I'm not an expert, Bear, but this is my experience... Certain letters/sounds are hard to pronounce because a person's native language doesn't use that part of the mouth to make that language sound (e.g. Chinese may not produce that "R" sound in many words). Sounds come from many places: * Throat * Back of mouth * Tongue on roof of mouth * Tongue behind front teeth * Tongue between top and bottom teeth * Lips Think about Chinese and how you make tones. Your mouth/throat produces each tone a little different. Each Chinese letter comes from a different place in the mouth, too. With the Spanish/Swedish "R", your mind and mouth probably don't have the skill of creating that sound. If you find out WHERE in the mouth/throat a sounds comes from (like "R"), anyone can probably begin to produce it. Native speakers who also teach that language can explain where the sound comes from, and what your tongue or throat should feel when producing that sound, I think any sound can be taught to anybody. Excellent teachers will be able to describe the feeling you should have. A fluent Chinese speaker who also speaks Spanish or Swedish will even be able to give you Chinese words that come close to reproducing that "R" sound.

The short answer is that every language has their own idea (or ideas, depending on the position in the syllable and regional accents) of what constitutes a "r" sound. Spanish has two different rhotic phonemes, the short "r" and the long "r". The short "r" is similar to the "quick-d" of American English (something between Hanyu pinyin "d" and "l"), while the long "r" is (especially in the highlands of Latin America) is similar to the pinyin "r" of standard Mandarin. In the lowlands (like Puerto Rico), the Spanish long "r" may resemble the hanyu pinyin "h" (a type of "guttural" "r"). Then there are the usual voiced guttural "r"s such as in French and German (as well as in Xhosa, go figure). Note that the "r" in Mandarin varies tremendously from one regional accent to another, and most varieties of Chinese don't really have an "r" at all.

Hi Bear N, I am not sure I understand your question. Would you like coaching in rolling the "R" as in most Spanish variants, or what makes it hard for you find the right pronunciation? Or in Swedish - what is it that troubles you? According to your italki profile, you are not learning either, but are proficient in Swedish. So - again - not sure about your question ...