The StudyLib user Jac0074, Tinycards Lover created this study tool in 2022. Sound Check: R Trill A E I O U B C D barrio perro chirriar chorrear burrito bravo criar madre carro error irritar gorrión urraca brillar creer padre marrón tierra chirrido torre aburrir sabrá crayon ladrar carrera cerrar irregular gorra susurrar bronce cristal drama barrer hierro irrelevante borrar aburrido hombre crear tendré arroz cierre irrompible correo burro libro cromo pondrá jarro terrible irritante zorro curry brazo crema ladrido arriba herramienta irrigación ahorrar churro abrir cromado catedral arrancar interrumpir irresponsable borroso susurraba sobre crecer drenar arroyo terremoto irritable correr aburren abrigo cruzar dramático F G P R frasco gracias probar rojo frente gris preferir raya frase agradable practicar reto fresco tigre primero rato fracaso gran prestar recordar freír gritar precio río frontera gratis praliné rasgo frío grupo preparar reír frotar agradecer propio ropa frijol griega impresora rubio T tratar trigo tres traer trozo trueno traducir tronar triturar atrás SC ST escribir maestra inscribir estricto escrito disastre describir estrenar escritorio construir inscrito estrategia escritor avestruz inscribo estrella escriba ostro descripción estroncio What it is: This is a set of tables of Spanish words that all contain the rolling r sound. Each column contains ten words that have the rolling r immediately after the letter(s) the column is named after, except the “R” column, which instead contains words that start with “R.” How to use it: Record your voice as you pronounce each word in the chart. Read the chart’s words using the columns as the order (i.e., reading all the words in the “A” column first, then reading the “E” column, etc.). Review your recording, then note in which words you successfully pronounced the rolling r sound. Since each column contains ten words, you can calculate the percentage of correct r trill pronunciation neatly and easily: in percentage multiples of ten if you read each column once, five if you read each column twice, two if read each column five times, etc. Repeat as often as you like to measure your r trill pronunciation ability and improvement. Conveniently enough, pronouncing the tables also serves as great rolling r pronunciation practice. Why I created it: I read through various rolling r pronunciation guides and realized that some sounds preceding the r’s would make it easier to roll the r’s and saw that someone else had noticed that too, but no one had ever https://studylib.net/profile/240198 The StudyLib user Jac0074, Tinycards Lover created this study tool in 2022. put together a guide that emphasized including words with various sounds proceeding the trilled r’s or even a list containing a set number of words with the point of users being able to calculate their correct pronunciation rate after reading the words. As I continued to practice my Spanish pronunciation on Speechling, I made estimations of my correct r trill pronunciation rate, but I wanted to create this set of tables and accompanying exercise (now called the Sound Check for R Trills) so I could generate my correct pronunciation rate’s true measurement (and share it so others could generate their correct pronunciation rates too, of course). Questions I imagine you might have: Q: Can I use this to practice rolling my r’s for other languages like Italian, Portuguese, or Russian? A: Yes for those three languages because the r trill is the same between them and Spanish as far as I’m aware. I have read that the unique r sounds in French and Korean are different, however, so these table cannot be used to practice those r sounds. Q: Are there other criteria for the words in the tables besides what the second sentence under “What it is” says? A: Yes, there is one: the word cannot contain more than one r trill. Also keep in mind that a word does not have to start with the column’s letter to qualify to be in that column (as you may notice most in the “D” and “ST” columns). Q: Can I use different words when I do the exercise? A: Yes, if you know of some words you would rather use than some of the ones in the table, feel free to swap them out. Just be sure that the substitute words meet the table and column’s criteria: do not, i.e. replace a word in the “C” column with one that would belong in the “D” column or use words that would not be valid for any column, such as “retraso,” “progreso,” or “peral.” Q: Do you plan to make another version of these tables for another sound? A: Not for Spanish since the rolling r seems to be the only sound difficult enough to warrant an exercise like this in my opinion. I suppose if I were to learn another language with an extremely difficult-topronounce sound I could create another Sound Check table though. Q: May I create my own version of Sound Check tables for another sound? A: Yes, but please state somewhere prominent on your document that it was inspired by the R trill Sound Check test that Jac0074, Tinycards Lover posted on StudyLib. (Including a link to my StudyLib profile too would be a nice touch.) Q: Have any scientific studies involving these tables been made? A: No. Q: May I run a scientific study involving these tables? https://studylib.net/profile/240198 The StudyLib user Jac0074, Tinycards Lover created this study tool in 2022. A: Yes. If you do, please: 1. Mention that you found this set of tables by Jac0074, TinyCards Lover on StudyLib and place that mention somewhere prominent in the write-up 2. E-mail jac1074@yahoo.com that you are conducting the study and the results when the study is finished; other updates would be nice too. Q: Are you a speech therapist? A: No, and I have never studied to be one either. I created these tables and the accompanying exercise because I saw a need for them. Q: Would you consider rolling the r to be the hardest part of learning Spanish as an English speaker? A. Yes. This sound doesn’t exist in English (except with Scottish accents, apparently), so trying to make it isn’t natural for most English speakers. It seems everyone thinks that being able to perceive words spoken at top speed will be the hardest part of learning Spanish, but that part is easy and doesn’t require physical effort. It just takes some attention, time, and consistent practice. Q: How long did it take you to be able to pronounce the rolling r correctly? A: It took about three months for me to be able to pronounce it an estimated 5% of the time, I think another month or two to be able to pronounce it an estimated 20% of the time, and I think another month or two to be able to pronounce it an estimated 50% of the time. At nearly twelve months of practice, I could pronounce it an estimated 70% or 80% of the time. Do be aware of a few things about those claims though: 1: I did not have the Sound Check test to give me an accurate measurement until around slightly less than a year of practicing Spanish pronunciation. 2. All percentages above are guesses from my experience; I did not analyze any of my sound recordings to get those conclusions. 3. Besides the three months claim, my memory is hazy about when the improvements happened; my memory is only strong about approximately what percentage the correct pronunciations reached. 4. I practiced pronunciation every day for 20 or 26 minutes (depending on whether I watched a 20-minute video in Spanish that day or not; usually I would alternate between the lengths, but sometimes I would watch video multiple days in a row and eventually I switched to approximately-ten-minute audio listening sessions, therefore practicing pronunciation for 26 minutes every day) using the pronunciation practice app Speechling. Q: What is your experience story about pronouncing the rolling r? High school I started studying Spanish in high school. I absolutely couldn’t roll an r while I was taking that class and quickly gave up attempting to make the sound. That was so long ago that I can’t remember what my attempts sounded like. College When I took Spanish classes in college, I ended up making a weird sound very far from a roll while attempting to pronounce an r, but I could only make it when a consonant preceded the r. The first time I ever trilled an r correctly was when I practiced along to a guide video, but the trick I used to do that only worked once. When I came back to that video years later, the trick didn’t work again. One of the https://studylib.net/profile/240198 The StudyLib user Jac0074, Tinycards Lover created this study tool in 2022. professors I had advised the class to use a (different) certain trick, but the student who tried it out couldn’t get it to work and I imagined that my attempt would have sounded very similar to him if I had tried it. Some students came with the r trill already mastered. It was very discouraging to be useless at trilling r’s alongside students who could pronounce the sound perfectly. Post-college (final, i.e. successful attempt at learning Spanish) I found the pronunciation app Speechling through its blog while looking for a guide about Spanish’s subjunctive tense. It was the perfect app for me to find because lately I had been looking up the “shadowing” technique, but most videos about it just explained what it was and suggested that viewers do it with TV shows or movies instead of containing actual material to shadow with in the video. I used Speechling’s “Speak” mode to practice rolling my r’s, and I would say the app is absolutely amazing, but my experience in attempting to roll my r’s was absolutely terrible (not because of Speechling at all; the sound is just that hard to make) until I reached the 50% correct pronunciation rate. I often wondered if I would ever be able to pronounce the trilled r for a long time and was furious when I was only able to pronounce it 5% of the time after three months. Before I reached 5% accuracy I feared I had chosen the wrong language and would still be unable to pronounce the trilled r after one year of practice. 50% accuracy may not be the best, but at least it’s usable, so I was finally satisfied with my results once I reached that level. (I did not stop practicing though, I only stopped being frustrated.) I seem to have improved even more since then. Q: May I share this practice tool? A: Yes, please do, especially if it helped you a lot. I just have a few notes about sharing this practice tool: 1. If you want to share it with a link, please use the link to my StudyLib profile, not this document’s page because if I update this document, it will get a new URL, which will break the old page. 2. Please do not claim that you invented this practice tool or remove the credit. Q: May I ask you a question about these tables and/or the exercise and have you answer it here? A: Yes. Please send any questions you have to jac1074@yahoo.com with the subject “Sound Check Questions.” https://studylib.net/profile/240198
