Help me roll my Rs!

June 19, 2020 8:37 AM

I'm picking up Spanish again and I have run into the same problem I have had for years--I can't roll my Rs. I have no idea how to do it. I've had people explain it to me, I've watched YouTube videos, I've done the "pronounce it like the double T in 'butter'" trick, which kind of works, but I can't keep it up/extend it. If you are also someone that struggled with this, how did you learn to do it?
posted by Automocar to Writing & Language (11 answers total)

Couple of glasses of wine first. Loosens up the tongue. Once you can do it with a buzz on, you'll get the hang of it to be able to do it without.
posted by fingersandtoes at 8:58 AM on June 19, 2020

(The "butter" trick is what I learned as a cheat for the hopelessly Anglophone, too - approximate a rolled r as a tongue-tap.)
posted by zeptoweasel at 9:04 AM on June 19, 2020

Could you try listening to/mimicking strong Scottish accents where they roll their Rs? I find it easier to roll my Rs in English words than in Spanish words, if that makes sense.

Rolled Rs are also sometimes used in English in singing (more classical music) - maybe you could look into that, there might be some tips out there for singers. Also I think British radio presenters and things rolled their Rs back in the old days - think it was a sort of enunciation/elocution thing. Maybe that could guide you in some way...

Sometimes English uses rolled Rs, to some extent, in onomatopoeic sounds like brrr (when you're cold) - you could try experimenting with saying brrrr and see if you manage it that way.

Can you manage the tapped R? Like in pero? Try experimenting by saying pero pero pero and see if you can manage to elongate the r to turn it into a perro.

(the sound in 'butter' is more of a tapped R than a rolled R)

Finally, when you're practicing, do you do out it out loud? Or do you sort of do it silently or under your breath? I think it's easier when you do out it loud.
posted by iamsuper at 9:05 AM on June 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

Speech Therapy Roll R gets some pretty good-looking search hits.
posted by theora55 at 9:28 AM on June 19, 2020

I have exactly this problem too, but one day I was moved to sing along with a Pavarotti aria on the radio, and a perfect tip of the tongue rolled R came out.

I was able to roll my R's all the rest of that day, but when I woke up the next morning it was gone, and I haven't been able to do it since, though I haven't made a concentrated effort to do so (yet).
posted by jamjam at 9:30 AM on June 19, 2020 [3 favorites]

You may find it's easier to learn un-voiced first. Seal the edges of your tongue against the roof of your mouth to make it airtight. Make sure the pressure is even across all of the tongue -- if you try to breath out forcefully through your mouth (plugging your nose if necessary), no air should escape. The rolled 'r' is the selective relaxation of the tip of the tongue while doing essentially this.

I've been doing this at my desk for the last 10 minutes or so, not only doing it 'correctly' but also trying to do it naively, following my own instructions without the muscle memory to rely on. Here's some insight I gained from all the ways I failed to get the right sound:

- When I relax the tip of my tongue, I need to keep it relatively tensed and curled upward. Just the very tippy tip of the tongue is actually touching the roof of the mouth at the beginning. If I let it get droopy, I instead produce an 'sh' sound. The 'proper' sound is more like a 'th'.

- I need to keep the tip of my tongue away from my upper teeth at all times.

- The back sides of my tongue are actually sealed more against my back molars than the roof of my mouth. Airtightness isn't strictly necessary here, it's more about the shape of the tongue and the volume you make with it -- not too deep and not too shallow.

- Success doesn't sound like a rolled 'r' here -- it sounds like a machine gun, rapid 'thdthdthdthd'. It's just a harsher version of the rolled 'r' though, and once you get this down you should be able to relax it, add your vocal chords, etc. Don't try to do too much at once!
posted by dbx at 11:05 AM on June 19, 2020 [2 favorites]

I went through this! I was casually learning Spanish for a couple of years and thought I would never get the rolling R. This youtube video was my key to success -- watch the whole thing! Once you're able to "purr," try a few words with different vowels to see which one works for you, like rio, rojo, correr, razon. Then practice that until your tongue and mouth muscles get better at it. I still have to slow down around the starting R's and double R's to get a solid distinguishable roll though.
posted by bread-eater at 12:22 PM on June 19, 2020 [1 favorite]

If "butter" doesn't work, have you tried making a "pot o' tea"?
posted by batter_my_heart at 12:34 PM on June 19, 2020

I couldn't do it until I was living in Spain and people legit didn't understand me when I'd say words like correo without rolling the r. Needing to attempt it over and over for comprehension's sake and directions got me there.
posted by vegartanipla at 3:42 PM on June 19, 2020

I started taking Spanish in high school after years of French. I just literally started trying to the very beginning part of the R over and over every day and eventually I got it. I'm sorry I can't explain it better, but I wanted you to know that it's possible to learn!

It might be more helpful for you to try saying Spanish words with the "T" of butter to just get repeitition in. There is a great Spanish tongue twister that I believe goes

Erre con erre cigarro;

Erre con erre barril.

Rapido corren los carros del ferrocarril.
posted by radioamy at 8:08 PM on June 19, 2020

^^ radioamy says

"There is a great Spanish tongue twister that I believe goes

Erre con erre cigarro;

Erre con erre barril.

Rapido corren los carros del ferrocarril."

Love it. That's what I used to kickstart my ability. I know the last line as

"Radipo ruedan las ruedas del ferrocarril."
(rolling *all* beginning 'r's)

I got fed up as well. Watched some youtube videos. Not sure if they helped. What did help was simply repeating that tongue twister like all day every day. Waiting for the bus? Do the tongue twister over and over. Washing dishes? Over and over. In the shower? Over and over. You get the idea.

I also found that, much like playing a hard passage in music, when you change the entry or exit even slightly you mess up the passage *even if you played it perfectly in isolation*. What I mean is, being able to roll 'r' perfectly in 'perro' didnt mean I could do it in "los perros", then mastering "los perros" didn't mean I could do it in "los charros". And all the other combinations of sounds your mouth needs to make fluently before and after the 'rr'.

As for "how" to practice? I'm not sure. I'm not sure it matters much. For me, it was simply *tons* of practice and observation of what my mouth was doing. And each time I got it wrong -- which was over and over and over for weeks -- saying nope that was wrong, try again a bit different. And if one felt/sounded really *good*, try to realize what I did and replicate that. Then be disappointed when just because I could do it in one word/sentence, I couldn't do it in another, and start over with that phrase.

Good luck!
posted by 3FLryan at 8:25 PM on June 19, 2020 [2 favorites]