Learn to Roll your R's using Phonetics

In this video I teach you how to use phonetic knowledge of speech sounds to learn how to roll an r (i.e. produce a voiced alveolar trill). It's a useful sound if you're learning Welsh and/or Spanish (among other languages).
There are many ways to learn to roll r's - this is just the way I did it using the magic of ✨PHONETICS ✨
Let me know in the comments if this worked for you!

[@user-ql7hu9mj1o]

This is it - The first and only video that explains a method for training. All others simply say "why can't you do it?" or "just do it !"

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

So glad you found it helpful!

[@im.corbin]

Wow! your guidance is so incredible, easy to practice and harness R sound

[@owenllewellyn5692]

'Bada bing, bada boom'- say it fast, you get /r/ imposing on each d. Excellent explanation- I have always been able to pronounce R, Rh (Cymro dw i), but I didn't realise these sounds caused such trouble. Fascinating insight. Diolch yn fawr iawn. I would add that the maintenance of the trill is by the relaxed tip of the tongue responding to the movement of air. After the initial 'd/r/' the air movement over the tongue is what maintains the trill, not conscious movement of tongue muscles! The force of air required is possibly a bit stronger than people might expect- you can vary it, but below a certain rate, the trill won't sustain more than 'd/r/'- which often sufficient in informal settings.

[@OrangeNash]

Many thanks. English speaker, never able to to the roll. Have some basic Spanish and you are the first teacher who I've seen explain about about the "flicked R". I'd never realised the difference between English R and the alveolar flick, so would say "Pero" with the R exactly a English. Just doing the flick has made it sound infinitely better! Still can't do the rolled R's, but the other thing you point out that many never do, is that it can take lots of practice. Every other person I've ever known try to teach me how to roll R's has always dismissed it as "You just do this, and this..there you go". As if it's something we can do instantly. Very interesting to hear that even Spanish children take a while to learn it. Anyway, already based on what you said here, I'm optimistic that even if I never manage a beautiful long trrrrrrrill, I can improve my R pronounciation in Spanish. Just needs practice!

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Yeah it made so much more sense to me once I learned about phonetics in my degree - I really needed to know about the mechanics of it to really get it. Keep at it and I'm sure you'll get it eventually!

[@janboreczek3045]

Yup, it is VERY hard to learn. Despite the voiced alveolar trill being present in my native language (Polish), I have not been able to learn it for 20something years. I did have a short bridle, but it was surgically corrected when I was a child. Still, I've never been able to learn ow to make this sound, despite being physiologically able to pronounce it in theory (after the procedure), and despite almost everybody around speaking it. It is frustrating that, after trying to learn it for months, there still isn't any meaningful progress

[@frontyardfoodwithgardenergray]

Oh my goodness, I finally rolled an r for the first time!!!!!!! I have been trying for years! Thank you, gracias, grazie!!!!!!

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Yayyyy! I'm so glad!!!

[@MrBaldylocks13]

This method has gotten closer than any other method, I can do drrrrain, but still trying to do rrrrr. Won't give up! Thank you!

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Keep at it! You’ll get there. Still amazes and baffles me how difficult it is, even for phoneticians who know the mechanics of it!

[@Goodman._]

The best Russian trill video I've ever seen🎉🎉

[@andreaslashescollectionso1985]

I could never do the rr as my speech wasn't that good when I was a child but I'm going to learn it. Thank you for the help

[@cassandraikuomola3452]

Hi, and thank you it took me to watch this whole video to learn, and I finally got it. For me, it was the way you explained it.

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

This is so great to hear!

[@kevin-ra447]

Best video of video for helping with the rolled rs ty so much

[@thejenks]

This is useful! Diolch!! It will take me MONTHS to master this🤣

[@CassTyson]

I’ve been studying Spanish for about a year and still can’t do the trilled R. I can do the trill after P, and I can do it all by itself, voiced or unvoiced, but I can’t quite do it at the start of a word or after a vowel. I’ve been practicing with “Prince of Prussia Prince of Prussia” and feel like I’m almost there. I’ll give “drain drain” a go. Great explanation, many thanks.

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Keep at it! It can take a while. I know it took me longer to produce the Welsh lateral alveolar voiceless fricative in some positions when I was learning it.

[@CambridgeJianqiaoChen]

This is great! Magical! Thank you

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

You're welcome!

[@klaus5686]

"pot of tea" normal then faster and faster. Eventually sounds like "para ti". Follow that up with "ruffle have ridges" and "red rich ranch". 3 weeks of hard work and I'm at about 5 good trills before my tongue cramps. lol

[@gregg06x]

Excellent video.

[@championgreen613]

Damn super helpful!!! More videos, please!!

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

I'm glad it was helpful! Very time poor at the moment with work, but I'll get around to more videos sooner rather than later, I hope...

[@sunnyspring5105]

All 3 of my English native children have always easily been able to do RSS. I'm also native English. Despite living in Madrid for a year and practice I can not yet. Still determined to win. Drain drain drain

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

You'll get there! Speech sounds can be funny things. My son is a native speaker of a language that has a trilled r, and yet he doesn't do it in speech - but he does do it when making the sound of a machine gun!

[@robynrox]

I am Welsh and can produce the Rh trill but not the R trill yet - but it's possible that I'm pronouncing it wrong; the vibrations happen slightly behind the tip of my tongue.

[@stephhowden51]

Hi just wondering if you have any trips on dropping the d sound. I can’t seem to initiate a trill without it. Thanks

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Nothing specific to recommend - just keep practicing!

[@AhmedShaaban1]

Thanks for the information… wondering why. did you choose the combination of voiced alveolar stop and tap to train your tongue to produce trilled r -- what is the importance of the voiced alveolar stop?

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

The voicing doesn’t matter at all, could be voiced or voiceless, what matters is that it’s alveolar, just to get your tongue into the right position.

[@AhmedShaaban1]

@@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050 Thanks... Do you think the amount of air flowing when articulating "DRRRAIN" is eventually enough to trill the tip tongue? The other thing is that the elongated production of the R sound makes me feel a vibration rather than trilling in my tip tongue. Does that make sense at the beginning of the training?

[@jbw416]

fideo gwych ! i have real trouble trying to learn the uvular trill - any possibility of a video on this ? thanks so much

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Diolch yn fawr! Ooh the uvular trill, that's a tough one. Tough because I can't remember consciously learning it, I've always just been able to do it. Now I'm focusing on HOW I'm doing it, and how to explain it, but the tongue movement is a lot more subtle than with the alveolar trill. Leave it with me and I'll think of how best to explain it! It's a fun sound - I can do a uvular trill and whistle at the same time, and make really cool bird noises!

[@jbw416]

@@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050 diolch am eich ymateb :) Wow, I'm very jealous! 😭 I would definitely appreciate an explainer

[@JenXOfficialEDM]

@@jbw416 this video explains how to do it. The Hebrew letter Resh is a combination uvular trill and the CH sound from Welsh. kzbin.info/www/bejne/r3-tpXSfl7qYhcU Hope this helps.

[@janboreczek3045]

Funny thing is that I've managed to learn the uvular trill very easily (despite it not being present in my native language), but I'm still unable to utter the goddamn alveolar trill (despite it being present in my native language). I've been using the uvular trill as a substitute for the ridiculously impossible alveolar trill for years. Heck, I've even mastered the arabic pharyngeals quite quickly, yet I cannot produce the sound I'm supposed to be able to produce for more than 20 years

[@JenXOfficialEDM]

@@janboreczek3045 It took me 32 years and I can finally do the alveolar trill. I thought I would never figure it out. The uvular and velar fricatives for me are a lot easier to master than that front trill.

[@Molisa467]

I recently learned how to roll my Rs, but can only do it with a few words and not consistently. How do I improve this?

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

It sounds like obvious advice, but just keep practicing! Trying putting your tongue in slightly different positions each time and just experiment. It took me ages, months and months, but I used to do it in my car while I was driving, and I got it eventually.

[@-WarMapping-]

My language literally has the trilled r and i cant even do it

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

This is the same as my son - his first language has it, but he doesn't use it in speech. Sometimes that's just what happens, and it's fine :)

[@Nuevachica]

I have been working on this roll and still can't do it.. :( I am so sad.

[@phoneticsandphonologyforla5050]

Keep at it!

[@Nuevachica]

Yes still working on it. Thank You

[@PersonalAccount7]

Thanks chump

[@kehaar3641]

As an American, I wouldn't say writer and rider are homophonous. Because of pre-fortis clipping, the vowel length becomes phonemic.

[@IAmLookingForwardToDeath]

In the interests of grammatical correctness, I'd really appreciate if you could remove the possessive apostrophe from "R's" in the video title.

[@CassTyson]

Except it is grammatically correct. “There are one or two cases in which it is acceptable to use an apostrophe to form a plural, purely for the sake of clarity: you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single letters: I've dotted the i's and crossed the t's. Find all the p's in appear. you can use an apostrophe to show the plurals of single numbers: Find all the number 7’s. These are the only cases in which it is generally considered acceptable to use an apostrophe to form plurals: remember that an apostrophe should never be used to form the plural of ordinary nouns, names, abbreviations, or numerical dates.”