I am a native English speaker who was unable to roll my Rs for a long time. I studied Spanish in high school for two years and never felt like I could make my Rs properly, then in university I switched to Italian and still had difficulty. I think occasionally I'd hit on a sound that was in the right area, but not quite right. In any case it wasn't consistent during the who years I studied at the university level--it kind of bugged me, but I didn't seem to progress much. Fast forward several years after university. I'm not around other people who speak Italian and I don't have a lot of time to practice it. I do however have access to Italian films and music so I listen to it whenever I get the chance. One day, maybe a year or so after I graduated, I find myself saying something in Italian and rolling my R without even thinking about it. It sounded good! Ever since then I have been able to roll my Rs (though I do find that it can go in and out if I'm speaking too much English). So it took me at least 5 years to learn to roll my Rs. My experience tells me that it just takes time. You are learning to move your tongue in new and complex ways (as is the case with all vocal sounds) and you need time to create new neural pathways. I'm quite certain it was critical that I listened to a lot of Italian being spoken and that it took a while to grasp it. All of which is to say that I think +Metatron is right that it isn't practice in the sense of drilling it every day that is important, but exposure and not giving up on trying to pronounce it right.
Sam Cavallaro This is really inspiring. I took Spanish for a few months in middle school, but I didn't really have much interest in it. I could never roll my r's and even now I still have trouble with it. Now I've been learning German for the past few months and I do find that music and listening to German helps a lot. Today I was trying to roll an r and it just naturally happened. I think the best advice that I got for rolling r's (at least in German or spanish) is to place your tongue as if you're about to say th
You're right! I'm italian and I can't produce this sound, this is an handicap for me... I've lived my first 5 years with my father's family where everyone have affected by "rotacism" while my sister lived his first years of life with my mother's family and it has a perfect R! I tried two years of speech terapy without result but SINCE one year ago I've started to speak("GUERRA", "ROMA" "GOMORRA" ) easily R as you! I've a lot of words to learn but I've faith.
I dont know, I think tried again my speech therapy with a different approach after 2 years, I can produce this sound in a lot of words, but not always and not if I speak too fast. I ve done much excercises, I'm partially sstisfied
Some of the old french dialects/accents also using the rolled "r". In the Québec (mostly in Montreal's area and it's southern shore) and the New-Brunswick provinces, some regional accents was (or still) rolling their "r" (my mother still roll her "r", as i often do). A very good example is "André Sauvé" a famous Québécois humorist (from Montreal)… or mostly any french Acadian (and our Cajun cousins). The French accent is far from being limited to the Paris accent.
Yes re:regonality. From Berlin here. I don't see a difference between our R and French, so if anything his German R was too throaty for me. Then again, I've heard Bavarians speaking. They're essentially deep-throating non-stop. 🤣
@@lapatatadelplato6520 From what I've seen... it rather: heard, while trilled, it's trilled in the throat or maybe the soft palate. (I can absolutely imitate that and have been lauded as authentic by native Bavarians.) 🤷 The Silesian German R was like the Polish or Swedish R, however (which, apparently, isn't sufficiently different from the Spanish R to be noticeable?). Got a few (monolingual) native speakers over here, whose Rs have been *erm* approved? 😅 (I've got next to no proper linguistic knowledge about German or its varieties, btw. So that's purely my personal experience.)
As an anglophile learning Spanish, pero (but) versus perro (dog) was the example that I first puzzled over. I started to get a feel for it when I asked a colleague from Venezuela to demonstrate that there was indeed a difference in pronunciation - a difference that made it crystal clear to a Spanish speaker which was which (just from the pronunciation).
I'm 23 and I've never been able to pronounce my 'R's correctly and I do mean ever, now I can, Thank you for this help full tutorial changed my life honestly
I’m a Mexican that has a speech impediment for pronouncing the r (just realizing it may not be true) that to therapy all my life because of that and eventually giving up on it at around 9. It took me two seconds after you explained to already pronounce it better. I feel like I’ve been lied to my whole life
Rolling your R's and pronouncing the R correctly in Welsh is massively important! It is something I really struggle with because I don't know where in my mouth I'm supposed to put my tongue to form the sound. (This is a longstanding issue with various words for me that I needed speech therapy to 'fix' although I'm still not great at it) This video was super helpful, thank you
I loved this video because I'm native spanish speaker (from Venezuela) and our "R" is beauitiful, I think is clearer than others and you don't have to hurt your throat in order to pronounce it! Lol
This didn't really help teach me how to do the Spanish "RR", but thank you for showing me how perfect it is supposed to sound! I at least know the sound I need to work towards making. All the other videos I watched make the "RR" sound like a cat hacking up a hairball! :P
As a Persian speaker, it's good that I had no problem creating a sound in German and Spanish cause we just happen to have equivalents. Although our R is not rolled. But we can have almost any consonant in our language doubled except for Kh (La "g"ente) like we can have RR back to back. So I can do this with no problems haha I had some problems with Gli sound which I think I am getting it right now :) I think everything just needs time. If we dedicate time to learning a language, we'll sound more natural every day. Really enjoyed the video :)
I am American and lived in Romania a long time and taught English. I mastered the accent by carefully observing, with permission of course, the motion of mouths when they spoke. By contrast, the Romanians struggled mightily with the English R. My students' nemesis was pronouncing "little girl." With their "e" sound for "i", and dental consonants, and their rolled R, it proved impossible...producing lots of red faces and laughter.
I'm really late, but i might have witnessed an interesting fact. I live in the North East of France, in Lorraine (a region). I lived just next to the German border, and what i find very amusing is that even if "français parisien" and "Hochdeutsch" have the same "r" (we call it "grasseyé" in France), and even if the dialects in both of these countries are known (especially in the southern part of each country) to roll the r, none of these two "r" is used in the dialects nearing the border ON BOTH SIDES. In "lothringer platt" (the common dialect shared by France and Germany near the border) the r turns into a vowel ! Thus, a French with a heavy accent from eastern Lorraine would pronounce the word "encore" : "ocoa" (we also have troubles with nasals^^), and a German from Saarland would pronounce the name of his own region "Saaaland". It doesn't work everytime (A guy from Lorraine would never call its own region "Loaaine", you'd rather hear something like "Lôrééne"^^) but i found it was quite appropriate to talk about this in the comment section below such à video.
Very clear & detailed instructions, quite useful. I saw a TV show about a computer program used to teach deaf children to speak. It was a side view into the head that clearly showed the placement of the tongue & mouth for a given sound, as well as the air flow thru the nose & mouth. Thought this was a fantastic thing for those who can't hear who are trying to figure all that out...
I've been learning some Spanish from coworkers. I've taken to pronouncing 'perro' more like 'petro' with the 't' being a quick sound. Years ago, I had surgery very close to my vocal chords. Afterwards, I discovered that there are some sounds I could no longer make. I had to reteach myself how to say 'towel' because the 'wel' part came out funny, it felt like it got stuck in my throat. I've learned how to get along close enough.
People who say that this video isn't helping, you probably just couldn't use the information properly. Or it's just not the kind of information you needed. I came here for German and French one's and this thing like the way of all the Rs roll did help me. Thank you, +Metatron. Btw, I am Russian and I know how to pronouce the two Rs: Russian (basically like Italian and Spanish) and English.
I'm a native English-speaker (American), but the rolled rr never gave me any problems. I was naturally able to do it, for whatever reason. However, having to learn how to produce the German r (pronouncing "drei" in particular) actually helped me with Arabic. The Arabic letter ghayn is produced in just about the same exact way. So even though it's not considered an r in *that* language, it *is* in another; crazy stuff. In reciting the Qur'an, though, there's yet *another* kind of r (raa tafkheemi - heavy R), which is somewhere in between the American rhotic r and the Italian/Spanish alveolar-tapped r. So there's another r-sound to add to your inventory! :P Great video as always!
This video helped me so much! I thought my inability to roll my R's was genetic because I've been trying for years when since I was learning Russian. I even watched the type of youtube videos you mentioned..practically hyperventilating at times by trying so hard XD But I tried it just now using your tips and I was able to do it pretty well!
You speak about rolling the R as an absolutelly natural thing... I strugle with this rolled R since my childhood, while it is the only R my language ever uses (specifically the same type as Italians use)... so I feel it's a bit harder to pronaunce than you present it :-D
Yes thank you! This helped me so much! I've struggled with this for years! Ironically enough, when I was little I struggled with a lisp, & my speech therapist had to teach me where to hold my tongue when i wasn't speaking (tip on the alveolar ridge rather than laying flat on the bottom of my mouth). And that's exactly where it needs to be in order to trill the double r en Español! Now I can learn Spanish without the "rr" there to intimidate. Thank you again! Subbed:D
As a Russian speaker I have never had any problems with Italian (Russian) "R" and English "R" is easy as pie, but I can't pick up French and/or German "R". Actually it is the very first time I hear that German and French "R" is a different sounds
@@Fierydice not really. As a native Russian speaker living in Germany who has had French in school and has relatives who moved to franche, the French r is mostly identical with the german. Germans simply don't pronounce it clearly at the end of the syllable. It's further further in the back then the Russian x. In german btw the Russian x (written as ch) and this French r coexist
I'm semi-proficient in French, moderate in Esperanto, and beginning in Spanish and Russian ... and can't roll my Rs in any of them! Thank you for this... practicing :)
Just couldn't leave that unsaid, but as a small remark: In standard High German, there is only a pre-vocalic rhotic. (No rhotic in "sehr".) The written "r" or "-er" at the end of a word or directly before a consonant (der, aber, zuerst) is weakened to a vowel, similarly to what happens in RP. [ɐ] in IPA, it is between a normal [a] and [ə] in German and is only ever written as "r" or "er", also not phonetically of any meaning except in dialects.
+井出理非覇優琉 Yes in everyday German we do not pronounce any ending "r" but actors (depending on the role) and opera singers usually pronounce it ... In normal everyday usage I only pronounce ending "r" after "a" for example in "Jahr", which would otherwise sound like "Ja"
We have a very particular sounding R here in central Argentina. I can't quite write it down, but it's very different to the Italian Rs the people from Buenos Aires use.
English was my first language, and is the only one I'm actually fluent in, despite what my username might imply. I can roll my "r" s better than most, but it's still not as consistent as a native speaker. I've heard people describe the Romance R as being somewhat dentalized, in that the tip of the tongue sort of flicks the back of the incisors. It's easier to do when it's a tr, dr, or br. Following a vowel is harder. Do distinguish the two, I'd consider the single r to be "tapped" rather than rolled, like the rr, sort of the way it's pronounced in Scots English.
I wouldn't know, you are Italian if you didn't mention, this IS a compliment :) Interesting your clip about "R". Being from a new latin language country I have no problem to pronounce "R" in even in the related language as French or Spanish. Also in German, But, I have problem in pronouncing the "R", in... British English, which i prefere, among all other English dialects. I love the British English not only the sound but also the grammar differences from US English (torch/flash light - lift/elevator etc, but, of course the main stream of musics, movies etc everything surround us is more in US English, which I have to admit is much more easy then British . I try to learn a wee, Scottish but it is a hell of a lot more difficult then any English :). Your explanation are great and yet I found you searching for some Kenjutsu page :) (y)
Having learned french at the age of six I have come to terms with being completely unable to produce a sustained rolled R. I compensate by essentially making the same motion as if I were saying rd or rl depending on the word.
I am Italian and I couldn't roll my R for years. It wasn't nice when sometimes people wouldn't understand what I was saying, but my parents never brought to a logoterapist. Then one blessed day, when I was 11, I suddenly managed to do it and it was shocking! I was so happy!! Over the following years I practiced inserting the sound into words and by the time I was 16-17 I spoke almost normally. Sometimes a R still slips out, though. I feel so comfortable when I speak English! 😂
Although I'm a native Polish speaker and we have this trilled r, I've never been able to learn it. I'm almost 27, and I'm still unable to do that despite a lot of effort. So I feel so jealous that it eventually came to you naturally. I've been putting a lot of effort and I still haven't succeeded
I grew up around French, English, and German so those rs are first nature for my mouth, but it took me a long time to get the voiced and voiceless trills down.
Oh, the joys of the retroflex r, shared by rhotic varieties of American English and by Irish English. Many years ago I'd run across a paperback book (written by an Anglophone) trying to teach Italian to English speakers, which book had claimed that the "a" of Italian was pronounced like English "ar." I kid not. My version of American English is rhotic. So, per said book, the Pontiff in Rome is "il parpar di Romar," which I had a hard time believing. It was years later that I'd figured out that the book was written by a speaker of RP, notoriously non-rhotic. Moral of story: Find someone who actually speaks the idiom in question to learn how to pronounce it. (Good luck with Esperanto, Volapük, and the like.)
Thank you so much! You are my language GOD! I’d been pronouncing the German r instead of Italian r for 10 years in my Italian and Spanish. I’d seen tons of videos and only 2 videos helped me a little bit. I’m studying bel canto now. It’s very important for me to make this detail perfect. I had subscribed you for liking you. Tonight I was so frustrated with this tricky r, and accidentally saw this video. THEN I DIRECTLY PRONOUNCED IT RIGHT by mimicking you. Yeah it is just as easy as you said. You have no idea how much I LOVE YOU right now. Btw I was attracted by your English accent at first. It’s beautiful. And I noticed your Chinese is also good. (My nationality is China but I’m ethnic Korean) You are the maestro of language in my heart. Now I can go to sleep happily. Buonanotte!
I'm a Pole as well and I cannot produce our R no matter how long I've been trying to learn it. Sometimes I feel frustrated that our languages did't replace this f*cked up ridiculous sound with a more normal one, like the French, German and English had done
Yeah, if you visits some parts of west/southern norway, like Bergen or Stavanger, you will find people pronuncing the R that sounds close to the french. But the rest of the Norway, there is mainly the rolled R.
I can do the German 'R' well but I can't get the front of my tongue to vibrate like I can the back. I can do the brief, single 'R' but I can't sustain it, which makes me think I'm doing even the single 'R' wrong even though it sounds right.
I've been thinking I wasn't able to do it, but after watching your video I realized that I was verrrrry close, so close that I almost distorted my french R for years without knowing. I kept trying to make another sound that was not it. Just need a bit of training to be able to pronounce it when needed (I may need 30 seconds to put one out for now, so I couldn't get it in words). Thanks for letting me understand
Interesting thing is that in Russian, language not influenced by Latin, letter R is even softer and sounds like produced on top of the mouth - closer to lips than Italian.
In brazilian portuguese the sound of RR is the same as english's H. We also use this sound for words beginning with R. Some brazilian accents, mainly from São Paulo, have the R/RR sound rolled, and by this you normally recognize people from italian descent. We also have a standard use of rolled R, which we call weak R. The word Ferrari would be Fehari here. I'm from Italian descent, but I have another accent, which's mostly associated with that of hicks, even though in my case it isn't as strong as from people from Minas Gerais. My accent is the one found at the areas around São Paulo, in which we use the american R sound for weak Rs. Like in Carta, we say the R pretty much like an american would. The origin of this accent is probably related with the natives being unable to pronnounce the rolled R, but I'm not really certain.
Wow Metatron has some relativistic equations up on the wall! I'm a physics grad but love studying languages and history in my spare time and maybe one day when I have my own study it will look a little like this! haha
in Portuguese we have the "R" that sounds like the English "H" (Hospital), its when the "R" is in the beginning of the word (Rápido) and when its doubled in the middle (Carro). And we also have that "R" which sounds like the Italian single "R" (Caro, pare, quadro). But in the south of Brazil, a lot of people who live in rural areas are direct Italian descendants, so they speak with an Italian accent, words like "carro" in Portuguese have the sound of "ca'h'o", but they speak just the same way Metatron said in the video, with the double Italian "R". :)
IMO rolling your Rs is about making the end of your tongue as limp as possible and putting it into a fast moving stream of air near the front of your mouth. Your limp tongue tip starts flapping against the "alveolar ridge" at the front of your mouth, making the sound. You just have to get the limp tongue tip close enough to the gum and the airflow will make it start flapping.
Thank you! I never noticed before that there are different ways to role it... Your awareness for details is impressive. I wish, we had been taught such details.
@@slurbih I’ve been there on holiday and I noticed the pronunciation of the R is problematic for Lombardians. I’ve heard it in movies also and I always have wondered how come.
I'm a native English speaker from Canada. I'm currently trying to expand my German and learn Finnish and Spanish (The Finnish r is like the Spanish and talian r). The rolled 'r' sound is very hit and miss for me. I can mostly say the single rolled r in words like "Drei", "Dracula" and "Tarpeeksi" (Finnish for "enough"), but if it's a double r or at the beginning of a word, my tongue just stiffens up completely and I sound really stupid. Any tips on how to keep it loose?
5:09 the way that we Americans varies for the region of the country that you're in. For example, the way that some people in the country say the word "pecan" varies by the region you're in. Some people tend to say "Peecan", while in the part of the country that I live in, they say "P'con".
I still haven't managed to do it, but comparing it to the English r in car helped me understand a bit better. Saying car, then holding the r sound and moving my tongue down makes a different sound. It sounds like a muffled r or e or even l kinda.
I JUST DID IT. My voice went like 10 octaves higher when I found out and squealed. i'm so happy aaa it's hard get my mouth in the right place but hopefully i'll get used to that from practice :D I keep making an l sound on accident whoops
Off-topic: Ferrari > "FACERE FERRUM" (Latin){ please note, the word order has changed}. I think it would be "fare ferro" in Italian. In English it would mean "make iron", and the one who does this job, is the "smith". By the way, nice and interesting video, thank you Metatron!
Lol you have to practice. But essentially you would just put the tip of your tongue toward the top of your mouth almost to the teeth but not quite.. about 1/2 inch back or where you're comfortable . You push your air through ... They doing the vibrate sound by pushing air with proper tongue placement. The eventually take a word.. like Reloj (wristwatch in Spanish) Rrrr-ay-lo.. that word helped me. Or Rojo (red) .. I only speak Spanish, not as much Italian but muscle memory goes a long way. I had trouble at first but now it's just second nature
Blank- blade ahahaha xD It might be difficult for me to make a full video in German as my German is not that good unfortunatly but I was planning (and was speaking about it a few minutes ago with my friend lol) to use some German either as an introduction to a very German topic or something like that :D Danke ;)
In German the R really depends on what you say and the letters around the R. Sometimes you roll, sometimes it’s super guttural and doesn’t even sound like an R, and sometimes it’s like how you pronounced but usually it’s a bit stronger.
In spanish (at least in Argentina) we use the "strong" R (double rr sound) when the R is in the beggining of the word, like in rapido (fast). Maybe other spanish speaking countries don´t...
It's a basic grammar rule for Spanish. All spanish accents use the strong R sound in the beginning of a word. The only diferences between European Spanish and other American-Spanish accent is the "/th/" sound of "Z" (or "C" before "e" and "i") and other minor grammar diferences in tenses and vocabulary ("ce", and "ci" are pronounced like "/th/e", "/th/i" in Spain instead in America, wich are pronounced with the sound "/s/", with no diferences of pronuntiation between "caza" and "casa"). The other grammar rules are the same despite the Spanish accent you are speaking.
Sorry, but could you explicate exactly HOW to roll? Some exercises to practice? If you are Italian means you had to practice your French and German rolled Rs: how did you learn them? Which exercises did you do?
I'm trying to learn Italian and I can get the part where I can memorize and learn what the words mean and stuff. I just can't roll my r's. My mom is a Spanish teacher and I try to have her help me but she seems to just be able to do it in a word not just anytime. My first language is English so I expected this to be hard, but not this hard. I try to vibrate my tongue, but I can only feel the air on it. Please help!
In Dutch we actuallt use the english/german R and the rolling R (more like the italian) dependent of the place of the R in the word. This differs in the east and west of the netherlands.
That is very noticeble for a foregein language. That is why the "rusian accent" in spanish and italian consists in rolling all the Rs, even when its soft. So "primero" would be "prrimero" for example
The correct pronunciation of R in Czech is the same as in Italian so here's another tip: Start as if you were trying to say D but leave a small gap between your teeth/palate and the tip of your tongue. Next, raise the rear half of your tongue to restrict air flow through your mouth (like if you were trying to say K but again leave a small gap). Now just keep your tongue stiff in that shape and blow some air out of your mouth. The tip of your tongue should vibrate on its own. If you do only the first or second part without the other, you'll make a TH sound or KH sound (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiceless_velar_fricative ) respectively. Although you'd normally pronounce TH using a slightly different tongue shape. That's why you need to start with a D. Got it? Challenge time: Do all of the above but also raise the sides of your tongue (to make a slight U shape). If you do it all correctly, you'll make the Czech Ř sound instead. Here's an example of properly pronounced Ř: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-icLxRXP5W-4.html
Alice Banaszewski Hey Alice thank you for your comment I am glad you like my videos :D I am a linguist and an orientalist, I have a university degree in Oriental languages but I also studied medieval history at uni and other languages ^_^ I hope you will continue to watch my videos and thank you for your time ^^
Probably the easiest thing for romance Rs and Slavic ones is like this: Push the air to the top of your tongue whilst make a sound and then at the same time try to keep your tongue at the roof of your tongue and close half of your mouth at the same time.
I'm Finnish and we have the rolling R in the front but I can only really do the Italian in front of a word -R properly, not the middle/double one. I feel like the Finnish R might be a bit different than the Italian, even though I think it sounds quite similar and is made without a doubt in the front of the mouth. It's hard for me to keep on going for more than a couple vibrations like that. And the R here is very difficult for a lot of kids to learn and I think everyone here personally knows someone who's a young adult and still hasn't, at least fully mastered it. I wonder what the case is in other languages that have rolling R's is it difficult for kids to learn?
At least where I live (Rhineland), the french R sound (uvular fricative) is the most commonly used r, but since they're allophones, one could also use the rolled back of the throat r (uvular trill) or the rolled r (alveolar trill), which is mostly found in southern dialects (Bavaria...) and Austria/Switzerland. Anyway, I'm just nit-picking, your video has been very interesting ^^
Now you got me interested. How do you roll your Rs differently in Southern Sweden. (All I know that I'm some parts people actually use the German R, no?)
The Spanish r is a bit different than the Italian r, though. The double r is very similar to the Italian double r, though less strong. The single r, though, is not exactly trilled in Spanish, it's like the Italian single r in words like grazie, and possibly even a little softer, instead of the one in for example the word caro, which has a slightly stronger r.
This isn't entirely true. It depends on region and length of the rr can change but as far as the sound is concerned there is no difference in the rs between Italian and Spanish.
so glad I can do them all. Are you sure of the difference between the German and the French R? I lived in Belgium and know many Germans, but I never noticed the difference in R's... ????
Germans don't have the same "R" in the north and the south, the "R" in the south is very similar to a french "R". There are even french speaking populations, like the acadians, who roll their "R". The video is correct for Paris and Berlin but in reality "R" is much more region-dependant.
I think this changes fluently through regions, exspecially near boaders. I life in Frankonia, a region in northern bavaria and we just roll the r. And guy, life 60km away or so just laugh about it. But if he does the "German" or "France" R i can't say. And yes I had more problems pronouncing the "German" R then to roll it.
One way in for English speakers to get to an Italian-type rolled [r] is to start from [tr]. The English alveolar [t] has the tongue-tip behind and a little above the top front teeth, just loosen the tip a little and it will start to vibrate ... hopefully :-)
"Just loosen the tip a little" - that's the part I'm totally unable to do despite a lot of effort and despite my native language having the rolled R (which I obviously cannot produce)
Although I tried many times since i'm 6 and was showed by many people how to prononce the italian "r" I never succeeded.. Not even after having watched your great video
I think I have the position, 'm just having trouble getting the vibration. Do you know if this is any easier if your mouth is open or closed when you make the sound? (like, when you open your mouth wide to say -ar in American English, but it's more closed when you'd say a sound like -er or -tr)
When I 'roll' my 'R', I can't prolong the sound like you do in the video. I think I might be doing something wrong but I've no idea what it is... My tongue vibrates only once before falling down and tapping against my teeth, thus making a sound similar to 'd' or 'p'. I don't even know if I'm doing it the right way though - the tutorial videos you mentioned are my teachers.
Victoria Cheung By the way you describe it it sound like an asian "r" mono vibrant. Italian and Spanish "r" are poli vibrant so it's a different "r", it's like a cousin "r" but it's different, hence you can't prolong it. I'll see if I can come up with some exercises and make a video about it ^^
Yeah it definitely is an 'Asian R' since my first language is Cantonese! I have a friend who doesn't speak any languages that have this trilled R but he can do trills like you do. So jealous smh.
Victoria Cheung Nice Cantonese :D I speak Mandarin Chinese, but I am intridued with Cantonese and would like to learn the basics :D Yes some people can just do it without practice. ps: I know that with "a friend who doesn't speak any languages" you ment a person who doesn't speak any foreign language but it sounded funny to read that because it sounds like your friend doesn't speak at all but just rolls his "r" ahah JK ;)
In Dutch, we do have the R, which is harder then the German R, and so is closer to the Italian R. However, we don't overdo it like Italians do. So, we do know the 2nd R in Ferrari, not so much the 1st R
If you are from Groningen (my favourite Dutch accent...I must admit ;-) ) Other versions of Dutch R are uvular and a pain in the throath to make (if you are a roller, like me), or sometimes a bit like an English R.. I remember asking my Dutch teacher "what's the correct way to pronounce R in Dutch", and she answered "it depends where you are from", and yes, it is basically true....
There is not one Dutch R We have the rolling R, like in Italian, which is common in most regions (among which most of Flanders, Zeeland and the regions north of the big rivers). We have a throat R, just like in French and German, that is common in southern regions; South Gelderland, North Brabant, Dutch- and Belgian Limburg. We also have a combination of the throat/rolling R and the English R (known as Gooise R), the last of which is generally used at the end of a word (e.g. maar). The Gooise R was originally only used around "het Gooi", a small region east of Amsterdam (with a small number of dialects in South Holland using a similar English-type R). However, due to the media having been centred around Hilversum (in "het Gooi") for several decades, this R has spread throughout most of the country, replacing the rolling R.
It is funny, I barley have any problems using the rolling r when I speak Italian but when I try to pronounce it on its own without a word I don't manage to do it. Also some Italian words are more difficult than others. "Buongiorno" per esempio is more difficult for me then most other words, which is bad because it's such a common thing to say. But I always keep in mind that there are some Italian people like a few of my friends who can't pronounce the "r" at all and are jelous of me because I can - as they say - pronounce their native language better than they can. xD
Hi Metatron, I’m American. I’ve noticed when rolling my R’s I have an easy time doing it with words like Ora or nostris where the R is in the middle. I struggle when it comes to the end of words like mater and pater. Any advice? Thank you!
Confused by what to do with my tongue and roof of my mouth - do they touch and vibrate? getting my tongue to vibrate against the roof of my mouth seems easy but sounds like I'm rolling the letter D!
Is Classical Latin's R the same as Italian which has a soft one and hard one or always trilled as the book of wheelock said? I pronounce the soft single R as flapped and find it is easier than always trilled. Even after years practice I am still not able to do the trill as native italians. My version sounds too aspriated.
In my native Cuba there is a song they teach kids to practice their Rs. It goes like this... R con r cigarro. R con r barril. Mira que rápido corren los carros por la línea del ferrocarril.
In classical Latin is the r rolllled in all words just im using an app to learn it and for example in the word puer the r is rolled but in the word vier the the r is not rolled?
Very useful! I'm planning on starting to learn French and that R sound as well as the German one are very difficult for me. Thank you for clarifying :)
I was raised (and still am, I guess. Mind you, I'm 15) in Germany in a bilingual way, meaning that approximately half the people I talked to daily spoke English (School and such) and the other half spoke German (my family and most of the people I meet outside of school. It's Germany after all). In this scenario, the problem which is sure to arise is the following (among others, like my accent. Son-of-a-goat.): I never learned how to roll my R's properly. The first time I really got to it was when I started studying Latin (Romanus, redire and words along those lines). And now I literally forgot what I wanted to write at the end. Something-Something Conclusion. Hm. Maybe the Presque Vu goes away soon...
I can sometimes roll an r when I say a word, but I can't sustain it for multiple seconds like you can. It has to come naturally for me, I think. I'm the same way with accents. I can mimic something someone says, like a parrot. As soon as I have to think about it, though, I lose it completely.
The single rolled r sounds similar to the "tt" in the American English pronunciation of bottle and little. For example, the American English pronunciation of "bottle" sounds like the Spanish pronuncation of "baro."
