written by
Benny Lewis
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The rolled r comes up in so many languages. I've heard it in various forms in Czech, Thai, Hungarian, Tagalog and of course in Spanish, Italian and Portuguese. And yet learning how to roll your r’s can seem near impossible to native English speakers.
Some people give up and use the excuse of “you can't teach an old dog new tricks”. Others will rely on the English ‘r' as being good enough, which in my opinion is the worst thing you can do.
I have worked hard on my Spanish accents. But what strikes me immediately when I start any language (even in my first attempt to utter a phrase) is how natives are so amazed at how I've got almost “no English accent”!
While there are many factors at play here, I know that the biggest one by far is that I have worked to master the rolling ‘r’ to improve my Spanish accent unlike some of my anglophone friends.
The English R is really different, so it gives you away immediately when you use it.
So I want to put a stop to this nonsense of English speakers not trying or even saying they can't. The good news is that it is way easier than you think!
Here’s what we’ll be covering:
- What is a rolled ‘r’ anyway? Is it a learned skill?
- The difference between ‘r’ in different languages
- Learn how to roll ‘r’s with 5 strategies for getting used to how to roll your tongue
What is a Rolled ‘R’? Is It Possible to Learn This Skill?
A rolled ‘r’ Is actually called an “Alveolar tap” or “Alveolar trill”, and it's actually used in almost half of all spoken languages in some form.
A rolled ‘r’ is made by causing the tongue to vibrate on the roof of the mouth as air is forced between the tiny gap between the roof and your tongue.
It is not tapping the roof of your mouth as fast as you can!
There’s no real equivalent in English to the rolled ‘r’. That’s what makes it so notoriously hard for native English speakers who are used to the very hard R sound.
Despite this, it is possible to learn this skill. Being able to roll your ‘r’s isn’t a genetic trait like, say, being able to roll your tongue.
No, it just takes practice.
It may help to change how you think about it. The name “rolled ‘r’” is a bit misleading. You aren’t rolling or tapping your tongue at all — it’s more like the tongue is vibrating and relaxed like a leaf flapping in the wind.
The Spanish ‘R’, the French ‘R’, the Russian ‘R’… What’s the Difference?
In this article, we’re going to be talking about how to do an alveolar trill, as in the Spanish words with “rr” like “ca rr o” and the “tapped” ‘r’ as in caro, not the Russian ‘r’ or the French guttural r. They are different!
Spanish actually has two ways to say ‘r’: a tap and a trill.
The alveolar tap is the easier one to learn. And if you learn the tap, you can learn the trill.
But in other languages, like the Russian ‘r’, it’s almost a post-alveolar trill. (Meaning your tongue taps behind the ridge behind your teeth rather than on the ridge).
Meanwhile, the French and German ‘r’ are both pronounced in the throat, making them a completely different sound.
You’ll notice this across languages that use some form of an ‘r’, so it’s something to be aware of.
Now, onto the strategies to learn how to roll your ‘r’!
How to Roll Your R’s Strategy #1: Use Some “Butter”
You may be surprised to hear that you can already produce a rolled ‘r' sound!
When you say the word “butter” quickly, the ‘tt' sound is made by flapping your tongue against the roof of your mouth, rather than a normal ‘t' sound (like tree). USE THIS.
It may not be the exact same as a rolled ‘r' (depending on the language and dialect you are aiming for), as it’s more of the “tap” I mentioned in Spanish.
But it’s mountains more convincing than the English ‘r' at the end of the same word is.
Try changing one letter at a time from ‘butter' until you have your target word (e.g. caro). Use this sound and your work is pretty much done!
How to Roll Your R’s Strategy #2: Make Your “L” Sharper
If you want to sound less like an English speaker, the closest sound that you might have to the rolled ‘r' is actually the letter ‘L’.
I'd recommend you start with this sound and morph it into a rolled ‘r’. In fact, the ‘L’ sound involves placing the top part of your tongue flat against the roof of your mouth. The rolled ‘r’ sound involves flapping the tip of your tongue there.
The sound difference is obvious, but the transition is easier if you start from one and move to the other, making your ‘L’ sharper.
Until then, actually using ‘L' might be a good way of practising deprogramming yourself from the English ‘r’. “Es muy calo” is better than the English “Es muy caRo”.
It's obviously not a good permanent solution, but a useful stepping stone.
How to Roll Your R’s Strategy #3: Relax Into It!
Think of what is physically happening for the rolled ‘r' as I've tried to explain above. This can be explained in a physiological way, if you look into the positions of the tongue in your mouth. Visualise where it has to be and what you have to be doing with it.
When it comes to the trilled ‘r’ as in carro, you’ll want your tongue to be positioned right on the edge of the ridge of the roof of your mouth, behind your teeth. Try practicing by saying “duh” — that’s right where your tongue should be.
Next, your tongue needs to be relaxed to do a trill. The tip of your tongue needs to have a tiny gap between the ridge and your tongue, so air can pass through.
Push the air like your shushing someone: “shhhhhhhhh.”
Once you’ve done that, you should feel a bit of the vibration in your tongue which creates the rolled ‘r’ sound. It takes some playing around with: the airflow, relaxing your tongue, making sure your placement is right.
But a good exercise to prepare is actually lip trills. Such as when you blow air out and your lips make a “motor” sound, or what they call “blowing raspberries”.
Once you do your lip trills, you should also feel some of the vibration in your tongue. That’s what you’re looking for with your trill as well as the air passes over the tip of your tongue.
Remember that your tongue should be like a leaf blowing in the wind and relaxed, not super ridge and trying to tap quickly.
How to Roll Your R’s Strategy #4: Youtube / Google That ‘R’
There are many useful resources online that help explain this sound to you in simple terms.
This wikihow article tries to explain step by step what to physically do with your mouth and recommends transitioning from a ‘d’ rather than an ‘L’ as I've suggested.
The same article also outlines several completely different methods to learn to roll (and trill) your R. Try each of these methods and you are bound to find one that works for you!
You may also find doing a Youtube search for “rolling R” or variants to yield some useful results. Having it explained visually as well as audibly can help a lot.
How to Roll Your R’s Strategy #5: Observe Others Doing It
Even if you haven’t mastered your rolled ‘r’ yet, don’t worry too much. Please make mistakes NOW and try to say something – you have plenty of time to tidy it up towards something better, and these mistakes will not be burnt into you forever if you are truly willing to learn.
However, by watching videos and listening to natives produce those sounds you will get a better appreciation for that ‘r’ sound.
Pay attention to how it sounds and then try to emulate it.
The truth is, the more you listen to the sound being made, the easier it will become to try and mimic it.
Another option would be to simply get help from another human being.
The best thing you can do by far is to meet up with a native (or at least over Skype) and ask them for help with this.
Live feedback from language exchanges or a tutor that is relevant to you and particular problems you are having can do so much more than generic explanations ever can. And it leaves no room for you guessing that maybe you've got it.
Roll With Your Rolled ‘R’!
Even before I got serious about speaking Spanish, one of the first things I did when I had moved to Spain was to have a patient Spanish speaking friend sit down with me and explain to me how to roll my ‘r’s.
It was frustrating at first, then I went away to practise, and came back for more adjustments. But that was it! It really helped me on my road to fluency in Spanish.
Thanks to this friend, I eliminated the strong English accent from my Spanish immediately.
There are of course other aspects of your English accent. But working on them one at a time and especially getting help, will always yield the best results.
Benny Lewis
Founder, Fluent in 3 Months
Fun-loving Irish guy, full-time globe trotter and international bestselling author. Benny believes the best approach to language learning is to speak from day one.
Speaks: Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Esperanto, Mandarin Chinese, American Sign Language, Dutch, Irish
View all posts by Benny Lewis
FAQs
How do you roll your r's easily? ›
The tip of your tongue needs to have a tiny gap between the ridge and your tongue, so air can pass through. What is this? Push the air like your shushing someone: “shhhhhhhhh.” Once you've done that, you should feel a bit of the vibration in your tongue which creates the rolled 'r' sound.
How do you roll your Rs in 5 minutes? ›Keep practicing these three exercises. And words with r's. And double r's in them until you feel
How do you roll your tongue easily? ›So what you want to do is practice making the airstream. And then flick the tongue up into it very
Is rolling your R's hard? ›To many native English speakers, the rolled R is notoriously hard to pronounce since there isn't an equivalent in the English language. The biggest myth around this topic is that the ability of rolling your R's genetic. In fact, alveolar trill is a skill that can be acquired through practicing.
Can everyone roll their R's? ›Can everyone roll their R's? The short answer is: Yes, you can roll your R's! Assuming that your tongue is reasonably normal, you can learn to roll your R's.
Why can't Some people roll their Rs? ›It's just a matter of familiarity. One thing I've seen a lot of people do is try to physically flap their tongue in such a way to produce the rolled-R sound, but that's actually counter-productive. It's physically impossible to move your muscles that fast.
Why can't I roll my tongue? ›In other words, if you inherited one or two copies of the dominant “tongue rolling gene” (R) allele from your parents, then you would be able to roll your tongue. If you inherited two copies of the recessive “tongue rolling gene” (r) allele instead, then you would not be able to roll your tongue.
How do you teach a child to roll their R's? ›Rolling or Trilling the R Sound - Lesson for Children - YouTube
How do you roll your r's in Russian? ›Russian r's are formed by flapping the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge (behind your upper teeth)--you only need to flap once or twice. A good way to learn how to do this is to say the word рука only give a really strong puff of air as you say the р.
Why can't I roll my r's in Spanish? ›The main reason it's so hard to trill the Spanish R is because many native speakers of English simply can't reproduce the sound—no matter how hard they try—since the English language has no place for the alveolar trill in its set of sounds, preferring instead the R we all know and love, found in words like wrap, ream, ...
What is a rolled r called? ›
The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is ⟨r⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r . It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R.
Can tongue Tied people roll their Rs? ›Apparently Spanish-speakers also recognize a defect called Ankyloglossia, or “Tounge-tie”, which means that frenulum (the tissue that connects your tongue to base of your mouth) is too short. If you have “tongue-tie”, you cannot roll your r's. People with “tongue-tie” have this defect surgically corrected as children.
What languages do not roll their R's? ›As far as I know, rolling 'r' wouldn't be necessary for people who speak French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. I always love how “r” sounds in french; it's easier than in German or Dutch, but it's beautiful.
Do you roll R in Italian? ›Just like the Spanish r, the Italian r rolls, too. In the video below, our Italian teacher Mara explains how to roll your r in Italian. She also shares 5 tips and some exercises to do at home to improve your pronunciation of this famous r roll, which can be difficult for us English speakers!
How do you roll your eyes? ›To roll your eyes, look up as high as you can without moving your head, then swing your gaze in an upwards arc from one side of your eyes to the other. To exaggerate the eye roll, combine it with a head shake, a sigh, or both.
How long does it take to learn Spanish? ›How Much Time And Energy Are You Willing To Spend Learning Spanish? The Foreign Service Institute—the people who train U.S. diplomats and foreign affairs officials—estimate that it will take 600-750 class hours for most native English speakers to learn Spanish.
How do you practice Spanish rr? ›4 Spanish Pronunciation Tips To Help You Roll Your R's - YouTube
What languages roll their R's? ›The rolled R is used in Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Arabic and (sometimes) Portuguese. It's also part of Hindi and Tagalog. That rolled R not only sounds pretty nifty, but it can make a difference in meaning when you're speaking one of these languages.
How do you bend your tongue? ›Hold your tongue down flat and move one side up. Then move the other side. You should now be holding your tongue flat while the sides are touching each side of your mouth on or above your teeth. If you look in the mirror, you will see your tongue is beginning to fold.
Can some people not roll their RA? ›Unless someone has a physical impediment, everyone has the ability to produce that sound. However, learning a second language that uses that sound does not guarantee that someone will learn to produce it.
Why can't I roll my tongue? ›
In other words, if you inherited one or two copies of the dominant “tongue rolling gene” (R) allele from your parents, then you would be able to roll your tongue. If you inherited two copies of the recessive “tongue rolling gene” (r) allele instead, then you would not be able to roll your tongue.
Why can't I roll my r's in Spanish? ›The main reason it's so hard to trill the Spanish R is because many native speakers of English simply can't reproduce the sound—no matter how hard they try—since the English language has no place for the alveolar trill in its set of sounds, preferring instead the R we all know and love, found in words like wrap, ream, ...
How do you relax your tongue to roll on Runescape? ›Once your tongue is in place, with the tip pressed against the alveolar ridge, try repeatedly stammering the D sound (“duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh-duh”). This will get your tongue relaxed, in the right place and in motion.
What languages do not roll their R's? ›As far as I know, rolling 'r' wouldn't be necessary for people who speak French, German, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese and Korean. I always love how “r” sounds in french; it's easier than in German or Dutch, but it's beautiful.
How do you fold your tongue like a taco? ›Taco Tongue - YouTube
How do you teach a child to roll their R's? ›Rolling or Trilling the R Sound - Lesson for Children - YouTube
Can all Mexicans roll their Rs? ›It's a misconception that some people are destined never to roll their 'r's. In countries with 'r' rolling languages, many people learn the skill in childhood. Spanish is an example of one such language. However, those yet to master the skill need only to practise.
Do Mexicans roll their Rs? ›In Mexico we roll the single "r" if it's at the beginning of the word. It is as if it's "rr." You always do it. Maybe they just thought you were asking for something else or they don't feel it as accentuated as the 'rr' within a sentence.
What is a rolled r called? ›The voiced alveolar trill is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents dental, alveolar, and postalveolar trills is ⟨r⟩, and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is r . It is commonly called the rolled R, rolling R, or trilled R.
How do you roll your r's in Russian? ›Russian r's are formed by flapping the tip of your tongue against the alveolar ridge (behind your upper teeth)--you only need to flap once or twice. A good way to learn how to do this is to say the word рука only give a really strong puff of air as you say the р.
How do you pronounce trilled r? ›
How to Trill Your R - YouTube
How do you roll your r's in German? ›How to pronounce the German R - YouTube
What is Covid tongue? ›4 A July 2020 study published in Integrative Medicine Research found that people with COVID-19 had greasier and more tender tongues. 5 Tongue discoloration was also observed in patients with mild to moderate infections, who had a light red tongue with a white coating.
Should your tongue touch your teeth? ›Proper Tongue Positioning
When your mouth is at rest, your tongue should be against the roof of your mouth, but it should not be pressing against any of your teeth. Your teeth should be slightly apart, and your lips should be closed.
Symptoms of having a large tongue
difficulty talking, eating, or breathing. high-pitched sound while breathing (stridor) drooling. abnormal growth of jaws and teeth.