Help rolling R's...

BryonThreads: 12 Posts: 21 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Jul 11, 08, 18:44 #1
Hi everyone, Does anybody know of any good tips that I can use to learn to roll my r's? I am a native speaker of American English, and can't seem to get even close to doing this right. I've read a few things about it, and watched something on YouTube, but still can't get it. Any ideas?

♂

Jul 12, 08, 07:21 #2

From one non-native Polish speaker to another, try touching the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth and saying, for example, 'veddy' (play on 'very', as in 'veddy good' LOL) quickly. If you can say it many times in rapid succession, you're on your way to achieving a trilled -R, Polish style.

One's lucky with Polish in this way, as there's only one type of 'R-sound', unlike, say, in French or German. People have often commented on this similarity of Polish to Spanish, and especially, Italian!

ZgubionyThreads: 21 Posts: 2,037 Joined: Oct 20, 06 ♂	Jul 12, 08, 08:20 #3
Try exhaling with force and let your tongue be loose to flap with the breath then try to incorporate voice with that. Try Bardzo to practice.

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 ♂ [Moderator]	Jul 12, 08, 08:28 #4
Zgubiony: Try exhaling with force and let your tongue be loose to flap with the breath then try to incorporate voice with that. Try Bardzo to practice. This is gonna sound dumb, but it works. Do as above, try to make the same sound as a horse.

ZgubionyThreads: 21 Posts: 2,037 Joined: Oct 20, 06 ♂	Jul 12, 08, 08:39 #5
Yeah, it will sound dumb but it works :) We need to make these sacrifices in order to learn this language. Have fun!

MarekThreads: 4 Posts: 1,120 Joined: Feb 15, 07 ♂	Edited by: Marek Jul 12, 08, 10:20 #6
When I was studying Russian, our teacher made us touch our larynx with our fingers in order to feel the voiced vs. de-voiced consonants. Don't even ask what 'sacrifices' we had to endure to understand the palatalized from non-palatalized consonants -:)-:) LOL

BryonThreads: 12 Posts: 21 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Jul 12, 08, 17:32 #7
Ah, I think I'm headed in the right direction. I can kinda get a buzz sound going, like a drill or something, but I still can't but a word to it. I'll keep practicing. Thanks.

shopgirlThreads: 7 Posts: 1,446 Joined: Apr 6, 07 ♀	Jul 12, 08, 17:38 #8
Zgubiony: Try exhaling with force and let your tongue be loose to flap with the breath then try to incorporate voice with that. Try Bardzo to practice. laughs I only managed to sound like a cat trying to get up a hairball! :)

WroclawThreads: 77 Posts: 7,404 Joined: Apr 1, 06 ♂ [Moderator]	Jul 12, 08, 17:57 #9
Bryon: like a drill or something, sounds about right.

ZgubionyThreads: 21 Posts: 2,037 Joined: Oct 20, 06 ♂	Jul 14, 08, 06:32 #10
shopgirl: cat trying to get up a hairball I didn't say hack and choke on yourself ;) ....and stop licking your cat!

z_dariusThreads: 22 Posts: 5,091 Joined: Oct 18, 07 ♂	Jul 21, 08, 09:55 #11
Bryon: Does anybody know of any good tips that I can use to learn to roll my r's? Spend some time in Spain. Their "r" is even harder than Polish, so given a few rough edges in the learning of Spanish "r" you should be pretty close the the Polish "r".

Arise_St_GeorgeThreads: 15 Posts: 572 Joined: Mar 8, 08 ♂	Jul 21, 08, 10:04 #12
This thread is already here http://www.polishforums.com/sound_polish_r-18_18447_0.html

SpadeThreads: 1 Posts: 111 Joined: May 18, 08 ♂	Jul 21, 08, 10:06 #13
Zgubiony: Try exhaling with force and let your tongue be loose to flap with the breath then try to incorporate voice with that. Try Bardzo to practice. What if It can cause death by suffocation ?

BubbaWooThreads: 46 Posts: 4,438 Joined: Sep 26, 06 ♂	Jul 21, 08, 10:08 #14
i know how to roll jays if that would help

Rain33Threads: 15 Posts: 24 Joined: Jul 5, 11 ♀	Dec 10, 11, 01:18 #15
Merged: Rolling "r" help I am struggling. I keep trying to do roll my "r" and I am so far unsuccessful. I try to pronounce robić, which is rolled, but I cannot do it. Does anyone have any suggestions to make?

♀

Dec 10, 11, 03:02 #16

Try words which have "r" in the middle instead of at the beginning or at the end, it might be a bit easier.
examples: morwa, córka, ogórek, wiórek, Turek, korek, traktor.
Or try to say rrrrrrrrr with the tip of your tongue vibrating against the front palate.
Some Poles can't pronounce the rolling rrrr either, the sound they use is a bit like the English r, so don't worry too much if you don't succeed, just listen to Donald Tusk speaking.
I had a roommate once who was studying French and she was trying to teach me to pronounce the French r. I tried for a year but on the last day my attempts sounded as pathetic as on the first. Happens.

shewolfThreads: 5 Posts: 1,835 Joined: Dec 23, 06 ♀	Dec 10, 11, 05:20 #17
I've been pronouncing the rolling "r" all my life and my opinion is that it's not just a roll. You have to create an indentation in your tongue at the same time. That's where the sound happens. But that probably doesn't help much.

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