Anyone got any tips?

Neither can I! I’d love to hear tips too. :)

No R rolling from me either!

It’s a really difficult thing to teach. I must say don’t worry about it at all. Though it might be nice, it’s far from essential to speak Italian or Spanish.

I did find this, I hope it helps:
How to roll your Rs from wikiHow

Can you purr like a cat?

Can you imitate Eartha Kitt on the old Batman and Robin series (she played Catwoman)?

I’m sitting here trying to figure out how I do it. The tip of my tongue vibrates against a place just behind the gum line of my upper front teeth. The tongue is very loose, and not pressed against the gum. I have to exhale gently to make the vibration happen — the movement of the air causes the vibration.

What an odd thing to try to explain in words!!! In any event, I hope this explanation helps a bit.

I can roll R’s but am having difficulty teaching my kids to do it. Very hard to explain indeed. Good luck, and let me know if any of you can come up with a way to teach it. Good luck!

That’s a good explanation Rick. Imitating a cat purring is a good place to start, then you just emphasise it.

I think that if you place your tongue so that the sides (middle touch your back teeth) and you can slightly curl the tip of your tongue up to touch just the back of your upper lip as it comes down over your front teeth, and then try to forcefully blow out air from your diaphragm with a deep breath, and practice this, you might get it. Also, if you can talk to a speech therapist, they might be able to assist you.

Sandra: Sorry about that. This is likely something where you’ll actually need to see the mouth of people who are doing it. And the pronunciation of “r” seems to be tough in many languages. English “r,” French “r,” Spanish “r” and German “r” are all so different….

Good luck

Ok Rick, I tried that – I just spit all over my monitor! :(

I’ve learnt how to roll my r’s…I selftaught myself when I started school in Argentina…remember I’m british, so my R’s sound Anglo saxon, anyway…Kids started making fun of me so I self taught myself…first I tried placing my tongue in different positions in my mouth…it helps…and then I started saying phrases in spanish with lots of R’s…RUEDAN LAS RUEDAS DEL FERROCARRIL…that’s a good one. When you say R in english, usually your tongue rolls into the bottom of your mouth, for spanish R, tongue must touch the top of your mouth with the tip right behind your upper teeth…

I know, it sounds very weird, but trust me, I have master command of both types of R’s and I can even pronounce the french R…hahaha

If you want to see how it sounds, we can have a session or introduction or whatever the name is for a short session to show you the sounds and practice some phrases… Just holler, I’ll get back to you as soon as possible…
By the way, I have a new job, here at home, so I’m only available weekends all day or Mon thru Fri from 6pm onwards Argentina Time…
Is there a way to let students know your availability before they book a lesson????

Hugs to you all R rollers,

Susan

That is a wonderful idea Candy! Thanks for the input everyone!

R con R Gitarra
R con R Carril
Que rapido ruedan las ruedas de un ferrocarril!

(R=erre) I used to say that over and over until my cheeks were tired.

No advice really. Only that you can’t think of it like an English “r” at all. Your tongue is about where it is when you say the “d’s” in “cuddle” but you have to send a lot more air through your mouth and have your tongue touch the top of the mouth lightly.

Oh Liz – that makes complete sense! I almost have it!

Ok, here’s a related question: If you need to expel extra breath to make the Spanish rr sound, can it be whispered? What happens when a native Spanish speaker whispers the word ferrocarril? Does is come out more like ferocaril? (A single r ?)

I can whisper and roll my r in ferrocarril, pushing air doesn’t create sound unless the vocal chords are engaged. Isn’t it amazing that as infants we are all capable of creating any sound from any world language (unless there is some physical deformity)? We were all born with the ability to roll our r’s!!

Yes, I often imagine my kids speaking Japanese or something…so funny, but could have been! It’s actually fairly easy to whisper a rolled r because you don’t need to use your vocal cords (make it "voiced"). Here’s another tip….try saying tut tut tut tut tut over and over and then push air through there.

My boyfriend’s 15

Born AND partially raised in Cuba
His family only speaks Spanish and he’s never been able to roll his R’s. :/

I’ve tried to teach him and I hardly ever speak Spanish to my family, you just gotta keep trying I guess, baha!