rr thingy

[brute]

Thank you.

What is a "French r"?

To me it is a soft gargling sound;)

[ChicadeJeep]

To me it is a soft gargling sound;)

Oh! I can kind of do that!
Thank you. :thumbsup:

[MadreDeLeila]

I know this post is very old, but I have a useful tip. Saying the word "ladder" several times in a row can help to achieve the trill of the rr's.

I hope this is helpful to someone.

[Feliz]

I just came upon this interesting thread, and have read it all the way through. I read a lot of good advice here that I hadn't thought of before. I'd like to share with you how I overcame my inability to say the Spanish r. To do that, I have to thank my neighbor and his motorcycle. Almost every evening that he was a neighbor, he fine-tuned his motorcycle. What a racket! After a while, in frustration from the noise, I began to mimic the sound that I was hearing just to keep my cool and entertain myself at the same time. The sound that I made was: "rrrrumm, rrrrumm, rrrrumm." I trilled my tongue against my palate like the sound of that revving 2-cylinder motorcycle engine. When it came time to overcome my inability to trill the Spanish r, I remembered how that sound of the motorcycle was much like what I needed. So, now, instead of trying to trill the Spanish r, I trill the air-only sound of that motorcycle engine. When I'm saying Ricardo, for instance, the ear hears "r" but I'm not saying "r." The only actual letters of the alphabet that I'm speaking are i(e), c(k), a, d, and o. So, for me, there is no "r" in the "spoken" Spanish language when I'm trilling the Spanish r. There is just the fluttering of air that sounds like rr or rrrrrr to the ears. Gracias. :)

[Dale]

I have - I had a French girlfriend once. "mon amour" gave me goosebumps.


Eso es tan divertido :)

He aprendido de este hilo. Gracias.

[Feliz]

@Dale: :o I wondered when you were going to find this thread. When I noticed your great looking icon as a new member, I knew I was in trouble. I hope that you didn't take offense if you read my post. By way of explanation, and if my memory serves me correctly, we also had a 2 cylinder 4 stroke which wasn't as good as his Harley with a 2 cylinder 4 stroke. He just had a loud muffler. The rrrummm really helped me nail the Spanish rr sound though. :o :)

[Dale]

@Feliz: As far as I can tell, the only thing that loud pipes do is annoy those who have to listen to them... :)

Interesting that you have discovered another use for them... the RR thingy... :)

Dale

[JPablo]

Well, if you want to have some "audio" on this "rr" thing, you can listen to Carlos (Spanish) and David (who, while shows a bit of his American accent, does the "r" and "rr" correctly.)

(Quiéreme/borra el dolor/no quiero llorar/regresa a mí...)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yay4W9hkJJM&feature=related

(Hope this helps!) (Otherwise, just enjoy the music!) ;) :)

[Jessicake]

I still don't have it down, but I've managed to do it a couple of times (I just started practicing this morning!). Adding a very quick D sound sort of helps with getting the hang of it. Instead of saying "practice" try "pdactice." (I wouldn't rely on that though.)

[pierrre]

Mastering or even learning a foreign language as an adult takes considerable effort. It is not just a walk in the park. I practised rolling that double r so much that my Venezuelan friend told me that I was double rolling even the single rs. How can a learner avoid practising or rehearsing an incorrect pronunciation is something I would really like to know? Thankful for any assistance.

The audio from you tube would no doubt have provided excellent practice. Unfortunately, it is blocked because of copyright restrictions in Trinidad, West Indies. Effort appreciated though JPablo. Any other suggestion for the Caribbean enthusiasts?

[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 (http://www.cri-cri.net) 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 :D

[poli]

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

[JPablo]

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

[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]

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]

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