As a native English speaker, learning to roll my Rs while speaking Italian is still an ongoing battle. Some days they’ll roll out better than a native and some days my tongue simply goes on strike. One of the toughest combinations of words that I’ve encountered is the dreadded N-R tag team. For instance:

“Non ridere!” – “Don’t laugh!”

“Non riesco” – “I’m not able”
Note: “Riesco” is the 1st Person singular present tense of “riuscire”

If you try saying that phrase while rolling the “r”, you’ll probably find it to be more difficult than it looks. Luckily, there are a few tips to help us out.

1. Speak sloooowly – You’ll be surprised at how much more understandable you are when you speak slowly, especially over the N-R words. This would seem obvious to most, but apparently I only think slow and didn’t realize how much it would help until recently.
2. Drop the “N” – If you listen to native Italians speak phrases like those above, they don’t say “Non riesco.” They say, “Noriesco”. When you drop that second “N” the phrase becomes a piece of cake.
3. Roll your tongue when it’s not in use – I find myself in front of my computer, working as normal, and rolling my tongue like a drummer at a circus waiting for the clown to get shot out of the cannon. While you may get odd looks from those around you, after a short while your Rs will come out much more naturally.