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Rolling the R's

KSinF1
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: December 10th, 2008 4:21 pm

Rolling the R's

Postby KSinF1 » December 10th, 2008 4:31 pm

Buon Giorno a tutti,
I'm just starting to learn Italian. I found your podcast on iTunes and it is BY FAR the best one out there for learning Italian. Believe me, I tried them all. Anyway, as I've been learning to speak Italian, I've had a bit of trouble rolling my R's. I was originally doing it with the back of my throat, but a buddy of mine said that isn't how they do it in Italy; they do it with their tongue. Any suggestions on how to do this? Thanks guys, and great podcast!


-KS

johnnywayfarer
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 18
Joined: February 21st, 2008 11:41 am

Postby johnnywayfarer » December 12th, 2008 10:53 am

Ciao KSinF1,

Benvenuto nel nostro gruppo!
Welcome to our group!
As for the pronunciation of "r" in Italian, it's a bit different from the rotic American "r". Italians use the so-called "vibrant" "r". You should touch the upper part of your mouth (just behind the incisors) with the tip of your toungue and vibrate it a bit.
Alternatively, you could hear me speaking in English 8)
Just kidding. The easiest way to practice your pronunciation would be to listen to dialogues (our dialogues are explicitely though for learners, the speaking pace and explanations aim to gradually lead our students through different steps of learning).
Anyway, as an Italian instructor, I wouldn't get crazy about proper pronounciation; Italians speak with different thick accents and do not mind foreign accent at all.
In fact, we love them!
If you have further questions, please, feel free to ask.

A presto!

Gianluca

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KSinF1
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: December 10th, 2008 4:21 pm

Postby KSinF1 » December 12th, 2008 9:40 pm

Ciao Gianluca!
Thank you for getting back to me on this. So if I speak Italian with rotic "American" R's, will I still be understood? And don't worry about your English, I bet it's better than my Italian! Grazie ancora.


-KS

johnnywayfarer
Been Around a Bit
Posts: 18
Joined: February 21st, 2008 11:41 am

Postby johnnywayfarer » December 12th, 2008 11:51 pm

Hi KSinF1,

don't mention it, it's a pleasure. If you speak Italian with a rotic American "r" you'll be perfectly understood; that's in fact simply proper Italian spoken with an American accent. Students worry about their accent in Italian because that's deemed to be quite an issue in English. It is not the same in Italian; our regional accents are A LOT more difficult to understand than the American one.
Stammi bene, a presto!

Gianluca

jjdon4453
New in Town
Posts: 6
Joined: August 19th, 2010 6:04 pm

Re: Rolling the R's

Postby jjdon4453 » October 15th, 2010 5:32 pm

KSinF1 wrote:Buon Giorno a tutti,
I'm just starting to learn Italian. I found your podcast on iTunes and it is BY FAR the best one out there for learning Italian. Believe me, I tried them all. Anyway, as I've been learning to speak Italian, I've had a bit of trouble rolling my R's. I was originally doing it with the back of my throat, but a buddy of mine said that isn't how they do it in Italy; they do it with their tongue. Any suggestions on how to do this? Thanks guys, and great podcast!


-KS


Just FYI - I am incapable of rolling my tongue or my R's. I thought I was some sort of failure for a long time as a kid, until I finally found out that it's hereditary. It's not that I don't know how, it's that I just can't physically do it......I'm sure I'm not alone in that...

meileung_81187
New in Town
Posts: 2
Joined: November 8th, 2015 4:51 am

Re: Rolling the R's

Postby meileung_81187 » November 8th, 2015 5:51 am

I practiced the 'R' sound for an hour until my month dry and still not even a little bit improvement. My mother tongue is Cantonese, though I can speak fluent Mandarin and English, no help. :(

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