¿Cómo usted rodar la r (erre) en espanol? Todo aviso?
Actually it’s a little bit hard to explain just by writing because I don’t think there’s an exact equivalence in English, but you can try the word “carta” in the audio function of google translate; I just did it and I can tell you the quality of the pronunciation is very good.
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Hi, I’m Spanish, and my husband who is learning Spanish also asked me the same question. My answer was (it may sound funny), but that’s how my husband learned how to sound them.
If you are going to sound the single r, you put the tip of your tongue in the palate, and to me it sounds like in English you say the letter D. for Example: Adding but softer. its not going to be perfect until you get use to. But it help you to have and idea how manipulate your tongue.
Now for the double rr, you put you tongue more like in the middle of you palate, it goes more (not to much) flat than when you sound the single r. and then you pretend you are going to gargle some water but not to down your throat but very superficially. Your tongue will be in your palate, keeping it soft not to tense so it can vibrate to make the sound. You can practice putting a little bit of water in your mouth and try to gargle the water softly in the middle of your tongue to give you an idea, then you can do it without the water. To start you will not notice much of the sound, but if you practice this with all the words that has the letters r or double r, you will star noticing the difference. I hope this help you. Good luck
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AI3: Thank you for the advice.
Clara: Wow! That is very helpful. I will practice this method of learning the r sounds in Espanol. Gracias hermana.
A la orden! con mucho gusto!
I might be biased, but I can vouch for my wife’s method. Many native Spanish speakers have commented that my r’s and rr’s are very good - at least for an American.
@clarahogan and @mhogan: Very kind of you. Unfortunately, I still can’t do it. Every time I tried, I ended up laughing. I mean I can position my tongue in the right place; but when I contemplate “keeping it soft not to tense so it can vibrate…” and get ready to roll, I break out laughing.
I think my problem is because I am not sure if I am doing it right with the single “r” so I would not seriously attempt the double “rr”. I think the only solution is to have a native speaker listen to me and provide feedback.
Just remember that when something is funny it gets old after the third or maybe fourth time, but you still do practice it until you get use to it. Once you get your mouth ready to say the word, think about the word itself not your tongue so you can relax. It is just like when you want to relax your hands to do something you don’t think about your hands, you just think about what you are going to do with them. I hope you understand what I’m trying to say.
I understand what you are saying. I’m learning french and it happen the same think to me when I try to roll the r’s because they do it in a different way that we do.They do it more on the back of the throat. And it took me a while to get use to it, especially when there was somebody around. Even my daughter laughed, but I did it until I felt more comfortable. I also recorder my own voice and heard back and compare it with the pronunciation that google have for this type of words. But you are right! if there is somebody that can heard you, it will be much easier.
TroisRoyaumes, my wife is right about thinking about the word. I started practicing the single r by practicing the name Roberto. I started pronouncing it with a hard D like in dog and then as I got used to it, I would soften the d sound to a “th” sound like in the word “the.” Now I can do the single r nearly like a native.
Once you get the single r, work with the same name/word and pronounce it like r_pause_roberto. Shorten the pause as you get more proficient. I found it best to stay with the same word because each rr+vowel combination is a new skill for your tongue.
Once you are comfortable pronouncing the double r with that word/name practice with the double r followed by another vowel. When you get that combination, go to the next vowel. After you cycle through the double r+vowel combinations, practice the vowels (one at a time) followed by the double r.
Practice daily and I am sure that within a month, your single r will sound native like and in a couple months you will have the double r.
Just make sure you listen to native speakers so that you are imitating the right sounds. I found rap music (which I hate) to be very helpful.
Here’s a video (not rap) with lots of examples for you Uso de la R y dígrafo RR - Reglas gramaticales - Educatina - YouTube
If you are having problems with vowels, listen to this song Efectos Vocales - Nach Scratch (letras) - YouTube
Thank you very much. I know Clara is right about focusing on the word. It is intuitive. I just forgot about it. But I won’t forget again. I am sure I’ll refer back to the above post a couple more times. I hope to have it sorted out before spring. 
No problem, You are welcome to ask me any time! I will do my best to help you!
Thanks again. And if I could help your back I would.
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