5 Pronunciation Problems for Spanish Speakers
As an English teacher working with Spanish-speaking students, you probably already know the most difficult sounds for them. Over time, we tune in to our students and can usually decipher what they say without thinking about it. However, when these students use English outside of the classroom, they may find that anyone who isn’t a language teacher struggles to understand them. That’s why they need us - so we can help them really smooth out their biggest pronunciation issues to make sure they can be understood, wherever they are.
Here are our top five pronunciation problems for Spanish speakers learning English, along with some practical ideas of how to help your students with them.
1. The Schwa Sound (ə)
The schwa (that neutral vowel sound found in many unstressed syllables) doesn’t exist in Spanish. We use it all the time in English, in words like "sofa" (so-fə) and "taken" (ta-kən). This particularly causes problems with “can” or “can’t” - can should be pronounced in a sentence as /kən/ (I can (kən) swim) , so when it’s pronounced as /kæn/, it sounds like a negative!
Have you ever had a student say, “I can hear you”, and you have no idea if they can hear you or not?
And don’t forget that the work we do on pronunciation generally helps students with their listening skills as well. Decoding connected speech, usually packed with schwa sounds, is really hard!
Teaching Tip: There's a great BBC video that you can watch with your students to help raise awareness of the sound and how it relates to connected speech. Pause the video as you go, and get students to try to replicate the words and sentences as closely as they can.
2. Saying Words Exactly as They’re Written (e.g., "comfortable" as "com-fort-a-ble")
The Spanish language has a more direct relationship with spelling than English, so Spanish speakers often try to pronounce English words exactly as they are spelled. This is especially obvious with words like "comfortable" and "vegetable", but also more subtlety in words like “business” (bizniz, not bus-i-ness). And, don’t forget the complete minefield of vowels! “Money”, (muney, not mohney), “friend” (frend, not freeyend).
Teaching Tip: You may find yourself correcting these mistakes on the spot even with C1 students! This is because if we don’t address these issues at lower levels, mistakes become really fossilised. Our free ‘Let’s Get Comfortable’ lesson plan really hones in on these problems. We use phonetic transcriptions to show the correct pronunciation and have students practice saying words correctly with controlled tasks. But most importantly, they feature tons of speaking questions so your students can use the words naturally in conversation, with you to correct and support them.
3. "i" vs. "I" Sounds (e.g., "sit" vs. "seat")
This one can really lead to some embarrassing mix ups! Shit vs sheet, bitch vs beach - /I/ really is a tough sound. Some students, no matter how much practice they do, just won’t be able to produce it clearly. But at the very least, they can train their ears, which will help their listening skills.
Teaching Tip: We love the free practice activities you can find on ESLtips.com - there are audio clips of common words, and interactive activities for you to guide your students through - including a ‘telephone pronunciation’ activity - a true ELT classic!
4. Starting Words with "Es" (e.g., "Espanish" instead of "Spanish")
Spanish speakers often add an "es" sound before words that start with "s" followed by a consonant. This happens because Spanish words rarely start with an "s" followed directly by a consonant.
Teaching Tip: Focus on practicing the "s" sound in isolation and in context. Use drills where students practice starting with the "s" sound alone before adding the rest of the word, such as "sss-spanish," "sss-school," and "sss-special." We have a whole lesson plan designed to help students break this bad habit.
5. The /ʌ/ sound (e.g., "cup", "money", “cousin”)
Spanish speakers often struggle with differentiating the "uh" sound in "cup" from the "ah" sound in "cap." So, they may say ‘fun/fan’ or ‘much/match’ the same.
Teaching Tip: Use minimal pairs to highlight the difference. Have students listen to and repeat pairs like "cup" and "cap," "fun" and "fan." Visuals showing mouth shape can be helpful, as can listening exercises where students identify the correct vowel sound. We’ve incorporated all of this into one dedicated lesson plan, “The Party Was Very Fan”, and it’s one of our most popular. Try it and see!
So, are you agree do you agree? Can you think of any more? Let us know in the comments!
