The Spanish 'R'

[erocifeller]

After numerous years of living and travelling in Latin America I have a decent grasp of Spanish.

That being said, I still Anglophobize the Spanish 'R'. I have no idea what the hell is going on.

I practice word games, and my speech path girlfriend attempted to save me, but I seem to give up after a few days due to frustration. Lately it seems to be getting worse ... somehow.

Any super tips?

 

[fifs2]

How about a club for failed Rers...I have practiced with my teacher ad nauseum or at least until my jaw aches..she said my tongue was like a dead fish in my mouth...I guess it´s a different type of trout pout. You have my utmost sympathies...!

 

[erocifeller]

Perhaps we can start a support group! We can work through this, I know it!

 

[French jurist]

That's a funny one, we all have difficulties pronunciating the "hhéééyyrrééé", for different reasons.
Because of my country, I can make "hhheeeiiirrr" from the bottom of my throath, really deep.

I will never be able to pronounce the "hhéééyyrréé" the right way I am afraid.

 

[PhilipDT]

I've found on correctly pronouncing other consonets has really helped me say my "R's" correctly.

Things like L, N, T are so easy to fake and just pronunce we do in english but its not actually the same, and repositioning your tongue to the correct spot sets up the R's really nicely

 

[KatharineAnn]

I agree with Philip - working on your pronunciation of consonants in general helps you be more aware of where you are placing your tongue and arranging your mouth for each sound, and you will get more used to putting your tongue where it should go for the r.

I studied Spanish for 3 years before I came even close to a real rrrrr. I remember for months on end I practiced daily, making terrible car engine starting sounds, until I got that first real vibration. That first real vibration is the sound of success.

After the first vibration, however, you´re not ready to whip out your Spanish r. You need to be able to hold out the vibration for some time, too, in order for it to sound believeable. So then it´s time to work on lengthening your r, until you can hold it out indefinitely.

I try to compete against my argentine boyfriend in an ´r´ marathon, in other words, holding out the r as long as possible. He usually wins, unless he runs out of air. You know you´re a pro when the only thing holding your ´r´ back from being infinite is your air supply.

Practice makes perfect! (I really love the Spanish r)

 

[PhilipDT]

I find actually just slightly touching on a short r to be more difficult than rolling a long r

 

[erocifeller]

I find actually just slightly touching on a short r to be more difficult than rolling a long r

I agree. The long 'r' I can do most of the time, but the short R, usually near a 'U' or 'G' or maybe something like this 'RIR' ... sounds bad!


The speech path lady friend told me to practice saying LADDER and BUTTER and to forget everything I know about the English R. It works sometimes.

 

[Saturnine]

I agree. The long 'r' I can do most of the time, but the short R, usually near a 'U' or 'G' or maybe something like this 'RIR' ... sounds bad!
The speech path lady friend told me to practice saying LADDER and BUTTER and to forget everything I know about the English R. It works sometimes.

Well, that suggestion is rather good, if you come from the US. You can practice "r" by observing yourself (quite attentively) while pronouncing "tt"s and "dd"s, anything from "little" to "prattle" to "Seattle"

When I was younger I used to teach Spanish at college and a few of the English lit fellows would tease me all the time because of phonetic issues. They were British and quite unable to utter a decent "ere" or "erre", as they spoke only English. However, they were rather good at imitating Scottish or Irish accents. On a dare, we worked with whatever "r"s they could utter in different English accents until they managed a pretty good Spanish "r".

Phonetics is never easy and it helps if you've got a good ear for it. If not, I'd say stop taking it so seriously: if you can think in Spanish, then you've done yourself a bigger favor. If you can have a long conversation with locals and express your ideas without pausing or simplifying your speech, I'd say nobody would care that much whether you roll your "r"s or not

 

[igor]

I am coming from the opposite camp. I find english/american R difficult and russian/spanish R normal.

These are absolutely different sounds and tongue position etc is absolutely different, despite the fact that they are represented by the same letter.

When you want to pronounce engish/american R (I hope native speakers can forgive me) you just take your tongue inside, while keeping it flat and without touching anything inside your mouth.

It is easier to start with words that end with an "R" like "ear" and after you mastered them, you can do the same thing in the opposite direction for words like "Richard".

In russian/spanish "R" the secret is in almost touching your hard palate by the tip or your tongue and finding a position so that it vibrates while the air goes out.

You can start with "th" sound when you slightly touch your teeth, take your tongue a bit inside, pretending that you want to touch the upper side of your mouth. In this position it will be a hissing sound like "sh". Try to touch your palate a bit more inside and give it some sound. At some point your tongue starts to vibrate. It is still not an "R" but some rattling sound. The tongue is slightly bent upside, it does provide some obstruction for the air flow but it is not stuck to the palate.

When you find the rattling sound, you need to make it to resonate by opening your throat. Yawn. Then you need to almost close your mouth, keeping the throat open. Find your rattling sound again. Blow the air out. Here is your "R".

I think it is much easier to get there from "sh" than from the english "R" sound.