For example
11h45 sera : onze heures quarante-cinq sera
Listening to Bambara speakers, I almost alway hear them use rolled-r sounds and not the typical French “r”.
Is it more common for a French person learning Bambara to pronounce that with rolled "r"s or guttural French "r"s?
As an American who speaks some French, I can never make up my mind how to pronounce a French loan word, haha. I would love to know if there’s precedence.
I am not a native French speaker, but here’s some thoughts:
Generally speaking, West African French varieties typically do not use a European-style French R (AKA the “guttural R”). In my experience, this is the case regardless of the person’s first language (e.g., Bambara, Fulani, Hausa, Akan, etc)
As for your question:
In my experience, native French speakers of French vary in how they approach and pronounce loanwords. If they want to sound more natural in Bambara, they roll their Rs because otherwise the guttural French R sounds like an intervocalic “g” in Bambara (e.g., in a word like taga ‘go’). Some French speakers struggle with correctly pronouncing Rs in Bambara — whether the word is a French loanword or not.
If you’re an American, I don’t see any reason that you would use a guttural French R when speaking Bambara — even if the word is technically originally from French. I’d add that when I speak French in West Africa, I don’t use guttural Rs either because, well, I don’t want to sound French 
Hi all!
Native French speaker here, born and raised in France to Guinean parents who speak Bambara and Diakhanké (part of the same language-dialect continuum as Bambara, Jula, Maninka, etc.).
From my experience, we do tend to use the guttural “R” for most French loanwords. It’s not necessarily a conscious preference—it’s just that we can’t really help it. Like with any language, we have an accent when speaking, even in our parents’ native language.
For those of us born and raised in France, our native language is French. I’ve noticed this among most kids in the same situation. Of course, there are exceptions, especially for those who have spent a lot of time in their countries of origin (whether Mali, Guinea, etc.), but in general, we tend to have a strong “French accent” when speaking our parents’ language. In fact, many of us aren’t even fluent in it.
It’s similar to how you can easily identify a French native speaker in English due to their accent. The same applies to Bambara and other Manding languages—we speak them with an accent, which includes using the guttural “R” for most French loanwords containing “R” sounds.
Hope that helps!!
Oh, and I just realized I didn’t introduce myself! My name is Bafodé, and I’m new to this forum. I really appreciate the work that’s been done here—it’s a fantastic platform for sharing and learning. I’m particularly interested in content related to Diakhanké, which can be quite hard to find. Looking forward to engaging with you all!