There are some words that I am unable to pronounce, no matter how hard I try. Many of the words with r's in them are hard for me. I can't come close to twirling my rr's either. Maybe my mouth is incapable of producing this sound. Does anyone else have trouble with this? Has any of you started out with this obstacle and overcome it? I can't even say ver right. . . . . . . !Soy frustrado! :x

Hola Hombre. You're certainly not alone. Many of us have or have had similar difficulty with the Spanish r and rr. There was a conversation about this on the Learning Spanish Like Crazy forum, and several people made suggestions. If you go to the forum at *__http://learningspanishlikecrazy.com/forum/__*, go to the section entitled Vocabulary and Pronunciation. At or near the top of the listing of topics you'll see "Spanish RR." Espero que te ayude.

Frustrado is right, and what a hard word that is to get out of one's mouth! Trying to pronounce a single r, especially after a consonant like f or g or where there are multiple r's in a word prevents me from even trying out the little Spanish I know around other people. It's much harder for me than the trilled r (unless the word has another r in it like restaurante where I can't stop from trilling the second r). The common advice to pronounce the r more like a d seems impossible in words like frustrado. Also, how do you differentiate between the r and the d sound in words like para and pada (assuming there was such a word). I can't hear any difference but I assume Spanish speakers do. I just joined yesterday and, in the beginning lessons at least , Maurico seems to pronounce his v's as pretty definitive v's, not b's. Is this commonplace in Chile or has ME been away too long? BTW, does he have an Australian accent?

[quo]*Quote from * annemarieko I just joined yesterday and, in the beginning lessons at least , Maurico seems to pronounce his v's as pretty definitive v's, not b's. Is this commonplace in Chile or has ME been away too long?[/quo] Hola annemarieko. Welcome to the forum. The question of how Spanish speakers pronounce b's and v's has come up before, with both Mauricio and Amy offering their views. There apparently _are_ regional differences: *__http://www.rocketspanish.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=138__*

[quo]*Quote from * annemarieko The common advice to pronounce the r more like a d seems impossible in words like frustrado. Also, how do you differentiate between the r and the d sound in words like para and pada (assuming there was such a word). [/quo] Hola , I believe you pronounce r like a d when it is between 2 vowels and you pronounce the letter d like th between 2 vowels. I don't think "pada" is a word.

_BTW, does he have an Australian accent?_ Glad to know that I'm not the only one who thinks I hear that :lol:

hola

Hola !!