Rolling R's in Finnish?

[TheAngelofMeth]

Hei. Mina nimeni on David, olen 15. Olen opetellun suomea yhden kuukaude ja minun suomenkielen taitoni on huono. Suomi on mahtava maa ja, mina haluat siirtaa.

Okay I'll stop with that lol. Basically yeah, my name is David, I'm 15, I've been learning Finnish for a month and am not very good at it. Finland is an awesome country and I'd like to move one day. (for any bi-lingual people here please don't make fun of my bad Finnish)

Basically I'd like to know - how important is it to roll your R's? I bought a EuroTalk language kit and pretty much every word with "R" in it has a rolled R. I cannot roll my R's more than I can grow a new arm or change skin colour, I've heard that you can learn but no advice I've found seems to work. I've heard tongue surgery is an option, as is speech therapy. If I can't roll my R's naturally I'd be willing to try either or both of these options. But does anyone have any tips for learning how to roll your R's in finnish? Or is it even necessary to roll them? (I can say "R" properly in English, so would Finnish people understand me? or would it be considered a speech impediment, etc.)

Any advice would be very much appreciated. Thanks

[Töölöläinen]

To correctly pronounce the letter R (the only real way btw) you'll have to position your tongue similarly as with the letter D but try to create a "rumbling" sound instead of D. It might be easier to start with double consonantes like "prisma" or "kruunu" and then gradually move on to the important words such as "perkele". This is how I once got a reluctant austrian to pronounce R correctly.

[AnnikaL]

the 'r' in Finnish is a rolled one, and i think you can't really speak the language without it. However, I'd be surprised if you didn't just naturally start doing it after a while.... give it time before thinking it a big issue or thing that you can't do.

I'd advise practice through singing songs, that's good for all languages. I'd also practice that r in a few more friendly places in words (not a the start, it's probably hardest to capture there). For example, you might find it easier at first to roll the 'r' in aurinko than in 'ruoka'.

[AnnikaL]

to the important words such as "perkele". .

LOL, although I would say that the 'r' in perkele is a good one for early practice, very easy to pronounce. You really can't say perkele without rolling your r.

[AnnikaL]

oh.. and also important... relax your tongue! Can't do it if you try too hard...

[TheAngelofMeth]

OH MY GOD I DID IT!!! Thankyou so so so so so much!!!!!!!!! (kiitos paljon - lol)! I could roll R's in the words "aurinko" and "kruunu"!!!! Not perfect but way way closer than I've ever gotten before! and my "perkele" sounds vaguely rolled but not really very good, I'm gonna devote myself to practicing this. Thanks!

And I'll try learning some Finnish-spoken songs too, an example of one I like is by a folk-metal band from Espoo called Ensiferum. (although this song is just vocal), it goes:

Yllä harmaan korven korpit laulaa,
Hurme tämän kansan roudan sulattaa,
Katso kuinka hohkaa kansi taivaan,
Kutsuu se meitä tumman virran taa,
Heikot vaipuu kuohuun sysimustaan,
Sankarit kun astuu joen rantaan,
Halki iäisyyden laulu raikaa,
Kutsuu se veljiä tumman virran taa


There's a lot of R's in it so I'll practice rolling them too, once I get more proficient in the double consonants that is

Again, thankyou both so much for all your help, this problem was really making me say "v!%# tätä paskaa" so I'm glad you coul help



EDIT: The post blocked out the profanity. lol probably for the best

[Kutittaa]

Rolling your r for some can take years of practice. Or if you are like Finland's current president then you never learn. All of my family members except for me can roll their 'r's it seems the more you need to the less you're able to.

I find that fair enough though. I think it comes with learning Finnish over time. Otherwise it's not important, it's what separates you from being a native Finn. If you can roll your r's then you just sound more 'natural' not necessarily more 'understandable'.

[TheAngelofMeth]

Moominmamma can't roll her R's? (sorry I don't know if ALL finnish people call her that....lol)

So you're saying that if I can't roll my R's, or if it sounds quite weird, people could still understand what I'm saying? Because there are some basic words like "luottokortti" and rolling my R's in that is just impossible. :S

[Canuck77]

OH MY GOD I DID IT!!! Thankyou so so so so so much!!!!!!!!! (kiitos paljon - lol)! I could roll R's in the words "aurinko" and "kruunu"!!!! Not perfect but way way closer than I've ever gotten before! and my "perkele" sounds vaguely rolled but not really very good, I'm gonna devote myself to practicing this. Thanks!

And I'll try learning some Finnish-spoken songs too, an example of one I like is by a folk-metal band from Espoo called Ensiferum. (although this song is just vocal), it goes:

Yllä harmaan korven korpit laulaa,
Hurme tämän kansan roudan sulattaa,
Katso kuinka hohkaa kansi taivaan,
Kutsuu se meitä tumman virran taa,
Heikot vaipuu kuohuun sysimustaan,
Sankarit kun astuu joen rantaan,
Halki iäisyyden laulu raikaa,
Kutsuu se veljiä tumman virran taa


There's a lot of R's in it so I'll practice rolling them too, once I get more proficient in the double consonants that is

Again, thankyou both so much for all your help, this problem was really making me say "v!%# tätä paskaa" so I'm glad you coul help



EDIT: The post blocked out the profanity. lol probably for the best

Rs are strong as it is, just remember to double roll the Rs when there's 2 of them, like in virran: VIR-RAN Good luck.

[EP]

So you're saying that if I can't roll my R's, or if it sounds quite weird, people could still understand what I'm saying?

Of course they would. Like already said, president Halonen has "a speech deficit" (that´s what it was called some decades ago). I was born with that "speech deficit" (Finnish speaking Finn), and so was my sister. We didn´t learn till we were in school, and I guess we learned (in front of a mirror) only because we were teased because of it.

[AldenG]

So you're saying that if I can't roll my R's, or if it sounds quite weird, people could still understand what I'm saying?

Now whea is dat wascally wabbit?
-- Elmer Fudd

People have a huge ability to hear past variations in pronunciation. The only ones who can't are the ones who don't know a language very well to begin with, at least not the aural language. But especially with Finnish, what else could a word like kortti be? And Finns hear American 'r's and French 'r's all the time on TV.

[AldenG]

(I suppose if you had no 'r' at all, it could be kotti, but still context makes these words perfectly clear in 999 cases out of 1000.)

[onkko]

(I suppose if you had no 'r' at all, it could be kotti, but still context makes these words perfectly clear in 999 cases out of 1000.)

Kotti is "salary advance"

[AldenG]

(I suppose if you had no 'r' at all, it could be kotti, but still context makes these words perfectly clear in 999 cases out of 1000.)

Kotti is "salary advance"

Right, from Swedish förskott (also appearing in kottikärry, from Swedish skottkärra), but I have a hard time seeing that anyone would be confused by bad 'r's in actual sentences.

[TheAngelofMeth]

After three days of constantly practicing rolling my R's whilst walking around at home, at school, whilst playing guitar, watching TV, being out with friends and even at night in bed, I think I've just about gotten it! Thanks to everyone who replied, I appreciate it!

Rs are strong as it is, just remember to double roll the Rs when there's 2 of them, like in virran: VIR-RAN Good luck.

Thankyou! I'll do my best to try and learn this song, I also have a friend from Finland (my mum's old penpal's son) who I met once when I was over there who said he'd give me some "Vauvakirja", or baby books in Finnish because the language would be simple and they teach pronunciation in some of them too

Of course they would. Like already said, president Halonen has "a speech deficit" (that´s what it was called some decades ago). I was born with that "speech deficit" (Finnish speaking Finn), and so was my sister. We didn´t learn till we were in school, and I guess we learned (in front of a mirror) only because we were teased because of it.

Well I'm still definetely going to try my best to learn the rolling R's, but should I fail for whatever reason or I can't perfectly roll my R's in all words, it's nice knowing I won't sound totally alien to them.