is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2
hilaland87 is on a distinguished road
Exclamation Rolling rrs???!

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!!

Last edited by hilaland87; September 30, 2014 at 11:03 PM.
Reply With Quote
   
Get rid of these ads by registering for a free Tomísimo account.
  #2  
Old September 30, 2014, 11:08 PM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is online now
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,353
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
Welcome to the forums, Rosella.

There is a bunch of information about rolling the 'r' here and here.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old October 08, 2014, 03:35 AM
hilaland87 hilaland87 is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 2
hilaland87 is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
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?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old October 08, 2014, 03:45 AM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is online now
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,353
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
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!
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old November 19, 2014, 12:38 PM
futbolista's Avatar
futbolista futbolista is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Nov 2014
Location: USA
Posts: 6
Native Language: English
futbolista is on a distinguished road
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.
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old January 02, 2015, 09:09 AM
Capn Spanish's Avatar
Capn Spanish Capn Spanish is offline
Opal
 
Join Date: Jan 2015
Location: North Carolina
Posts: 8
Native Language: English
Capn Spanish is on a distinguished road
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.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old January 02, 2015, 03:23 PM
Rusty's Avatar
Rusty Rusty is online now
Señor Speedy
 
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: USA
Posts: 11,353
Native Language: American English
Rusty has a spectacular aura aboutRusty has a spectacular aura about
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.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old January 03, 2015, 10:28 PM
wrholt's Avatar
wrholt wrholt is offline
Sapphire
 
Join Date: Apr 2011
Location: Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Posts: 1,405
Native Language: US English
wrholt is on a distinguished road
Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
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.
Reply With Quote
  #9  
Old January 05, 2015, 01:40 PM
JPablo's Avatar
JPablo JPablo is offline
Diamond
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: Southern California
Posts: 5,579
Native Language: Spanish (Castilian, peninsular)
JPablo is on a distinguished road
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!
__________________
Lo propio de la verdad es que se basta a sí misma, aquel que la posee no intenta convencer a nadie.
"An enemy is somebody who flatters you. A friend is somebody who criticizes the living daylights out of you."
Reply With Quote
  #10  
Old January 06, 2015, 07:09 PM
Glen Glen is offline
Emerald
 
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 718
Native Language: English
Glen is on a distinguished road
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!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
rollr, rolltongue, rr, spanish

 

Link to this thread
URL: 
HTML Link: 
BB Code: 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts
BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Site Rules

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Rolling the 'r's canne Teaching and Learning Techniques 12 November 03, 2012 06:40 PM
The rolling r (and rr) ElDanés Grammar 21 October 22, 2008 02:23 PM


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 07:17 PM.

Forum powered by vBulletin® Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.

X