Voices en Español

Want to dramatically improve the way your Spanish sounds? Focus on pronouncing the Spanish vowels correctly. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking….“But what about the Spanish “R”?  Isn’t that the Holy Grail of Spanish pronunciation?” Well, yes, of course, pronouncing the Spanish erre correctly is extremely important. However, there is another integral aspect of Spanish pronunciation that is frequently overlooked or neglected by native English speakers learning Spanish.

Because the vowels (a,e,i,o,u) are the same in English and Spanish, it would be easy to assume that the sounds are pretty much the same in both languages. But the reality is that Spanish has five vowel sounds only. Contrast that with English, which has a dozen different possible sounds for the same five letters. An English speaker learning Spanish may not be aware of the unnecessary variations in sound he or she is adding to his or her spoken Spanish by introducing some of these English vowel sounds.

After a long hiatus, the Spanish Pronunciation 101 podcasts with Spanish instructor Martín Ventola are back. Today’s episode focuses on Spanish vowels with an extended practice section where you can listen and repeat the words and phrases Martín is saying.

If you’re truly interested in working on this aspect of your Spanish pronunciation, record yourself saying the words and phrases from the second-half of this podcast and then listen closely to how you sound. Pay close attention to the little details, like the way you say short and simple words like no and nada in Spanish. Native English speakers, particularly those with a standard American English pronunciation, tend to elongate the vowel sounds in those words, giving a distinctly non-Spanish sound. If you listen to the podcast, you’ll get more insight into this.

Trust me, you can significantly improve the quality of your spoken Spanish just by improving the way you pronounce the vowels.  Give it a try and then expect to be complimented on your Spanish pronunciation in the future!