Have you ever felt self-conscious about your Spanish accent or struggled to pronounce certain words?\u00a0<\/p>\n
I’ve been there too, and I’m here to help you fine-tune your pronunciation and infuse your Spanish with an authentic touch<\/a>.\u00a0In this article, you’ll learn seven useful tricks to get rid of that pesky foreign accent and sound more like a native Spanish speaker.<\/p>\n [fluentu-toc] Luckily for you and me, Spanish pronunciation is quite regular. Unlike English vowels, each Spanish vowel<\/a> has exactly one sound:<\/p>\n Of course, there are rules for Spanish diphthongs<\/a>\u00a0and the dieresis<\/a>. But those are your five basic vowel sounds.<\/p>\n There are a ton of free resources on YouTube to help you learn and reinforce the Spanish vowel sounds. Personally, I recommend starting with this hilariously outdated video<\/a>.<\/p>\n Yes, the video is silly. But it’s also quite helpful. Do you notice how, when pronouncing a word, the student says every vowel with the same crisp, clear sound? Every “e” in e<\/strong>xce<\/strong>le<\/strong>nte<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0sounds exactly the same as the one before it.<\/p>\n One big problem that English speakers tend to have with Spanish is inserting diphthongs where they don’t belong, so that a word like excelente<\/em> comes out sounding more like “excelentay.” Another common problem is pronouncing Spanish words with English vowels, so that a word like cerveza<\/em>\u00a0(beer) incorrectly becomes “sir-VAY-zuh.”<\/p>\n The trick is to practice making clear, consistent vowel sounds that don’t change: ah, eh, ee, oh, ooh. Try to hold each sound for several seconds without changing the shape of your mouth.\u00a0Then, practice inserting the\u00a0sounds into\u00a0words.<\/p>\n As mentioned previously, Spanish pronunciation follows regular rules. So it shouldn’t surprise you that there’s a very simple rule for knowing which syllable gets the stress in a Spanish word. It breaks down like this:<\/p>\n By default, put the stress on the\u00a0second-to-last syllable of a word.<\/strong> Ca<\/strong>sa<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(house), manza<\/strong>na<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(apple), domin<\/strong>go<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(Sunday), and amari<\/strong>llo<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(yellow) are all words that follow this example.<\/p>\n The only exceptions are\u00a0words that end in consonants other than “n” and “s.” In these cases, stress the\u00a0last syllable of the word.<\/strong> Think of words like hablar<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(talk), ordena<\/em>dor<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(computer), pin<\/em>cel<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(paintbrush) and cica<\/em>triz<\/em><\/strong>\u00a0<\/strong>(scar).<\/p>\n Any words that stray from this pattern will be conveniently marked with an accent<\/a>\u2014a little line above a vowel that lets you know to stress that syllable. See, for example, words like mi<\/strong>\u00e9r<\/b>coles<\/em> (Wednesday), d\u00ed<\/strong>melo<\/em> (tell me), esco<\/em>c\u00e9s<\/em><\/b>\u00a0<\/b>(Scottish) and habr\u00e1<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/em>(there will be).<\/p>\n In spoken Spanish, accent marks can be of crucial importance. Take, for example, the totally innocuous sentence “Como papas<\/em>” (I eat potatoes.) Following the simple rules laid out above, we know that this sentence is pronounced, “Co<\/strong>mo\u00a0pa<\/strong>pas<\/em>.”<\/p>\n Stress the wrong syllables and you’ll end up with the sentence, “Co<\/strong>mo\u00a0<\/strong>pap\u00e1s<\/strong>,”<\/em>\u00a0or “I\u00a0eat\u00a0fathers.” Yikes!<\/p>\n Mind your accent marks and learn which syllable to stress\u2014it can make the difference between comprehension and utter confusion.<\/p>\n Over time, knowing which syllable to accent will become intuitive. Until then, here’s an exercise to help you practice: Find a passage of Spanish text that you also have a recording of. (For example:\u00a0lyrics to a song<\/a>, an audiobook<\/a>\u00a0that you also have a hard copy of, a listening exercise<\/a> from a textbook, etc.) Without listening to the recording, underline the syllable in each word that gets the stress. Then, listen to the recording and check your answers.<\/p>\n Let’s do an experiment. Try saying the following phrase out loud: “Two fantastic tigers.”<\/p>\n Pay attention: Where does your tongue go\u00a0when you make the “t” sound? If you are like most English speakers, it probably hits the roof of your mouth.<\/p>\n In Spanish, t’s are not pronounced the same way. When making a “t” sound in Spanish, press the tip of your tongue against the top of your front teeth. This produces a softer, gentler “t” sound like in t<\/strong>iempo<\/em> (time\/weather) and guit<\/strong>arra<\/em>\u00a0(guitar).<\/p>\n Try it out on the very useful phrase, “T<\/strong>\u00fa\u00a0t<\/strong>omast<\/strong>e\u00a0t<\/strong>equila hast<\/strong>a las\u00a0t<\/strong>res de la ma\u00f1ana<\/em>.”\u00a0(You drank tequila until three in the morning.)<\/p>\n “D” sounds also undergo a slight change. For example, try saying “Diana’s adorable dogs.” Where does your tongue end up? Probably the roof of your mouth again.<\/p>\n In Spanish, you must make the “d” sound with your tongue barely touching the back of your top teeth. In this case, the result is a much softer sound, almost like the English “th” in the word “this.” For example, mad<\/strong>re<\/em> (mother) and d<\/strong>\u00eda<\/em> (day).<\/p>\n Go ahead and practice with the following phrase: “Soy\u00a0d<\/strong>e los Estad<\/strong>os Unid<\/strong>os. \u00bfD<\/strong>e\u00a0d<\/strong>\u00f3nd<\/strong>e es usted<\/strong><\/em>?” (I’m from the United States. Where are you from?)<\/p>\n This video<\/a>\u00a0by Learn Spanish Right offers a great comparison of the English and Spanish “d” sounds.<\/p>\n The differences between these sounds may seem trivial. It’s true, a Spanish speaker will probably understand you just fine if you use the English “t” and “d” sounds in your Spanish. But focusing on details like these will help you lose your foreign accent and speak Spanish like a\u00a0native.<\/p>\n If you’re having trouble perfecting the finer points of the Spanish accent, consider making a recording of yourself reading a passage of Spanish aloud. Remember that text\/audio resource from the previous point? Now would be a great time to use that again! Record yourself reading the passage aloud in your best Spanish accent, and then listen back.<\/p>\n You’ll be able to pick out the areas that need improvement much more clearly than you would while speaking. Now, compare your recording with the native speaker’s. Do your t’s and d’s sound like theirs? If not, try reading aloud again.<\/p>\n The letter “r” in Spanish makes two different sounds: the\u00a0r suave<\/em>, or soft r (like in car<\/strong>o<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 expensive) and the r fuerte<\/em>, or strong r (like in carr<\/strong>o<\/em> \u2014 car).<\/p>\n I’ll focus on the\u00a0r fuerte<\/em>, commonly referred to as a rolled “r,” because it’s one of the most difficult sounds for English speakers to master. Some people seem to pick it up intuitively, while others need to put forth a concerted effort to learn to roll their r’s. If you’re struggling, don’t worry\u2014you’re definitely not alone!<\/p>\n Here are some tips if you just can’t seem to roll your r’s:<\/p>\n Now that you’re well on your way to making a perfect\u00a0r fuerte<\/em> sound, here is a run-down of when to use\u00a0it:<\/p>\n Feeling brave? Practice your “r” fuerte<\/em>\u00a0with this tongue twister<\/a>:<\/p>\n R<\/strong>osa R<\/strong>izo r<\/strong>eza en r<\/strong>uso, en r<\/strong>uso r<\/strong>eza R<\/strong>osa R<\/strong>izo.<\/em> There are actually two correct ways to pronounce the Spanish “z,” depending on where you are in the world<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n
\n<\/p>\n1. Learn the Correct Vowel Sounds<\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
2. Pay Attention to Accent Marks<\/h2>\n
3. Soften Your T’s and D’s<\/h2>\n
4. Perfect Your\u00a0R Fuerte<\/em><\/h2>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n(Rosa Rizo prays in Russian, in Russian prays Rosa Rizo.)<\/p>\n5. Mind Your Z’s<\/h2>\n