Problem words?

[caliber1]

I wanted to know what words are difficult to pronounce in your non-native language if any. Just for fun. I'll start.

(Yo) Queria saber cuales palabras son difíciles de pronunciar en que no es su idioma materno. Sólo por diversión. Voy a empezar.

I have no problem rolling my "r's" in words except for certain words coming before the word that starts with "r". If the word before ends with an "s" or an "n", I can't seem to get my tongue to cooperate. I always have to slow down my speech to make my "r" actually roll.

Let's hear it. Or am I the only one that struggles

[CrOtALiTo]

Well the practice is all the method in language learning, I wouldn't worry me for as I would to learn the language, there're certain words that are very difficult to pronoun in English, then well only you should to practice more the R as reeeee.

Am I right? The pronouncing is almost like to the Spanish word.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by caliber1

...
I have no problem rolling my "r's" in words except for certain words coming before the word that starts with "r". If the word before ends with an "s" or an "n", I can't seem to get my tongue to cooperate. I always have to slow down my speech to make my "r" actually roll.

Let's hear it. Or am I the only one that struggles

You aren't the only one who struggles.

In the case of words that start with /rr/ (the trill, not the flap) when the preceding word ends in /s/, many native speakers drop the /s/ entirely. In fact, that's how I learned to pronounce that particular sequence of sounds during my first year of high-school Spanish: one of the recordings of native speakers doing a dialog demonstrated it.

As for /n/ + /rr/, it might help if you pretend that an English /d/ is between the two other sounds...

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@BJ: You're definitely not the only one who struggles with foreign "r" sounds.
Whenever I try to pronounce words like "through" or "shrimp"... my "r" is always "in Spanish" there. ;(
And a few friends of mine were laughing at me some time, because one was telling about a comment I made about a cultivated field we visited. He was saying: "she said that the ground was...". Then he was interrupted by another who "corrected" him: "No, she said that the krrrauuunt was...".

(Similar things happen when I try to pronounce "cr" or "gr" combinations in French or German.)


@Wrholt: You're right. Many people I know find hard to pronounce the combination of some consonants and r. For example, "Israel" is a word where we tend to soften the /rr/, and it ends sounding almost like in English.

[caliber1]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

@BJ: You're definitely not the only one who struggles with foreign "r" sounds.
Whenever I try to pronounce words like "through" or "shrimp"... my "r" is always "in Spanish" there. ;(
And a few friends of mine were laughing at me some time, because one was telling about a comment I made about a cultivated field we visited. He was saying: "she said that the ground was...". Then he was interrupted by another who "corrected" him: "No, she said that the krrrauuunt was...".

(Similar things happen when I try to pronounce "cr" or "gr" combinations in French or German.)


@Wrholt: You're right. Many people I know find hard to pronounce the combination of some consonants and r. For example, "Israel" is a word where we tend to soften the /rr/, and it ends sounding almost like in English.

Well, I'm glad to hear others have issues too, and not just me. I do notice that if I slow down my speaking, I can pronounce the words fine, but I want so badly to be able to speak at a decent speed while still pronouncing everything correctly. In do time I suppose.

I give my buddy Jesus at work a hard time because his accent is so thick when he tries to speak English, that it sounds like he is still speaking Spanish. He's a good sport and he knows it's funny too so every now and then he'll just start blurting out some randome words in English. It's very entertaining to us.

Oh, and one more thing. You write so beautifully in English, I don't really believe you have trouble pronouncing things . . .

Just kidding

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@BJ: Thank you! But I definitely have much more experience writing than talking.

Anyway, as you interact with many native Spanish speakers, you'll start making accent corrections automatically over time. It just takes patience and dedication.
And I think it'll be the same with your friend Jesús.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

...
Anyway, as you interact with many native Spanish speakers, you'll start making accent corrections automatically over time. It just takes patience and dedication...

I agree; at least, that was my own experience, especially during the one period when I lived with a family in Central America for several weeks.

I did eventually reach the limit of my ability to improve my accent just by listening and imitating. It turned out that by that time most of my issues were with intonation patterns.

[Glen]

Originally Posted by caliber1

I give my buddy Jesus at work a hard time because his accent is so thick when he tries to speak English, that it sounds like he is still speaking Spanish. He's a good sport and he knows it's funny too so every now and then he'll just start blurting out some randome words in English. It's very entertaining to us.

Not only entertaining but also useful, as a fine way to latch onto the authentic sounds of Spanish - especially the purity of its vowels. By the same token I recommend to my own students that they pay close attention to the unmistakable gringo accent in Spanish so as to acquaint themselves with proper English intonation.

[PureChristi]

I can't roll my R's for the life of me. My tongue is like worthless... It hurts just for me to lick ice cream XP

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by PureChristi

I can't roll my R's for the life of me. My tongue is like worthless... It hurts just for me to lick ice cream XP

Are you talking about 'rr' (the multi-flap) rather than 'r' (the single flap)? That's at the top of the list of 'hard consonants' for many of us native speakers of English.

[Zahara]

I've always found it hard to wrap my tongue around "necessarily", especially when public speaking.

[PureChristi]

Originally Posted by wrholt

Are you talking about 'rr' (the multi-flap) rather than 'r' (the single flap)? That's at the top of the list of 'hard consonants' for many of us native speakers of English.

I can't do either :/

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by wrholt

Are you talking about 'rr' (the multi-flap) rather than 'r' (the single flap)? That's at the top of the list of 'hard consonants' for many of us native speakers of English.

Originally Posted by PureChristi

I can't do either :/

Oh, my. Are you interested in receiving suggestions for how you might be able to develop some profiiency with pronouncing these two sounds?

Some regional varieties of English use sounds that more-or-less approximate the common pronunciation of 'r' (single flap) and/or the common pronunciation of 'rr' (multiple flap). (My variety has a single-flap in some contexts for both 't' and 'd'.)

And in play some children who speak many regional varieties sometimes use the sound of 'rr' (multiple flap) when imitating a motor or the sound of a cat purring. (In my town there were at least 3 different sounds that different children used to imitate motors or the purring of cats.)

[poli]

It's fun to hear a Spanish speaker say Worcestershire.

It's fun to hear American politicians speak Spanish.

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by poli

It's fun to hear a Spanish speaker say Worcestershire.

It's fun to hear American politicians speak Spanish.

Yes!

It can be funny to hear some native speakers say Worcestershire for the first time too, especially if they don't yet know the usual 2-syllable pronunciation of Worcester.