19 RR: Rolling the tongue

To roll the tongue, put the tip of your tongue on the palate behind your front teeth. You hit the tip of the tongue against your palate several times as in a vibration. Native speakers of Spanish do up to three taps, and the most common is just a couple of taps. You can try mocking the sound of a car or of a dog.

There’s two types of R: one with a single vibration, and other with more than one vibration. Multiple vibration R is depicted as RR when it goes in the middle of the word: perro=dog, carro=car, cerro=hill. However, at the beginning if the word it’s just one R: rápido=fast, ritmo=rhythm. At the beginning of the word there’s always multiple vibration.

In the middle of the word, R versus RR creates differences in meaning: carro=car / caro=expensive, perro=dog / pero=but. At the beginning of the word, R always sounds RR so it doesn’t change the meaning.

The R that goes with a single vibration resembles the T in between vowels in American English. Try saying aloud and fast “water” or “better”. This is not a full T as in “tap” or “tip”, this is just a tap on the palate. It’s exactly the same sound as in the weak R in Spanish.

Mispronunciation of Spanish R seldom affects comprehension. If you transfer English R into Spanish, you just sound with an accent, but people may understand you. However, there’s something very important that does affect understanding: the production of T between vowels. If you pronounce T as in American English, that sounds like a Spanish weak R and that can create miscomprehension. When you pronounce T in Spanish, think about how this would sound in British English, and that’ll get you closer.

You can check the following video:

Sample conversation:

I made a picture of mi rancho in Colombia and the things you can see around it. Take turns to describe what there’s around just by saying HAY=/ay/. Remember to open your mount wide to say /ay/, we’re not talking about hay or food for horses.

A: Hay un OR una ______________ (add item from the picture).

B: Hay un OR una ______________ (add item from the picture).

A: (Mentions something else)

B: (Mentions something else)