A word of encouragement: The sounds of the letter R in the area of San Jose, CR

We all work hard to learn to pronounce our Spanish r's repeating: "rr con rr cigarro, rr con rr carril, rapido corren los carros del ferrocarril." If you cannot master that, not to worry, here in San Jose they have their own way of enunciating the R, which is much easier for the gringo.

This said, in many Spanish dialects 'rr' is not rolled and usually takes on a fricative articulation, this variant sounds a bit similar to English prevocalic 'r-' in rain. Fricative 'rr' sounds are extremely frequent in most of Central America. The Spanish of Costa Rica falls into the category of Highland American Spanish, which comprises various pockets of Latin American Spanish speakers, mainly from highland areas, that employ similar variants for multiple sounds. In San Jose especially, one quickly notices the use of an alveolar vibrant final -r. This assibilation of tapped /r/ has been documented in Spanish and its usage has been tied to sociolinguistic variables such as age, gender, and social class. For example, it has been found that in the face of negative prestige, rural Spanish speakers from Costa Rica tend to preserve the assibilation of /r/ as a local identity marker. Costa Rican President Oscar Arias is a perfect example if you wish to know just what this sounds like.

Yes, it sounds terribly complicated, but actually it means that you don't have to worry about trilling your R while in Costa Rica. The adults (+/- over 45) do often have the assibilations mentioned above, but among young university students, it is uncommon. All R sounds are vey similar to English.

So, be not discouraged. Don't become hung up on the trilled r!