rolling my rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrs- Italian and Spanish

Good tips; I've had problems with this for as long as I've known Spanish (since, er, since the '70s), and would like to get better at it again as my nephew and I now speak a little Spanish to each other.

A teacher of mine once told a classmate to practise saying 'kedentebedood' faster and faster until it turned into 'krentenbrood' with two rolling r's.

It's a dutch word meaning raisin bread, but I guess it could work for non dutch speakers too. The first, the third and the fourth 'e' are a neutral vowel which we used to call 'shwa' at uni. I'm not sure if you can say that in english too.
The second 'e' is more like the spanish 'e' and the 'dood'/'brood' at the end sounds like 'dote'/'brote'.

This worked for my friend, so you might wanna give it a try...

Good luck anyway

Hey Doris! that's a great tip.

I just tried it out - and got it to work in a few minutes.

Brilliant!

If you want to listen to a great triller, listen to the wonderful and admirable José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. Spain is so lucky to have him.

When you say a word with an "r," the tip of the tongue touches the palate behind the upper front teeth. Sometimes it's necessary to say a word silently to oneself, before actually vocalizing it, so the tongue is going where it should. I used to practice on the name Rodriguez.

When you say a word with an "r," the tip of the tongue touches the palate behind the upper front teeth. Sometimes it's necessary to say a word silently to oneself, before actually vocalizing it, so the tongue is going where it should. I used to practice on the name Rodriguez.

When you say a word with an "r," the tip of the tongue touches the palate behind the upper front teeth. Sometimes it's necessary to say a word silently to oneself, before actually vocalizing it, so the tongue is going where it should. I used to practice on the name Rodriguez.

Like for whistling, try touching the sides of your tongue against your two rows of upper pre-molars. Then, simultaneously touch the tip of your tongue between the roof of your mouth and upper incisors (the alveolar ridge, incidentally, that kind of rolled r is called the alveolar trill) and breath forcefully and heavily forcing the air through the tip of your tongue and alveolar ridge. You should feel the tip of your tongue flapping quickly against your alveolar ridge. Be sure to voice your breathing.

From Wikipedia

Features of the alveolar trill:

Its manner of articulation is trill, which means it is produced by vibrations of the tongue against the place of articulation.
Its place of articulation is alveolar which means it is articulated with the tip of the tongue against the alveolar ridge.
Its phonation type is voiced, which means the vocal cords are vibrating during the articulation.
It is an oral consonant, which means air is allowed to escape through the mouth.
It is a central consonant, which means it is produced by allowing the airstream to flow over the middle of the tongue, rather than the sides.
The airstream mechanism is pulmonic egressive, which means it is articulated by pushing air out of the lungs and through the vocal tract, rather than from the glottis or the mouth.

Ha! I was trying to teach a friend of mine to roll her r's for hours and hours on end. We did the 'td' instead of 'r' trick, I drew detailed pictures were the tongue should be. After days, there was progress - I can now get her roll her 'r's when we're through with a bottle of wine or after a few beers.... but she still can't do it sober.

It's what makes shibboleths so effective.

You cannot say "carrramba" without rolling your "r"
If you do, drink more of dagmar's wine.

There's a tiny percentage of people who are physically incapable of rolling their r's. Of course this information should be kept from anyone trying to learn it (:

hi everyone,

i need some big help from any of you with my "r" pronountiation. ever since i was young, i never really learned how to pronounce it well. i've always been trying to fake it so that my front upper and lower teeth touch each other( so basically not using the tounge at all...dunno why i did this...=(

but i'm willing to learn now( that is if i'm capable of). how short is too short for your tounge size? like...if i force the air out, i can actually produce the "rrrrrr" sound with tounge. but then the problem is, i can't pronounce words as in just a vibrating "r". assuming my tounge is long enough, can any one tell me how to practice to say words with "r" ? i've tried so hard reading those words over and over and it's just not happening.

thanks

great tips!!!!! lots of practice that´s what´s most important!

My buddys mexican grandmother used to tell us white people couldn't roll their R's because they had forked tounges. It's an old folk lore.

I'm sorry

So Italians, Spanish, Bavarians, people speaking Low-German dialects etc etc are not white - but ...?

If they can roll there R's then they don't have forked tounges.

It would make sence that Germans could roll there R's and Brits could not.

Hah! You should hear me roll my "rrrrrr" - simply perfect !!