How often do you roll your R's in Japanese?

Question

like every sentence, once every day, rarely...

I'm interested in learning Japanese, but i cant roll my r's.

i have a hard American accent to break.

Answer 1

I am Argentinian, I am used to rolling R. So, I can do it, but I never roll them when speaking in Japanese.

Answer 2

No need to worry- you don't need to roll your "r's"

there is NEVER  a time that you need to!

In japanese, there is such a thing as an "elongated consonant" which is where there may be double the letter, which is represented by the small sized "tsu" character. For example, "irrashaimase"-- but it is pronounced with a very small pause in between the double consonant- thats all.

Answer 3

no rolling of r's are needed at all.  r's do sound close to a  combination of r and l though.

Answer 4

I've heard rolled r's in Japanese, but only when someone tough is talking. Like: "Orrre wa SUGE kakkoi na!" ("I am SO cool, yo!")

They're usually the corny biker kids in anime.

Real people never seem to do that, though. In live-action Japanese movies, I never hear rolled r's - no matter how tough they are.

Answer 5

R and L are both called "liquid consonants" by linguists, and from one language to the next you can find pretty much any gradation of sound from one to the next, depending on where and when the tongue is touched to the roof of the mouth.

Japanese doesn't really have an R like the one in English or the one in Spanish. If you listen to Japanese you'll often find that the R sounds like an L. This is particularly true when you're listening to Japanese singing.

The tongue position for the Japanese R is actually quite different from the English R. Instead of curling the tongue to the back of the mouth, the Japanese R has the tongue about where the English L is. At the start of the sound, with the tongue in the L position, touch the tip briefly up against the roof of the mouth (behind the velar ridge), then release it. It's definitely not like a Spanish rolled R, so don't do it that way.

A simple way to get it right (in my opinion) is to say R (ra-re-ri-ro-ru) while *thinking* L (la-le-li-lo-lu).  

Answer 6

Japanese doesn't have rolled R's, Spanish rolls R's.