Spanish Erre (R)

[baraklevy]

So first of all, I'm new here. It's nice to meet you all.
My name is Barak, I'm 17 years old (In a week, but still :P) and I'm from Israel.

I've been studying Spanish for like a month now, and I'm having some problems with my accent.
My problem is with my Spanish R (Erre). I know how to pronounce the trilled R, but for some reason, I have no idea how to spell the non-trilled-R.
I had looked all over on Youtube, but I only found some videos about how to pronounce the trilled-R, not the regular one.

I wanted to know if you guys could help me with my little problem. And tell me what's the different between the trilled R and the normal R.

I'm not sure if this is the correct forum to ask this question, but I hope it's the right one.

Thank you very much, and I hope I'll have a great time here.

[Jessica]

I have big problems with that too!

[Rusty]

Welcome to the forums!

The letter r (not the letter rr) in Spanish has two different pronunciations. It is slightly trilled before consonants (as in tarde) and at the end of a word (as in hablar) and it is clipped when it falls between vowels (as in era).

Tell me what your mother tongue is and I'll be able to teach you the pronunciation based on something you already know.

[baraklevy]

When you say "Mother tongue", I suppose you mean mother language?
Well then, my mother language is Hebrew, since I was born in Israel. :P
The Hebrew R is quite like the French R, but it's a little softer.
I had looked into the "Erre", and saw that I made a mistake. What I meant was that I know how to pronounce the "Erre" sound, but not the "ere" sound.
So, when the R is before a consonant or at the end of a word, is it like a 1-trilled-Erre?
I still need to find out about the "clipped" Erre, because I don't think I've heard it yet.

Thank you very much for your help.

[Jessica]

yeah mother tongue is same as mother language *nods*
and welcome

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by baraklevy

When you say "Mother tongue", I suppose you mean mother language?
Well then, my mother language (native language/native tongue) is Hebrew, since I was born in Israel. :P
The Hebrew R is quite like the French R, but it's a little softer. (The French R is not the same as the Spanish R. This is one of the reasons you're having difficulty. The Spanish R is nothing like the English R, either.)
I had looked into the "Erre", and saw that I made a mistake. What I meant was that I know how to pronounce the "Erre" sound, but not the "ere" sound. (You made no mistake. I understood that you already know how to pronounce the trilled R.)
So, when the R is before a consonant or at the end of a word, is it like a 1-trilled-Erre? (Yes, it is trilled, but usually not as long as the rr.)
I still need to find out about the "clipped" Erre, because I don't think I've heard it yet.

Thank you very much for your help.

This podcast will help you pronounce the clipped r.

[CrOtALiTo]

I bid you welcome, you are free ask us.

[baraklevy]

Thank you all for your help. My only with the R/RR is the clipped R, but I'm sure that I will make it after a few times.

[sosia]

Sure. Welcome to the forums

[literacola]

Start by saying the word better over and over and note the position of your tongue when you say the double tt. Immediately switch to saying the word era until your tongue is in that same position while on the letter r in era.

They are almost the exact same sound. This is how I learned. Once you get it right you will know because the position of your tongue feels exactly the same.