Poll: Rolling R's and Pronouncing L's

[David Bjur]

Rolling R's. I still can't do it, and I've been trying for years. I read somewhere that rolling R's is supposed to be a genetics thing, and some people just can't do it.

I live in sweden, and we use rolling R's all the time, so I'm pretty sure it's not a genetic thing, just a thing that's hard to learn if you already know whatever-the-other-thing-is-called.

 

[Something Amyss]

Pfft, I'm from eastern(pronounced eastin) Massachusetts. L's are(ah) fine, but you're(yaw) lucky if you get the 'r'('ah') in the first(omg there's one!) place.

As a the only Vahmontah who can pronounce ah's that ah not placed in wheyah they don't belong.

Anyone up foah pizzer?

Maine is just as bad.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I never had any problems pronouncing Japanese words... but that's because my accent is packed with Dark Ls and Soft As...

Which would have worked out great if I had any talent for languages. :\

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

I live in sweden, and we use rolling R's all the time, so I'm pretty sure it's not a genetic thing, just a thing that's hard to learn if you already know whatever-the-other-thing-is-called.

It's sort of complicated... but essentially once you're out of early childhood its hard to successfully pick up new phonemes (the smallest parts of sound used in a language) without a shitload of gruntwork.

 

[somonels]

Is it anything like in spanish?
Sounds like a good excuse to do some tongue exercises. Nudge nudge, wink wink, know what I mean?

 

[DionysusSnoopy]

I find both easy (I did Spanish at school) but in the context of learning english as a second language i would imagine it is pronouncing 'L's. Although i know plenty of people who can't roll their 'R's.

If you want a similar situation i lived abroad in a former soviet state and the hardest thing for students learning english was the word 'The' as it wasn't used in their language.

 

[holy_secret]

Since I'm Swedish, speaking with the stockholm dialect, I have no problems rolling the Rs.
I did however have huge problems using the two Rs in Spanish, which always made people laugh whenever I pronounced something wrong (pero vs perro, imagine how it would sound like if I'd say "dog that is so difficult to say").

As a Swedish teacher, teaching Germans, it has been both easy and hard. Teaching a northern German Swedish is almost impossible, because their "french Rs" always stay with them (it is used in southern Sweden but that's not the pronunciation I'm teaching them). Funny enough, Bavarians are the students that have an easiest time to pronounce the swedish language in all cases.

L? huh

 

[holy_secret]

What Japanese words are you pronouncing that require rollings your R's? Never really had to do that when I was learning it, at least.

Speaking of rolling R's and Japanese, a few years ago when I was taking Spanish I picked up a copy of Rosetta Stone for supplementary exercises. When I was finished with it I lent it to my mother (a native Japanese speaker) because she also expressed interest in learning Spanish. Later that week I happened to catch her in the middle of using the program during those vocal exercise parts where you learn pronunciation, and she just so happened to be struggling with the word mujer. What followed would be the most entertaining half hour of my life.

She could just pronounce the J like H, an acceptable pronunciation TADA

 

[Elate]

I'm English, never spoken a word of Japanese (or any other language than french, which uses the throat rolling R rather than tongue) and I've always been able to do both.. I honestly don't understand how people can't roll their Rs in that fashion. I always thought people were referring to the more guttural throat type when talking about rolling Rs, which is a lot harder since you have to learn to control your throat movements to make a different sound entirely using muscles further back than normal.

Rolling your Rs ala Japanese or Spanish just seems like blowing rasberries >_> just inside your mouth.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

What Japanese words are you pronouncing that require rollings your R's? Never really had to do that when I was learning it, at least.

Speaking of rolling R's and Japanese, a few years ago when I was taking Spanish I picked up a copy of Rosetta Stone for supplementary exercises. When I was finished with it I lent it to my mother (a native Japanese speaker) because she also expressed interest in learning Spanish. Later that week I happened to catch her in the middle of using the program during those vocal exercise parts where you learn pronunciation, and she just so happened to be struggling with the word mujer. What followed would be the most entertaining half hour of my life.

She could just pronounce the J like H, an acceptable pronunciation TADA

Like I said earlier, it was the rolling R she took issue with. She ended up screaming the equivalent of "moo-her" at the screen before I stepped in to intervene.

And really Escapist, advertisement captchas? Doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of trying to fool reading software?

 

[Pb Zeppelin]

I've been trying to roll my r's since I enrolled in Japanese almost two years ago. I still try and I've gotten better, but I just can't do it yet.

I remember hearing about a king that came to power in Spain and declared not being able to roll your R's a speech impediment. Some people seem to be able to do it effortlessly, though.

 

[Loki J]

My wife has a really difficult time with rolling Rs, but I've never had any trouble.

Z

 

[Kargathia]

Turns out, Dutch is rather difficult language to learn to speak properly.

There certainly are enough natives living proof of that. Not to mention those things like me living here for the last 12 years now, and apparently I still sound "like I'm from above the rivers".

On topic: I grew up speaking both R's and L's, so I can't really relate to any troubles learning them - although I must note that my R's are only rolling, not RRRRrrrrroolling.

 

[StriderShinryu]

I picked up the general sound for how to pronounce L in Japanese very quickly from just watching subbed anime, so I didn't find it difficult at all. Rolling Rs, however, is just something I have always had trouble with. I can do it the odd time when I'm not really thinking about it, but as soon as I actually try to roll my Rs, I can't.

 

[RyoScar]

I'm Welsh so in the welsh language "R"s have to be rolled all the time, and "L"s have to be pronounced. So I wouldn't know,but I know people have trouble rolling "R"s sometimes.

 

[supernovashadow]

I took Spanish for years in school and I could never roll an r. My teachers eventually just gave up on me and I'd just hold out the r sound (like a pirate!) when it was supposed to be rolling. Now, I just try to avoid words with it when I have to speak Spanish.

 

[Ieyke]

As a Texan, I can roll an R without trying. Hell, I can roll an R on it's own until I run out of breath.

Pronouncing L's doesn't even register as something that might be challenging. I still can't fathom how people have trouble with this.

I technically spoke German first, English is my native language, and there are so many Mexicans around here that Spanish is damn near part of our English half the time.
In fact, I very rarely find anything in ANY language that I can't properly pronounce.
Ironically, German is almost the hardest. Most languages' pronunciations I can just simply switch between, but German requires me to sort of shift gears first...

 

[spartan231490]

I can't roll my Rs at all. I can make the sound with my throat, but not my tongue. Hell if I know why. Anyway, I imagine you will be doing a lot more with the L since there aren't really any rolled Rs in english.

 

[MammothBlade]

I never found either difficult, and I'm a native English speaker learning Japanese.

 

[ImperialSunlight]

I speak English and I can pronounce rolling Rs with no difficulty whatsoever :/

Maybe it's because I learned French as a second language really early.

I can also pronounce L, obviously.

I'd say they're pretty much equal in difficulty. Maybe Ls are easier as less people seem to have trouble with them.