One of the problems I had in pronunciation was putting English rules and sounds into Spanish. A lot of this I attribute to learning Spanish at an older age. For example in English, pronunciation of consonants is usually emphasized over vowels. Most of the time vowels are glided over quickly unless they are in the stressed syllable of a word. Look at the following words where the the “A, E, I, O, U” is unstressed. Dollar, trailer, sailor,crisis, minus. All have a similar sound. Another thing English speakers are accustomed to is that one vowel may have several sounds. Even in one word like “opposition”. This does not happen in Spanish and makes it more logical.
Spanish Vowels Are Much Shorter
In general, all vowels are shorter in Spanish than in English and must always be pronounced clearly, with a pure, undiluted quality. Individual vowels are nearly always pronounced exactly the same, regardless of their position in a word.
[a] is not drawn out, like when a doctor asks you to stick out your tongue: “Aaaaaaaaa.” It is short, like when you tell someone, “Careful, don’t touch that hOt dish. “
[i] is not lengthened, like in the phrase, “Dude, this car is sweeeeeeet.” It is short, like in the phrase, “Let’s get something to EAt soon!”
Spanish Vowel Sounds English Example Spanish Example /a/ = “ah” father, saw papa, agua /e/ = “eh” met, bed esperanza, bebe /i/ = “ee” bee, leaf sí, chica /o/ = “oh” low, know loco, bonito /u/ = “oo” sue, do grupo, futuro Listen to the sounds of the Spanish vowels I found it helpful to say these out- loud after you hear them. You may feel silly, but it helps. Your goal is to sound as much like a native-speaker as you can. Practice, practice, practice. Vowels Letters Examples a hay, antes e este i y, Isabel o hola, oro u uso, humo
types of videos. A Few Helpful Hints B & V – I found when listening to native speakers B & V are pronounced the same (at least to my gringo ear). At the beginning of a word they are pronounced like the “b” in box. Z – The pronunciation of “Z” varies from country to country. In most Latin American places where I am more familiar with, it is pronounced the same as the “s” in English. The ch sound is pronounced just as it is pronounced in English, like Charles. The ll sound is often pronounced like a y, as in yo-yo. (this sound is pronounced differently around the spanish speaking world ) The ñ sound is pronounced like an n followed by a yay. The rr sound is pronounced by trilling the r sound. Think of a purring cat! Once you get the sounds down you will be able to read almost anything in Spanish. . You may not