Rolling your R's

[ArizonaDon]

In the last year I have discovered that I have an affinity for everything Scottish...which started with my favorite Scottish singer..Alex Beaton. My ancestry goes back to Anglo-Saxon people (Tibbits plus others). I'm hoping I have some Scot in me. I am a musician and learning Scot songs, but my gaelic is poor and I'm trying to learn how to speak like a Scot. I've checked the board and will follow some of the suggestions. I listen to Alex's music constantly to hear the language. What I'm having the hardest time with is rolling my r's. I don't get it! I would appreciate advice as to how to do it...like, where does the tongue go..etc. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance
Arizona Don
http://www.dastcom.com

[Paisley]

Twelve people viewed your thread ahead of me, and twelve people did not have the heart to tell you this:

Please don't even try it. You will only end up looking a prat (a bit like Alex Beaton himself).

[ArizonaDon]

Whoops.
I must be naive about this discussion board. The Scot dialect I hear, and love to hear, is a variation of English..but with the beautiful Scottish ring. This must be different than Gaelic (which I'm sure also is melodic) that this board is about. Sorry.
By the way, this colonist doesn't know what a prat is..but, it doesn't sound like something I want to be. I've met Alex a number of times and if he's a prat, he's a very nice prat...and he has a wonderful voice and is a master on the guitar...does great work on songs like 'Bonnie Dundee' (which I have also recorded) and many others.
Any suggestions/web sites about the Scot language I'm interested in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for letting me know I'm barking up the wrong board...and warning me that my lack of knowledge about this subject would lead to me being looked on as being a prat. Thaht suends bloody bahd...achhh!

[Paisley]

As you can see, we have an entire forum dedicated to the Scots language(s)here at Scotland.com. Have you read any of it?
My earlier comments to you were not meant to discourage you from increasing your knowledge about our language, but merely to dissuade you from a dubious attempt a mimicry (how do you "roll an r"?).

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but a fake Scots accent (e.g. Scotty from Star Trek, or Richard Attenborough's character in Jurassic Park) can really make one cringe.

I don't think anyone has a problem with you wanting to get an authentic sound, Arizona, it's just that getting it wrong can come across as parody. If you're serious, find a voice coach. Otherwise, I'd advise you to sing in your own voice.

[lin]

Whahaha! Fun thread this is...
Wow... 'rolling an R'... Maybe this will help. First let me tell you I am dutch and we dutchies seem to be know as language experts... (could start an other discussion about that!)

A few years ago I travelled through South Africa with Scottish and English people. We also had one dutch guy in our group called Jeroen... He introduced himself as Jerome because his orig. name should be to difficult to pronounce. Aha! We didn't want to let the group get away with that one so we decided it should be our mission to let the group pronounce his name correctly... Mission failed though... the R in his name you know.... Well, what we did found out was that the pron. of the R in english is soft and dull (in our ears then). To let an R roll, you really have to losen up your tounge and place the tip of your tounge in the front of your mouth, behind the tooth... Also; flatten your tongue!
Practice with 'row'... Don't let any air slip through and let it just do all the work...

Good luck and keep listening to those great Scottish singers! ;-)

cool
where in holland
i would love 2 learn dutch
can u let me know more info
willie