I've been trying to trill my r's for a long time. I can trill my tongue without any vocal, simply by exhaling air, and flicking my tongue up and keeping it there. The issue i'm having, is that I can't add any vocal to it, if i try to do so, it just completly shuts down. Any tips to help adding the vocal?

Well, the voicing mechanism (vocal cords) is completely separate from the trilling mechanism (tongue and palate). I suggest you practice turning voicing on and off ... with your mouth wide open, "Aahhh". Without voicing, it's just an exhale, with voicing it's an Aahhh sound. If you're well able to do this, you should be able to also turn it on and off while you're trilling.

If not, it does make me wonder whether you're got something else going on in your trill that doesn't belong there.

That's not true - adding voicing changes the airflow, as the airflow will now be constrained by the glottal impedance. Also, the glottal impedance is constrained by the supraglottic impedance which is affected by the trill, so it's a complex nonlinear interaction, cf. Ingo Titze's work on the subject.

That's a great point! Of course there will be airflow feedbacks between the vocal cords and everything else in the oral cavity. I should say that "the voicing mechanism is functionally independent" ... which is to say, each can be activated without the other. Thanks for pointing that out!

I'll try that. Truth be told as a dane it's very foreign to trill on any words or letters, not even on english I haven't been able to trill. I could perhaps just be the fact, that I really haven't tried to 'turn on or off' my voice when i speak or exhale ?

Edit: I can in fact wide my mouth wide open, go 'aaahhhh' and stop saying it and exhale normally, and then start again, but truths be told, it's not much air I feel like thats getting exhaled while I say 'aaahh'. I think it's just because it's so 'weird' for my mother tongue to do so and it's just practice like everything else

Americans (like me) don't generally trill their R's unless there is a reason to speak Spanish or another language like German that uses it. Or if you use it as a noise to entertain a young child while you feed them baby food.
(for example).
My cousin's mother could roll her R's constantly and her 2 toddlers picked it up. As a-year old, I was extremely jealous of them for learning it.

It wasn't till 14 years later that I learned it out of desperation in Conversational German class, because there were rolled R's throughout the dialogue script we used.

This class was the intensive, 6-month practice that I needed to develop my trill.

These exercises seem useful if done in steps and done every day.

The instructions say not to continue if you can't do the closed tongue trill in exercise 4. I cannot do that, despite daily practice for a week. Am I doomed?

Hi Christine, you are not doomed!

First of all, there's always more than one way to get there ... If the closed tongue trill just doesn't work for you, then skip it.

However, I wouldn't be too quick to do so. One week of daily practice is great, but not really that long a time. I strongly recommend you loop back through the earlier exercises, see what else you notice, expand your awareness, really try understand what's blocking you from this one. Oftentimes, taking a break and coming to it after a day or a week will help, too!

Good luck!

Thanks for your thoughtful reply. I feel more hopeful and will persist.

In future videos, perhaps Lip Guy could shave.

Glad to hear it! Feel free to follow up with additional questions, that's how we learn how to make SuperCoco more helpful.

Thank you so much for this. I have asked countless spanish speakers and others how to do this, and for the first time I am able to do this 100% of the time, without it feeling forced. I am so excited. Seriously thank you so much, I need to practice with actual words more, but it almost surprises me when I try to do it and it just... works. THANK YOU.

That's awesome, Matt, so glad we could help!

If anyone else is feeling particularly frustrated, compare the bottom of your tongue to the one at around 8:57 in the full guide video near the top of the page. You may notice his tongue doesn't really have a prominent lingual frenulum (the band of white tissue connecting the tongue to the bottom of the mouth). If you DO have one, you may have some level of ankyloglossia (AKA you're tongue-tied) and it could explain why you're having some difficulties.

That being said, I am moderately tongue-tied, but I could totally just be doing it wrong too. It feels like I have to absolutely BLAST air to actually get my tongue to vibrate and produce the trill, and there always seems to be a bit of a lag between the exhale and my tongue actually vibrating. After a ton of practice, it still sounds very forced and staccato and, well bad. Any advice?

It's possible that your tongue-tie is severe enough to affect your ability to roll the r. (If that's the case, I'd remind you that there are plenty of native speakers who never "get" this sound, and they communicate just fine. Use the tap instead.)

It's also possible that you just haven't found the right settings yet for your mouth; it's *very* common in the beginning to feel that you have to use much more force than (eventually) you will.

You say you've done "a ton of practice," ... but the question is always what kind of practice?

My advice is going to be pretty generic, but I would encourage you to approach this as a scientist. Instead of "it doesn't work" ... just become curious about what is happening. Try varying different factors and observe the result. Don't worry too much about the goal, just explore and try to understand how your specific oral setup works. Maybe go back and re-learn the trill from the beginning.

Perhaps take some inspiration from Evelyn Glennie, the deaf percussionist, and see if there isn't a way that your tongue can do this.

First of all, don't get hung up on the closed mouth trill. It's just a stepping stone and some people find it confusing.

Second, "two hours" might sound like a lot, but oftentimes skill learning is not well-served by large amounts of practice all at once. You might be better off with 15 minutes per day for two weeks or even a month.

When we practice all at once, we tend to do the same thing over and over. But what you need to do is coax your mouth into doing something it doesn't know how to do yet. That requires a relaxed attitude of exploration where lucky accidents can happen.

Good luck!

Hi, I have a question. I can do the trill but I can't seem to put it into words. I've been trying to do the ahhh to trill then to ahhhhhh again but it never seems to work and I can't say any words with the trill.

That's awesome that you've got the trill! If you're stuck on the last step, well here is where you need to be a little bit of a scientist. Instead of "it doesn't work" ... just become curious about what is happening. Try varying different factors and observe the result. Don't worry too much about the goal, just explore and try to understand how it works. Maybe go back and re-learn the trill from the beginning.

You will get there ... and you will wonder how you ever thought this part was hard! :) Good luck!

Fantastic! I've got an unusually large tongue and have always just resigned myself to not being able to trill but after spending the 10 minutes reading through this guide I totally can! It's super brusque and barely vocal but all the parts are there! With practice I can definitely see myself getting better at this. Also, I loved the writing in this guide. I laughed and exclaimed "shut up!" several times with yall's cheeky little jokes. Good job and thank you. :)

Ruffian Tux, that's awesome to hear! Thanks so much for the kind words!

I have an issue where I can perform the trill but only for short durations and while using my vocal cords.

I can say perro and carro with ease. But it almost sounds too deep like Per d-d-d- o for Perro.

For the life of me I can not do the continuous trill. Another way to say my issue is that I can only do it with dynamic motion of my mouth, not static. While I am closing my mouth to transfer from the peee to the ooooo my tongue is able to relax and get 2-3 taps. But I can not hold it there.

Has anyone ever heard of this?

It's common when you first learn a new motor skill that you can't "generalize" it very well. Keep up your explorations, gradually expand your comfort zone, vary parameters, invent and solve small challenges for yourself, and you'll get there!

Absolutely cannot get it to work. Been trying all my life. Everyone in my family can and most everyone I know, but I have never been able to do it no matter how many times it's explained or shown to me. I sat here and followed you guide trying to just get the closed tongue trill for about an hour and it never even starts to slightly vibrate, no natter how much or little air I use or how relaxed I make my tongue. I can't get the open mouth one to work either. No even remotely close.

It's so frustrating because it's hindered my ability to learn proper pronunciations in different languages. I think it might actually stem from my mouth being shaped differently than normal. I only have 25 adult teeth and always have and there's not room for more, I'm missing any. It doesn't looks odd from an outside perspective though. So when the tip on my tongue rests on my alveolar ridge the back of it rests under my molars. I don't even know if this is normally ho the tongue rests.

But for the life of me I cannot get it to work. Not when I was 7 and not now when I'm 37. And I've tried for sooo long.

Shawn, I get your frustration and, who knows, maybe there is an anatomical reason. It's good to keep it in perspective; in languages (such as Spanish) that use this sound, there are some native speakers that never master it -- and they do just fine.

However, if you want to keep working on it, I suggest you let go of the frustration and become a scientist. Which is to say, become curious, very curious, and systematic. How does your own unique mouth/tongue/air work? What's possible with them? Don't spend TOO much time on the things you CAN'T do; keep exploring the other exercises, and invent your own, which help develop and enrich your awareness. It's all about awareness, which leads to having different possibilities appear.

Hope that helps!

Hi, thanks for the instruction! Just wondering: for the closed tongue trill, what do you mean by flat against the roof of your mouth? When I cut off the air from a 'ch' sound, I find it most comfortable to do so with the tip of my tongue placed on my alveolar ridge just above my front teeth. Do you mean that the back of the tongue is pressing against the roof? Thanks

OK, I have managed to perform the closed tongue trill after about a day. I'm currently working on holding it for a longer period of time in the same place (I have a tendency to push my tongue forward towards my teeth as it vibrates). I am struggling to maintain the vibration as I open my mouth. It seems like the closed mouth trill develops the habit of vibration through a 'sh'/'ch' sound. It feels almost impossible to vibrate the tongue using an 'ah'/'uh' sound. Any tips on the open mouth trill?

Re: "flat against the roof of your mouth" ... that's just a hint for when you're opening/closing the air stream with your tongue. If you use the tip instead, it's fine (indeed, even closer to the actual trill).

The tips are all in the article :) ... It sounds like you're very close, and I guarantee that once you get it, you'll wonder why it seemed so hard! Just keep practicing, go over the steps again with an exploratory attitude. Notice, notice, notice ... and experiment. You'll get it!

Do you have any more tips on how to do the open mouth trill, every time I try to open my mouth the trill will stop.

I'm afraid I don't have more tips. But when you get stuck in a learning process, often it's not "one more tip" that you need. Instead, let go of the goal and adopt the mindset of the scientist. Go back to basics. Retrace your steps. Explore what's going on in your mouth. Break it down and put it back together. It's not magic .. you can get there!

I have been trying this for several days and could never get the closed mouth trill to work. When I tried using more air, the air would just puff up my cheeks and wouldn't go over my tongue at all. So, what I did is hold my cheeks in (with the back of my hands) and breathe out quickly. It was like magic! I did the closed mouth trill!!! Now I'll just need to get accustomed to that feeling so I can take my hands off my cheeks and then get to the open mouth version. Huzzah!

Ha, that's great! Let us know how it goes ...

I think I'm hopeless at learning how to trill my R's due to the fact I have a tongue tie - I tried the lip exercise and I tried to close my lips slowly and it just stopped completely. I give up :(

Well ... I have possibly good news for you: the lip trill has nothing to do with your tongue. The tongue should remain totally relaxed. So ... this has nothing to do with your tongue tie.

Does this mean you can learn to trill? Who knows? I have heard from people who trill despite a tongue tie, and I've also heard that it does prevent some folks. You'll have to find out for yourself .... but I don't think you have cause to give up just yet!

Could someone please tell me what the frick a "tongue tie" is?? I've heard of people saying that they got tongue-tied to explain an isolated instance of misspeaking, but I've never heard the term used as a diagnosis for some type of physical disorder. Please enlighten us! 🙂

I feel like I'm hopeless ngl haha

wait, what? I just did the banana exercise, and I can roll my r's for short burst of time. I'm 44 and my whole life have resigned myself to "my tongue is too tongue tied to roll my r's". I believed that to be so, because I have a pretty severe case of tongue tie. But oh. my. goodness. Very good instruction here.

Awesome, congratulations!

I’ve practiced this for 6 months on my hour commute each way to and from work. Still can’t come close to rolling my r’s.
Have tried every technique I can for the last 30 years. No tongue defect, just can’t make it happen.

Sam, your note made me think of a lesson that I've learned the hard way: sheer amount of time practicing does not correlate to success. Success comes from noticing precisely where your specific hurdles are and finding ways to hone in on them and make progress. Often that involves some groping around, but the sooner you can get into specifics, the sooner you will make progress.

Isn't there a 7th English sound where the tongue touches the alveolar ridge? When you say j or soft g?

So I’ve been practicing this a lot and I’ve finally learned how to roll my Rs, but I can tell I need a bit more practice for it to be consistent. I was repeating those tongue-twisters with perro and it felt really nice to say those phrases over and over again. I noticed that as I’ve been practicing, my inner vocal will start to shake as I roll my R, and I’m not sure if that’s because I’m starting to get lazy with it or tired. It’s as if my sound will sort of vibrate and shake, intensifying the rolling R in a weird new way. Is that natural? And what does that mean?

Well, congratulations, that's great to hear! I'm not sure what an "inner vocal" is, but as with all of these things, an exploratory mindset is helpful. Experiment with it, explore it, and over time you'll figure it out. Good luck!

Hello, I'm trying to learn how to roll my r's in order to pronounce notheren brazillian portuguese a bit better. I can trill my tongue open and closed but when it comes to actually making a trilled r sound, mine just sounds like d-d-d-d or t-t-t-t. Am I missing a trick to make my trilling sound more like an r (not an american r sound, but a romance language rolled r)?

Copying what I wrote, below: One thing to bear in mind is that sounds that you generate yourself are
perceived differently than external sounds (bc of bone conduction in
your ear). You can record yourself if you want to know what you "really"
sound like to others.

There's no "trick". If your tongue is vibrating against your alveolar ridge, you're doing the trill. If I were you, I'd focus on getting really comfortable with using the trill in actual words and sentences; over time, it will become more relaxed.

Hi, I can't do either the closed or open mouth trills. My problem is that I cannot keep my tongue relaxed enough for it to vibrate. My tongue will be relaxed and in position, but when I push air out my tongue is forced to tense up to stay in place. If I relax it fully, it feels like the air pushes my tongue down. Any ideas for me?

Hi Claire, Ultimately, this all comes down to awareness. Nothing's "forcing" your tongue to do anything; you are in control, you just don't know it.

It may help to (temporarily) forget about the goal and instead simply become intensely curious about your tongue and mouth. Work with very small changes, and very big changes. One nice relaxation trick is to experiment with tensing your tongue as much as possible. And, in particular, make up little experiments you can try, to explore what happens when your tongue is touching the alveolar ridge and you move it just slightly away.

Hope that helps! Let me know ...

Hi, thank you for your advice, and getting back to me so quickly!
I've made some progress; I had a breakthrough moment and can now vibrate my tongue (at least that's what it feels like) but the trouble is I'm just making a kind of buzzing noise or a voiced 'zzzz'. I get that my tongue isn't in the correct position, but when I put it in the correct position (or any other positions where my tongue is up near the ridge) the best I can do is a 'ch ch ch' noise.
I speak Italian, and after recent practice I sometimes hear/feel a trill when I say words with the trill in the middle, like 'vorrei' or 'arrabbiata', but it's never something I can do intentionally, and also not at the ends of words like 'per'. I know my tongue can do it, I'd just love to be able to control when!

Ha, that's great! Once you have even the shakiest ability to do it, you're over the hardest part. Now just apply your awareness techniques to explore, explore, explore, and gradually you'll get it.

Hi, just wanted to update you again. I can now trill while saying words pretty much on command! It turns out my tongue needed to be a little further back in my mouth. I still can't keep a trill going, or trill without it being a part of a word, but I'm going to keep practicing and I'm sure that will come as well. Thank you for this article, I never would have even attempted to build this skill if I hadn't read it because I thought it was something you're born with, now I know it's just physics and not 'talent' that makes the tongue vibrate. I can't wait to surprise people with my new trill!