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I have difficulty pronouncing Spanish | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| DaisyMaisy Senior Member United States Joined 5371 days ago 115 posts - 178 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 1 of 7 15 November 2013 at 4:09am | IP Logged | ||
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Hello, I did a search for pronunciation issues but didn't find this specifically. Does anyone else find Spanish to be a bit of a tongue twister? I find that I stumble over words and generally mangle many things I try to say. I seem to have the most trouble with T and R sounds. For example, I can't say, "Soy norteamericana" without fumbling over the RT part. I don't seem to have this problem in English (my native language).
I also do much better in French - not that I speak it well but it comes out sounding less awful! I really want to increase my fluency in Spanish but I feel frustrated that I can hardly get a few words out. Is this something that sheer practice would help? I feel like I'm getting nowhere and wondering about specific exercises. Thanks to anyone who has any ideas! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| 1e4e6 Octoglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4281 days ago 1013 posts - 1588 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, Dutch, Swedish, Italian Studies: German, Danish, Russian, Catalan | Message 2 of 7 15 November 2013 at 6:12am | IP Logged | ||
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I cannot say that the -rt combination is particularly difficult, usually Anglophones have
more difficulties with the trilled rr, the g before i/e, etc. But perhsaps the problem is pronouncing it in one syllable; -rt must be divided into r and t into two syllables: "nor-te-ame-ri-cá-na", not "nort-e" nor "no-rte". 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5366 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 7 15 November 2013 at 1:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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What level is your Spanish at? Things like Pimsleur, Learning Spanish Like Crazy, the first two lessons of FSI Basic and the program Pronounce It Perfectly in Spanish can really help. If you are learning with those types of programs I would not worry about it. If you are doing only classes and/or mostly book learning without audio you might have problems and should consider some of those types of courses where the student mimics the audio.
I still have problems with my pronunciation... when I speak to Spaniards and say "todo" they look around for a "toro." 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 7 15 November 2013 at 6:39pm | IP Logged | ||
A Spanish guy mentioned to me that he has this exact same confusion when hearing Anglophones speak the language. English intervocalic (between two vowels) D can sound close to Spanish single R, which is what causes the confusion. But in Spanish intervocalic D is often very close to the English TH sound in "though." For example, as you can see in Wiktionary, "todo" is notated as /to.ðo/ and "though" as /ðoʊ/. Edited by tastyonions on 15 November 2013 at 6:40pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| DaisyMaisy Senior Member United States Joined 5371 days ago 115 posts - 178 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 5 of 7 17 November 2013 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for the replies! That is interesting on the -rt- as one vs separate sounds. I think I am trying so hard to avoid my American "r" sound that I'm making it all one sound.
My Spanish is pretty basic (I need to familiarize myself with what the different levels I see on this forum mean). I was once at a level where I could understand most conversations if they were fairly straightforward. It's been years since then though, so I am pretty much back to the beginning. Thanks for the suggestions on the programs - I will look for those. I am mostly studying books at this point and watching Spanish language TV. So I need some structure! I had never thought of the d and the r like that - interesting! That explains another piece of the puzzle. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tastyonions Triglot Senior Member United States goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4656 days ago 1044 posts - 1823 votes Speaks: English*, French, Spanish Studies: Italian | Message 6 of 7 17 November 2013 at 11:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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Have a look at this site, too: http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/#
It gives you an overview of all the different sounds of Spanish, with mouth diagrams, video examples, and IPA notation. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| DaisyMaisy Senior Member United States Joined 5371 days ago 115 posts - 178 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish Studies: Swedish, Finnish | Message 7 of 7 19 November 2013 at 5:55am | IP Logged | ||
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Oh cool, thanks! I'm going to check that out now....
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