Last night the kids and I were sitting in the living room talking about Russian money, Indonesian money and American money...and comparing/contrasting them.
I was showing the kids some coins that I've gotten during my travels, and we were discussing how pretty and colorful the Russian and Indonesian paper money is, and how the U.S. money...even the new bills...aren't as colorful.
During this whole money discussion, the kids were trying to get me to say "rupia" and "ruble". Rupia being the name for the Indonesian currency, and Ruble being the name for the Russian currency.
The kids were saying the words which I will not repeat since I cannot seem to say them correctly. Evidently, both of the words start with a "trilled r" which no matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't seem to pronounce. Elle was able to say the sound...but not me. Needless to say, I was quite frustrated and my inability to get my tongue tip to vibrate up and down. (I felt like a clumsy oaf!)
Yulia let me know that it took her about 2 weeks of practice (when she was little) to learn to say this sound, and Surya told me that he had to teach his older sister how to say it. (I think that they were just trying to make me feel better). However, each time I tried to say either word with the "trilled r" in it, they both cracked up. Not a good sign.
Given my profession, I pride myself on being able to correctly produce all sounds (at least the sounds which are present in the English language)... and I've always prided myself on my ability to hear subtleties within different languages/accents. But try as I might, I was not able to correctly produce the sound last night...I think that I came close...but still they cracked up. Even though I will be working today...I will spend the entire car ride to and from work trying to get that sound! sigh
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12 comments:
I'm definitely sure this is a genetic family flaw since I can't trill my "R's" either. Damn...now I guess I'll have to practice when I'm driving too!
I had our Japanese exchange student in hysterics when i would try to say any word in Japanese.
But then i would crack up too.
I'm not sure if you've noticed, but even the newscasters say those words wrong. I think it would be easier if we hadn't ever heard the word mispronounced. But since we've heard it wrong we say it wrong.
Sorry the youngsters made fun of you.
I'll have to talk the fam into the So CA trip...I know I can get DD into it cuz she wants to do Am Girl Place...it's DH that will take a talkin to.
It is fun to laugh at adults and to be better at something. I have a feeling no matter how well you pronounce the words they will always laugh. It is a kid thing.
Someone once told me to think of the movement your tongue makes when you say the word "butter."
That having been said, I can't do it after 17 years of living with someone who's first (and second) language relies heavily on that sound (and almost 37 years of hearing my father, also non-English) speak. My kids laugh at me because it's easy for them. My husband thinks it's hysterical when I try over and over again. I can come close but I still sound like i have a mouth full of marshmallows (with due apology to Marshamlow ;)
I couldn't do it and I'm not going to even try... thank God I don't have false teeth or something along those lines because we would have a whole new set (no pun intended) of problems there...
On the other hand, my husband has absolutely no problem with it!
He prides himself on it and has all the time... I don't know how he does it as he cannot speak another word of a foreign language and doesn't care to... sigh.
Perhaps you could memorize the Cyrillic alphabet as you learn that sound. Ever the linguist, eight Lynn?
you'll never forget these days
I can't make the trill sound either.
I cannot make the trill sound, Lynn. You are not alone!
Joan - That sound good to me...let's blame mom and dad!
Meno - It really was funny how I struggled.
Renee - It didn't bother me that they were laughing...I just looked upon it as a challenge to learn how to say it correctly.
Marshamlow - I think you are right. Kids do enjoy laughing at adults...fortunately I laughed right along.
Lynanne - It's good to know that I am not the only one with this struggle:~) I have a feeling that no matter how much I practice, I will never have it 100% right.
Michele - Your comment really cracked me up...false teeth...wow that would present a whole new "set" of problems:~)
Ralph - Banish that thought:~)
Madge - Truer words were never spoken.
Sari - Maybe we can start a "I can't make the trill sound either" club:~)
Patti - See my comment to Sari...you could join too... we could be founding members:~)
Tongue roller: present!
I like people such as you who pick up on the nuances of different languages. Not to mention your volunteer work too.
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