Spanish

Study the whole book, but also pay special attention to the topics outlined below. These are common areas of difficulty for native Spanish speakers.

Consonants

Consonant Clusters

Practice all of the exercises on consonant clusters in Chapter Four. In the Spanish language, when there are two consonants together, such as rd or ct, a vowel usually follows. In English that is not the case. For example, Americans say Robert with “rt” at the end. The Spanish equivalent is “Roberto” — the rt cluster is followed by a vowel, making it easier to pronounce the second consonant.  Because it doesn’t feel natural to Spanish speakers to pronounce the consonant at the end, they tend to pronounce only the first consonant of the group, making the name Robert sound like “robber.” Also, card can sound like “car,” and Richard will sound like “richer.”  Another good example is the English word correct, which in Spanish is “correcto.”

When you come across a word with two or more consonants next to each other, make sure that you pronounce every consonant. Pay special attention to past tense -ed verbs. They generally form consonant clusters as in worked and watched.

Word Pairs for Practice

Be sure to pronounce every consonant in the words below.

1. worked hard
2. extra strength
3. lost and found
4. played cards
5. extremely difficult
6. wild world

Verbs Ending in -ed

Make sure you learn to pronounce the three different -ed endings of verbs. For example, the endings of the verbs needed, opened, and passed are all pronounced differently. Review Chapter Four for more guidance on this topic.

The th Sound

Review Chapters Three and Four to learn the correct pronunciation of this sound. A common mistake is to substitute a /t/ or a /d/ for th.

Confusing “b” and “v”

Because the Spanish b and v are pronounced the same, many Spanish speakers of English pronounce the words very and berry or curve and curb the same. You can practice these sounds in detail in Chapter Four.

Confusing /ʤ/ and /y/

The Spanish ll as in the words silla, is usually pronounced like the English /ʤ/ and /y/ put together or, in certain Spanish dialects, like the /y/ sound. You need to learn the difference between these two English sounds. Otherwise, you might end up saying “I’m going to jail,” when you wanted to say “I’m going to Yale.”

For the /ʤ/ sound, the tip of the tongue quickly touches the gum ridge and then releases. The sides of the tongue are against the upper teeth. For the /y/ sound, the tip of the tongue is down touching the bottom teeth.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure you pronounce the two words in each pair differently.

Confusing sh and ch

Remember, sh or /ʃ/ requires a continuous air flow coming out through the tongue. For the /tʃ/ sound (ch), however, the tip of the tongue blocks the air flow.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Take note of the following exceptions. These words are spelling with ch but are pronounced with a sh or /ʃ/ sound. These words are mostly French in origin.

1. chef
2. machine
3. chic
4. chandelier
5. champagne
6. chauffeur
7. Chicago
8. Michigan
9. Chevrolet

Dialogues for Practice

1. a. Which shoes should she choose?
   b. She should purchase the cheaper shoes.
2. a. Where are Shawn and Charlie?
   b. Charlie’s in church and Shawn’s in the kitchen washing dishes.
3. a. Should I switch the channel?
   b. Don’t switch the channel. I’m watching the show.
4. a. What’s the cheapest way to ship the chips?
   b. It’s much cheaper to ship the chips by ship.
5. a. These peaches are delicious.
   b. Do you wish to share them with each of us?

The /m/ Sound

When speaking quickly, Spanish speakers often don’t fully close their lips to produce the /m/ sound especially when it is in the middle of or at the end of a word. Therefore, From time to time can end up sounding like: fron tine to tine. Also, the word sometimes can sound like sonetine. Make sure you don’t confuse m with an /n/ sound.

Words for Practice

Be sure to fully pronounce the /m/ sound in the words below.

1. I’m
2. from
3. sometimes
4. some
5. time
6. minimum

The /s/ Sound

The Spanish language has no word that begins with an s followed by another consonant. There is usually a vowel in front of the s. Make sure you don’t inadvertantly insert an extra vowel sound when you say English words beginning with s. Here are some common words that demonstrate the s problem.

Confusing /s/ and /z/

The s in many English words is frequently pronounced as a /z/ sound. Learn the rules for this and refer to the list of common words with a /z/ sound in Chapter Four. Other words pronounced with a /z/ sound include husband, design, observe, always, and chose. Also, note that in Spanish, a z is pronounced as an /s/ sound. This is not the case in English.

Word Contrasts for Practice

Make sure you say the two words in each pair below differently.

Vowels

Since Spanish has a lot fewer vowel sounds than English, you will need to review all of the American vowel sounds in Chapters One and Two. Also pay special attention to the vowel sounds highlighted below which are the most problematic ones for native Spanish speakers.

Words Spelled with o

English words spelled with o are particularly difficult for Spanish speakers since o is usually pronounced as /ɑ/ as in stop and hot, but it can also be pronounced as /ɘ/ as in love and Monday or even as /ou/ as in so and only. Study Chapter 2 in detail.

The /I/ Sound

You might have a tendency to pronounce /I/ (as in sit) incorrectly. Make sure you pronounce the following words differently:

The /ɘ/ Sound

You might confuse /ɘ/ as in fun, with /ɑ/ as in hop. Practice pronouncing the following words differently:

The /ʊ/ Sound

Do not make the common error of confusing /ʊ/ as in good, with /u/ as in food. Make sure you pronounce the following words differently:

Reduced Vowels in Unstressed Syllables

In Spanish all the vowels are pronounced fully, whereas in English vowels in unstressed syllables almost disappear and become a reduced schwa /ɘ/ sound. For example, the word doctor exists in both languages. In Spanish both of the o sounds are pronounced the same way. In English, the word sounds like “doctr.” The second o is changed to a short, reduced /ɘ/ sound because it’s part of the unstressed syllable. For further study and practice, refer to Chapter Five on syllable stress. Below are some examples of the vowel differences between the two languages.

Word Stress

In Spanish, adjectives are stressed more than nouns are. In English it’s the opposite.

Similarly, Spanish speakers tend to place the most stress in the first part of a phrase or sentence, whereas Americans stress the endings more. Remember to place the most emphasis on the last content word of each sentence. Review Chapter Six for more guidance on this topic.

Other common word stress errors:

Study all the rules of word stress in Chapters Five through Eight, and practice the exercises over and over.