rolling the r + rr

I am still unable to roll my r's. I heard that school kids are given certain exercises to enable them to do this. Can you help?

[quo]*Quote from * Bob E I am still unable to roll my r's. I heard that school kids are given certain exercises to enable them to do this. Can you help?[/quo] Hola Bob. Welcome to the forum. Lots of people have trouble with rolling their r's, and you may find some of the earlier discussions from this forum helpful. In particular, try *__http://www.rocketspanish.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=222__ * and *__http://www.rocketspanish.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=71__* The topic also came up on the Learning Spanish Like Crazy forum. I think you can find that discussion here: *__http://www.websitetoolbox.com/tool/post/pvjax/vpost?id=944676__* Also, Gerald Erichsen offers some advice on the spanish.about.com site here: *__http://spanish.about.com/library/howto/htpronouncer.htm__* I hope some of this proves helpful.

Muchas gracias. My trill now is very gutteral but I will work on it.

I wanted to piggy-back on this topic and get some suggestions for my specific problem. I grew up talking like the cartoon character Elmer Fudd, pronouncing my "r"s like "w"s. After two years of speech therapy, I overcame this, but I simply cannot roll my "r"s. I've tried the differenet sugeestions on various web sites to no avail. Is there help available, or will I just have to live with it? If so, how badly will this affect my ability to be understood? Thanks in advance for any help anyone can give. pastorbk

try this, open your muth slightly, and allow the tip of your tounge to rest at the roof of your mouth slightly behind your teeth. Inhale through your nose and let out a "uh" sound loudly, allowing the force of the air to pass over your tongue making it reverberate against the roof of your mouth. If you do this correctly, it may tickle a bit at first until you get used to it. Pay attention to how your tongue feels when you do it, noting the position of your tongue. You have to practice this dilligently and often. Let me know how it goes.