Simple tips to improve your Spanish pronunciation.

Spanish is a language that is quite literal in its pronunciation. All the vowels and consonants combined always have their own distinct sound as syllables and this sound never changes no matter how they are put together. For instance, the syllable “que” always sounds the same no matter if we are saying: “parque” (park) or “queso” (cheese). The good thing about this is that once you get the sound of the syllables that means you have the ability to pronounce them correctly in any given word or sentence.

Here are some helpful pronunciation tips to improve your conversational Spanish.

Hint: It’s all about the vowels!

In order to master the sound of the syllables in Spanish is really key to learn the sound of the 5 vowels which is different to their sound in English:

A is pronounced like the “a” in “father”
E is pronounced like the “e” in “bed”
I is pronounced like the “ee” in “see”
O is pronounced like the “o” in “nor”
U is pronounced like the “oo” in “too”

The trick is to keep in mind that vowel sounds stay the same in every Spanish word. It doesn’t matter if we say “Queso”, “Beso” or “Sobre”, the “e” will always sound like the “e” in “bed”, and the “o” will always sound like the “o” in “nor”. And the same thing goes for all the vowels.

Once you have the vowel sounds clearly defined, if you want to sound more natural in Spanish, we recommend placing emphasis on the correct vowel sounds. “Impossible” is pronounced somewhat close to ‘eem-poh-see-bleh’. Each vowel sound needs to be articulated clearly, and separate the word in syllables. Unlike English where some long words can be said in just one spurt, Spanish needs to be articulated clearly in syllables. In order to learn how to pronounce more naturally in Spanish, it’s always recommended to speak slowly but separating the syllables. Of course, once you practice more and more you will be able to speak faster and still be able to define your syllables and your vowels.

Luckily we only have 5 vowels but sometimes you get two vowels that are placed together and you get what is called a diphthong. For example, for the word “aire”, make the /a/ sound and then immediately after, make the sound for /i/. Say it faster and faster until it is one syllable. That is a diphthong.

Spanish Diphthongs

au /a/ + /u/ = “ow!” au-la, aun-que
ai, ay /a/ + /i/ = “ay ayay!” ai-re, hay
eu /e/ + /u/ = * this sound does not exist in English, but is kind of similar to “eeew!” Eu-ro-pa, neu-tro
ei, ey /e/ + /i/ = “hey” rei-na, rey
ia /i/ + /a/ = “yah!” pia-no, ha-cia
ie /i/ + /e/ = “yeck!” tie-rra, ser-pien-te
io /i/ + /o/ = “yo yo” ra-dio, u-nión
iu /i/ + /u/ = “you” viu-da, ciu-dad
oi, oy /o/ + /i/ = “toy” boi-na, hoy
ua /u/ + /a/ = “water” a-gua, cua-dro
ue /u/ + /e/ = “wet” fue-go, true-no
ui /u/ + /i/ = “wee!” fui-mos, huir
uo /u/ + /o/ = “whoa” cuo-ta, in-di-vi-duo