💡 Free mini course - start building clear, natural-sounding Spanish that gives you more confidence in how you speak: breakthroughspanish.com/pronunciation-guide
Excelente! As a long-time Spanish-speaking gringo, I can tell you that MY "excuse" (and not a good one) is that I often devote so much thought to the selection of words and conjugations that my pronunciation (even if I know what's correct) unfairly gets short shrift.
you're definitely not alone there. There is a lot to think about at once, so when something isn't automatic yet, it tends to break down when our attention has to go elsewhere (in this case, communicating your message). What I've found helps is training pronunciation separately. A few mins a day can really help, and then once you're in conversation, you make an effort to retain that pronunciation but don't stress over it. The more you practice (and listen actively to Spanish speakers) the more automatic it becomes
@@BreakthroughSpanish Thank you for the empathy and sound advice. I just realized that a BIG reason we non-native speakers are messing up is that the examples you give (except for escribio and sucedio), and others as well, don't have accents. Thus, we naturally give equal weight to each syllable. Compounding the problem is that we hear other non-natives pronouncing them wrong. Further, it takes a really dedicated native speaker to stop you and correct your pronunciation (or conjugation). In normal conversation, we listen for the message, not the precision of the speech. This is why, when I talk with a native speaker, I (too) often stop myself, while speaking, to ask if I have said/pronounced something correctly. Very few non-natives do this. I sometimes joke that I turn every conversation into a language lesson for myself. But, eff it, that's how I learn. (I also "constantly" check for correctness with my phone translators.)
For me it's "ejército" en España --- "ejer(th)ito. Coming off the harsher (than the Americas) throat sound of "j" and then onto the "r" sound followed by the English "th" is quite a challenge.
Hola! Aqui un argentino, hijo y nietos de argentinos (bueno, salvo mi abuela materna, que era italiana :-). Lo que se explica en el video no está mal... pero sin dudas, NO ES RELEVANTE para mantener una conversación fluida. Estoy seguro de que la inmensa mayoría de los hispanoparlantes entenderíamos perfectamente que cuando un extranjero dice JALAPENIO en realidad está queriendo decir JALAPEÑO... y no pasa nada si pronunciás nada (con d suave) o naDa (con D fuerte): te entenderemos igual. Son diferencias de pronunciación demasiado sutiles para ser relevantes... hay diferencias de pronunciación mucho mayores entre los distintos países de Hispanoamérica (o, incluso, dentro de distintas regiones de un mismo país, como ocurre en Argentina) y, sin embargo, nos entendemos igual entre todos. Saludos, y muchas gracias por difundir nuestro idioma!!!
Gracias por tu comentario! Tienes razón, un angloparlante puede hacerse entender sin problema aunque cometa muchos “errores” de pronunciación. Pero a mucha gente le interesa que no se le note tanto el acento extranjero, y esa es la idea del video :)
The one I really struggle with at the moment is "perder" - it's just a jumble of sounds somewhere between the Spanish and English Rs and Ds and it's never consistent, I sound different every time I try to say it. I'd love some guidance on how to say it in particular because I struggle with what the D is doing if the R is there. I asked a Spaniard and she told me you just sort of forget about the D but knowing Spanish to be very phonetic I can't imagine it's as easy as 'don't worry about it'.
interesting, the D is definitely still there in perder (see examples here: forvo.com/word/perder/#es) although you can surely find examples where it's not very audible. One thing that helps is pronouncing it really, really slowly, and breaking the two syllables apart (per-der) and gradually bringing them closer together
Okay, I have some work to do. And very annoying that the word that describes who we are, estadounidense, is the hardest thing to say for me. In fact, back in high school when I first learned was learning Spanish I believe we were taught to say Americano/a. I learned this had changed actually not too long ago.
jalapeño with that "ain-yo" sound has to be a southern accent lol I can hear the southern chefs saying it that way while describing their jalapeño poppers 😂
How important is it for you to be able to roll your Rs in Spanish? I am one of those people who are physically unable to. I can pronounce the Spanish "R" (single) all right, I just am not physically capable of rolling/trilling my Rs (double, e.g., perro). Just wondering how much of a hindrance this will be.
You can speak excellent Spanish without ever rolling your R’s! So don’t let that hold you back. People will understand you regardless, especially if you focus on other areas of pronunciation
I felt the same way as you about rolling the Rs. Physically incapable. BUT, with determination, I've gotten a lot better. I can't trill and hold, but I can do a decent job distinguishing between "pero" and "perro." I would encourage you to look up videos to help with this. I just practiced over and over while walking down the street, driving in the car, exercising at the gym!! It CAN be done.
P.S. You will definitely come across videos on this topic that won't work for you at all. You just have to keep hunting until you find one that works for you. For me, it came down to a dude who said: Just do "pero" endlessly, over and over and over, until your tongue relaxes and it develops into "perro" :)
The worst issue I hear from students is the dreaded "schwa" sound in English creeping into Spanish. Happens subconsciously for most peopl and they don't even realize it happens...also "sh" in estación.
💡 Free mini course - start building clear, natural-sounding Spanish that gives you more confidence in how you speak: breakthroughspanish.com/pronunciation-guide
Excellent lesson!
Excelente! As a long-time Spanish-speaking gringo, I can tell you that MY "excuse" (and not a good one) is that I often devote so much thought to the selection of words and conjugations that my pronunciation (even if I know what's correct) unfairly gets short shrift.
you're definitely not alone there. There is a lot to think about at once, so when something isn't automatic yet, it tends to break down when our attention has to go elsewhere (in this case, communicating your message). What I've found helps is training pronunciation separately. A few mins a day can really help, and then once you're in conversation, you make an effort to retain that pronunciation but don't stress over it. The more you practice (and listen actively to Spanish speakers) the more automatic it becomes
@@BreakthroughSpanish Thank you for the empathy and sound advice. I just realized that a BIG reason we non-native speakers are messing up is that the examples you give (except for escribio and sucedio), and others as well, don't have accents. Thus, we naturally give equal weight to each syllable. Compounding the problem is that we hear other non-natives pronouncing them wrong.
Further, it takes a really dedicated native speaker to stop you and correct your pronunciation (or conjugation). In normal conversation, we listen for the message, not the precision of the speech. This is why, when I talk with a native speaker, I (too) often stop myself, while speaking, to ask if I have said/pronounced something correctly. Very few non-natives do this. I sometimes joke that I turn every conversation into a language lesson for myself. But, eff it, that's how I learn. (I also "constantly" check for correctness with my phone translators.)
For me it's "ejército" en España --- "ejer(th)ito. Coming off the harsher (than the Americas) throat sound of "j" and then onto the "r" sound followed by the English "th" is quite a challenge.
Thanks for posting again. Your videos are super helpful. You're my "go-to" for pronunciation.
That’s great to hear! Thanks for watching
Sí, Euro y Europa son muy difíciles
Hola! Aqui un argentino, hijo y nietos de argentinos (bueno, salvo mi abuela materna, que era italiana :-). Lo que se explica en el video no está mal... pero sin dudas, NO ES RELEVANTE para mantener una conversación fluida. Estoy seguro de que la inmensa mayoría de los hispanoparlantes entenderíamos perfectamente que cuando un extranjero dice JALAPENIO en realidad está queriendo decir JALAPEÑO... y no pasa nada si pronunciás nada (con d suave) o naDa (con D fuerte): te entenderemos igual. Son diferencias de pronunciación demasiado sutiles para ser relevantes... hay diferencias de pronunciación mucho mayores entre los distintos países de Hispanoamérica (o, incluso, dentro de distintas regiones de un mismo país, como ocurre en Argentina) y, sin embargo, nos entendemos igual entre todos. Saludos, y muchas gracias por difundir nuestro idioma!!!
Gracias por tu comentario! Tienes razón, un angloparlante puede hacerse entender sin problema aunque cometa muchos “errores” de pronunciación. Pero a mucha gente le interesa que no se le note tanto el acento extranjero, y esa es la idea del video :)
@@BreakthroughSpanish Estoy de acuerdo. Cuando escucho otros estadounidenses con acentos malos, me duelan los oídos. Prefiero no ser uno de ellos! 😄
The one I really struggle with at the moment is "perder" - it's just a jumble of sounds somewhere between the Spanish and English Rs and Ds and it's never consistent, I sound different every time I try to say it. I'd love some guidance on how to say it in particular because I struggle with what the D is doing if the R is there. I asked a Spaniard and she told me you just sort of forget about the D but knowing Spanish to be very phonetic I can't imagine it's as easy as 'don't worry about it'.
interesting, the D is definitely still there in perder (see examples here: forvo.com/word/perder/#es) although you can surely find examples where it's not very audible. One thing that helps is pronouncing it really, really slowly, and breaking the two syllables apart (per-der) and gradually bringing them closer together
Interesting
Okay, I have some work to do. And very annoying that the word that describes who we are, estadounidense, is the hardest thing to say for me. In fact, back in high school when I first learned was learning Spanish I believe we were taught to say Americano/a. I learned this had changed actually not too long ago.
People do still say Americano/a, (also norteamericano/a) although the more correct term is estadounidense. It gets easier to say with practice!
Multiple issues with “peña” - Americans use an aspirated p, use English vowels instead of the short and consistent vowels.
True, those are also common challenges English speakers have
jalapeño with that "ain-yo" sound has to be a southern accent lol I can hear the southern chefs saying it that way while describing their jalapeño poppers 😂
😂 true, it’s hard to shake that drawl
How important is it for you to be able to roll your Rs in Spanish? I am one of those people who are physically unable to. I can pronounce the Spanish "R" (single) all right, I just am not physically capable of rolling/trilling my Rs (double, e.g., perro). Just wondering how much of a hindrance this will be.
You can speak excellent Spanish without ever rolling your R’s! So don’t let that hold you back. People will understand you regardless, especially if you focus on other areas of pronunciation
Physically incapable????
@@lapantera2022 do you have a reading comprehension problem? 😂
I felt the same way as you about rolling the Rs. Physically incapable. BUT, with determination, I've gotten a lot better. I can't trill and hold, but I can do a decent job distinguishing between "pero" and "perro." I would encourage you to look up videos to help with this. I just practiced over and over while walking down the street, driving in the car, exercising at the gym!! It CAN be done.
P.S. You will definitely come across videos on this topic that won't work for you at all. You just have to keep hunting until you find one that works for you. For me, it came down to a dude who said: Just do "pero" endlessly, over and over and over, until your tongue relaxes and it develops into "perro" :)
The hardest sound to form for me is 'ue': almuerzo, vuelve, mueble, etc
that's a tricky one. The key is that it's just one syllable (ue, not u-e), so we get mue-ble (think: mwe-ble) rather than mu-e-ble
Uno se acostumbra a decir “Las Vey-gas”. 🙄🎰😄 Sin embargo creo que la “o” en “estadounidense” se considera casi oficialmente silenciosa.
🔥🌟🌹🌟🔥
Pronuncio mal 'español' de la misma forma que se pronuncia mal 'jalapeño'.
The worst issue I hear from students is the dreaded "schwa" sound in English creeping into Spanish. Happens subconsciously for most peopl and they don't even realize it happens...also "sh" in estación.
True! “shion” for “ción “ is a good one to point out, thank you