¡Rápido!

[Torres]

Cuando yo era chiquita, este es trabalenguas tradicional Colombiano. Es para todos los que tenga problemas pronunciando la doble rr del español

"Rápido ruedan los carros, cargados de azúcar en el ferrocarril"

[poli]

...and if you were from Barranquilla those r's would rreally rroll.

[aleCcowaN]

Para mí era:

"Erre con erre, guitarra; erre con erre, barril; rápido ruedan las ruedas, las ruedas del carro del ferrocarril"

[Caballero]

Unfortunately that won't help English speakers, because we would just persist in pronouncing those r's like our "r" in "red".
What helped me to roll r's in other languages was saying something like this really fast like a tongue twister:

"Brother's better bitter butter."

This only works for North American English, of course. Other dialects that actually pronounce the "t's" as t's or turn them into glottal stops won't work. But since the "t" in North American English between vowels is a lot like the Spanish single "r" if you say those words fast enough, it eventually starts becoming "rr". Somehow the tapped t plus the "r" after it seems to do the trick, wheras just saying an "r" alone doesn't help since it's a different kind of r.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Torres

Cuando yo era chiquita, este es trabalenguas tradicional Colombiano. Es para todos los que tenga problemas pronunciando la doble rr del español

"Rápido ruedan los carros, cargados de azúcar en el ferrocarril"

El trabalenguas completo era:

"Erre con erre cigarro, erre con erre barril, rápido ruedan los carros cargados de azúcar al ferrocarril".

[Torres]

This is a little tongue-twister in spanish to help you practice the sound of the double R.

"Rápido ruedan los carros, cargados de azúcar, del ferrocarril"

Hope it helps

[explorator]

Esta es la versión en España para el mismo fin:
"El perro de San Roque no tiene rabo porque Ramón Rodríguez se lo ha cortado".

(De pequeño sólo pronunciaba la erre francesa y aprendí a pronunciar la española repitiendo este verso).

[CrOtALiTo]

Rueda la pelota.

The ball rotate.

RR Ruuuuuuurrrr

Of that form I can pronounce the word.

Sincerely yours.

[vita32]

When I was growing up, we have a way to call all our chickens for morning or afternoon feeding and they came running from all over the hillside to our yard. The call starts with KO followed by a serries of rrrrrrrrrrrrrrs and ends with k again, as in "KORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRK!. The call can be prolonged as much as the caller wants to. This gave us a good practice on the rolling r sound. Try it if you dare!

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by vita32

When I was growing up, we have a way to call all our chickens for morning or afternoon feeding and they came running from all over the hillside to our yard. The call starts with KO followed by a serries of rrrrrrrrrrrrrrs and ends with k again, as in "KORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR RRRRRK!. The call can be prolonged as much as the caller wants to. This gave us a good practice on the rolling r sound. Try it if you dare!

I dared..

But I cheated... Spanish is my native language..

[vita32]

Originally Posted by Luna Azul

I dared..

But I cheated... Spanish is my native language..

Good! But did you say it out loud?

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by vita32

Good! But did you say it out loud?

Yes, I did.

[Chris]

My book says to say David. Roll the D into a Rrrrr like Drrrrr. Kind of helps get my tongue in the right place. Some words are more difficult than others depending on which vowel comes after the rr.

[coffeecup]

drrravid? or davidrrrr? there are two "d"s there.

Haha I still can't get it quite right, as I know Torres could tell you (you should hear her gorgeous laugh when I try say barranquilla . Epic fail on my behalf!)

Like, I can roll my rrrrs but it's like I can't roll them fast enough when I put them in a word. To make it sound proper (or as close as I can get) I pretty much have to say the word in slow motion so I can fit all the sounds in.

One thing that's really helped me get my head around the sound was finding songs that have them. For example, Loca by Shakira has the line "Y por ti borró (borró)" and she makes it sound AMAZING!! I get so jealous! I wish I could say borró like she does.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by coffeecup

drrravid? or davidrrrr? there are two "d"s there.

like in the first one

Also try to say "friend" like an Irish would pronounce. Sí? See? C?

[coffeecup]

haha yes, I si, see c! gracias!

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by coffeecup

One thing that's really helped me get my head around the sound was finding songs that have them. For example, Loca by Shakira has the line "Y por ti borró (borró)" and she makes it sound AMAZING!! I get so jealous! I wish I could say borró like she does.

Well, she's a native Spanish speaker... I bet she doesn't do it better than I do..

There are two different sounds for the "r" in Spanish. One is soft and the other one is strong.

"R" between two vowels: "pared" is soft, and it sounds a lot like a soft "d" in English. Try to pronounce the following words as if instead of an "r" there was a "d" in them:

"pera", "aro", "ira", furia".

That soft "r" sounds also a little bit like the "tt" in "little" or the "r" in "throw".

**

The strong "r" - At the beginning and the end of a word: "rápido", "rama". All the verb infinitives: "comer", "ir" "venir".

"r" before a consonant: "arte", "arma"..

Between two vowels it's written "rr": "perro", "carro"...

The sound is not always the same in all countries. In some places in Chile and Argentina they tend to pronounce the strong "r" with a sibilant sound. Also, people who are really native from Bogotá, Colombia and its surroundings, have a very distinctive way of pronouncing the "rr".

As oposed to that, in Puerto Rico and other places in the Caribbean they tend to pronounce it like an "L", especially, when the "r" is located before a consonant: "Puelto"

[Torres]

I am from Bogotá but we don't have a particular distinctive accent....well...hehe you can actually understand what we say unlike with people from other parts of the country! I don't want to have a go with anyone on this but, I have heard several times that spanish from my city is liked all around the world, it's relatively easy to both pronounce and understand (slang doesn't count) and it sounds pretty.

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Torres

I am from Bogotá but we don't have a particular distinctive accent....well...hehe you can actually understand what we say unlike with people from other parts of the country! I don't want to have a go with anyone on this but, I have heard several times that spanish from my city is liked all around the world, it's relatively easy to both pronounce and understand (slang doesn't count) and it sounds pretty.

I never said it was ugly. It's in fact, a very correct Spanish, one of the best. If you're a true "bogotano" I'm sure you don't pronounce "Y" and "Ll" the same. And that's not the only difference with the rest of the country.

The accent they call "santafereño" has a distinctive sound. Bogotá, being a big cosmopolitan city, is inhabited by people from all over the country and even other countries, so that particular accent I'm talking about has been restricted to a few families who consider themselves descendants of the pioneers, the founders of the country.