Help! I can't roll my R's!!!

[michael71]

Hello!

I was wondering if anyone out there could give me some advice on rolling the R-sound. Is it possible for a gringo like me to learn this, or do I just have to be content with plain ol' R's??

Thanks!

[Alejandro767]

¡Hola Michael!

I can´t say I´m the most experrienced guy here, but one thing that has helped me is in understanding the difference between the English and Spanish "r" sounds. In English, the "r" is sounded like the pirate saying AAARRHHH, Matey. If you say that, you will realize that the toungue has to be back, arched up to the roof of the mouth, and the tip well back from the teeth.

The Spanish "ere" is a totally different sound and involves different mechanics. It starts with the tounge tip behind the lower teeth, then rising to tap the gums above the top teeth. The resulting sound is more like an English "d". Kind of like when you say the somewhat slurred American sound in "pass me the budder" or "this is my brudder". The important thing is that the tip of the toungue ends up being against the gums above the upper teeth. This is the postion you need to have if you are going to be able to get that "motorboat" sound. Just practice putting the tounge tip in that position and practice that "machine gun" sound . It takes quite a bit of air to do this, but with practice you can cut down on that.

Probably made a mess of this explanation, but I hope it might help.

[rnbjaillet_72501]

This is probably the best explanation I have ever heard for how to roll "r"! And I got a good chuckle, too, from your examples!

Bonnie

[carlavapu5507]

Thank you Alejandro, for sharing your experience and help us.