A
female
age
18-21,
*urious_girl_2003
writes:My boyfriend is Mexican but speaks English very well and he has a name that rolls an 'r' and I am absolutely shocking at Spanish and rolling 'r's. I can't pronounce his name right!! So I say it the way every other person says it, without an accent, but I feel as if I'm not even saying his name. Like I'm talking about a whole other person. I want him to teach me how to pronounce it but I don't want him to feel like I'm stupid when I get it wrong. Reply to this Question
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female
reader, CindyCares  +, writes (9 October 2016):
 Practice practice practice.
Don't feel bad, the " rolling " R sound does not even exist in English, chances are that so far you never had any need to use it, so don't be surprised that you are having a little trouble learning a sound which does not belong to your alphabet - it IS tricky, you are supposed to put your tongue and teeth and lips in a different way than you have known all your life.
Too bad that I can't show you in person, in 15 minutes I could show you all the exercises I have been taught in my diction class. Still, all you've got to do is to digit : " how to roll your Rs " and you'll find lots of tutorials on line ( WikiHow , for instance, is very clear and simple ) which will explain you all the steps -
Then, a little patience . Practice makes perfect :).
But ,really- at the end of the day it's not so complicated, it may seem so at when you read the " how to " instructions...( which are very helpful though, you cannot reproduce a sound if you don't know exactly if your tongue should hit the back of your teeth, or the roof of your mouth etc...)... but, I promise you, if I learned to pronounce the " th " sound - absent in Italian, and a real nightmare for Italian speakers - you can learn and roll your Rs, trust me :)
A
female
reader, Youcannotbeserious  +, writes (9 October 2016):
 Give him an easier pet name and use that instead!
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A
female
reader, Abella  +, writes (9 October 2016):
 write the name down in phonetic form.
I will give you and example. I cannot spell the following words in another language as I am choosing to learn the language via a phonetic pathway.
so if I write down this: Hun-gee I know that equals the word for "yes" in Punjabi.
similarly this: Dun-yah-vaaard I know is the word for thank you in Punjabi
so ask him to say the name slowly and then break it up into how it sounds to you.
Then practise the word using the phonetic guide until it becomes very familiar to you.
hope this helps?
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A
female
reader, Andie's Thoughts +, writes (9 October 2016):
 YouTube the pronunciation of his name and keep practicing.
Also, my boyfriend's name is foreign (even though he isn't) and I was worried it would sound weird in my accent. Then I just got used to saying it and it wasn't ever an issue.
If he thinks you're stupid for asking him to help you learn something, he's not a good boyfriend to have. You need to be comfortable asking him for help with things.
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