GRRRRR... It is utterly hopeless

I cannot, no matter how hard I try pronounce the french ‘r’. I think I might have a speech impediment or something. No matter how many tips I get, I can’t do it. I know this is hardly the board for such a problem, but i know that this is also a fairly international board. Any advice?

do you mean the roooOOoOOooOll of the tounge “R”

I use to practice by making the “Jetson’s” car noise. I was pretty good at it in French class, but I can hardly count to 10 now. :tongue:

well its like pronounced with the throat. and my teacher (god bless her) worked with me after school to help me. I couldn’t do it, then one time I did it not even trying and she got all excited and said “now do it again!”, and I couldn’t. And I can’t.

I remember this one time my girlfriend was purring (very sexy by the way :content: ) which is sort of like the same thing, and she tried teaching me and I couldn’t. I don’t know if its a psychological or physiological inability, or whatever… fiddlesticks!

no, not like that. its the gutteral pronounciation. with the back of the throat. no tongue.

I would also like to note that after doing a bit of research, I found out that French people pronounce the “r” that way only because King Louis the XIV had a speech impediment, and they simply copied him :tongue: . That’s pretty funny.

i can’t roll my tongue for a mexican r to save my life.

it makes me so sad because people sound so cool when they do it.

i can’t fold my tongue in half either :confused: i think that’s a genetic thing.

but as for the french r i’m not really sure what you mean, but have you ever played a wind instrument? Although theoritcally it isn’t right, I’d make stacotto notes using my throat rather than my tongue while playing clarinet… and i can sort of make an R noise in my throat I guess, I just now tried it, it doesn’t sound right though and it hurts.

okay I know what you mean now and I can do it… I don’t know what to tell you other than i have no idea how a person would make an R sound WHILE using his tongue…

try making yourself wheeze while exhaling, and try to growl… that’s the basic principle of it… the R isn’t really a tongue using letter as far as I can tell… but umm

yeah… i guess i can make an R with my tongue but it sounds odd… hmm… i think you can get it, try to growl…

Pronounce the French R ? It’s very easy… when you are French ! :tongue:

Is that true ? Could you please tell me where you did found this information ? It’s very funny.
For the French R (it’s not easy to explain…) there are vibrations in the upper of the throat and the palate. It’s like when you try to imitate a lion roar (but perhaps American lions pronounce an English R too ? :confused: ) but softer. English R is located deeper in the throat.
Hope it could help you a little…

When i was younger i couldnt say normal hard R.I guess i learned to pronounce it right when i was 16 or so.Anyways…I dont know how close this advice will take you to french r but the difference lies in a tongue lied down.Hold it close to the bottom of your mouth -like someone previously said- as opposite to proper R which is said with tongue touching your upper teeth.
Hmmm…ive just reread closely whats written in above posts…hehe…looks like few different methods…just try them all out and see what sounds best:)

hahah, English lions…

reminds me of when Hank Hill is fishing with crack and he tries to get a fish to leave, he’s like, “go on, git… uhh… vaminos!” like… the fish would understand Spanish, being in Texas…

good stuff.

while making the r sound, punch yourself in the throat and it will change

The topic titles GRRRRR!
How do you pronounce this : gaarrghhhhh ?
If not, perhaps the R in GRRRR is near French R ?