1. Double R (RR) and single R.

The letter r in Spanish has a slightly different sound than the general English sound for the later r. To make things even more difficult, some English dialects (such as New Zealand English) often drop the r sound completely, such as in the word car where it is pronounced more like “ka“. In Spanish the r is generally trilled. Also, the double rr in words has a much longer duration, giving a difference between such words as pero (but) and perro (dog).

2. Double L (LL).

The double l sound is most commonly found by gringos in the word tortilla. However, the double l is not the familiar l sound, that is pronounced more like the vowel i (ee) (IPA: /ʎ/). To make matters even worse, various regional dialects pronounce the double l with a jz kind of sound (IPA: /ʝ/) sound. Remember, the double l is considered a separate letter of the Spanish alphabet.

3. Eñe – ñ.

This one can be disastrous, and change a harmless sentence on to something more offensive. Of course, most native Spanish speakers will take into account the fact that a gringo said it. Consider the word año (year), such as the phrase Feliz Año Nuevo (Happy New Year). Now consider what happens if you pronounce the word año (year) as ano (anus)! A very different meaning I’m sure you will agree. Remember, when you see the ñ letter, you pronounce it like the ny sound canyon (from the Spanish word cañón).

4. J.

The letter j (jota) is used for the sound provided by the letter h in English. The common mistake for gringos is to pronounce the j as the English j (IPA: /dʒ/). The most common word is probably jalapeño, commonly pronounced as gel-a-pea-no. This word is a double whammy, combining the mispronunciation of j with the mispronunciation of the ñ. The correct pronunciation is more like ha-la-pay-nyo.

5. H.

The letter h in Spanish is almost always silent, with the exception of a few loanwords such as Sáhara (yes, a lot of Spanish speakers will pronounce is Sa-ara, but apparently the official pronunciation is Sá-jara). Gringos commonly mispronounce words such as hacer (pronounced ah-ser), hambre (pronounced ahm-bray), etc, much to the mirth of native Spanish speakers.

6. Gua.

This cluster of letters is found in many Spanish words, such as agua (water), guardia (guard), guardar (to save, or to guard), and guacamole. The gua sound is more like wa in English (for example the word way). Gringos often pronounce the aforementioned words (thinking in English pronunciation) as awa, wardia, wardar, and wacamole, rather than a-guy-a (or a-goo-a), gardia, gardar, or gwakamole.

Other Errors in Pronouncing Spanish

• Placing the stress on the wrong syllable of a word
• Mispronouncing vowels, such as saying them using an English sound
• Mispronouncing diphthongs
• Generally saying a word as it would likely be pronounced in English

Practising your pronunciation skills will assist you in clearly communicating with native Spanish speakers. It isn’t necessary to be perfect or near native in your pronunciation, however pronouncing the words as clearly and closely to native Spanish speakers pronunciation will likely impress the audience and ensure that there are less misunderstandings. It can also be helpful to develop your listening skills to pick up the regional variations in pronunciation. There is only a limited number of variations so it isn’t that difficult, and it is often possible to watch movies from various countries and hear the different pronunciations by native speakers.

Did you know?

The letter x was once commonly used to denote the sound now denoted by j (jota – the English ‘h’). Examples exist such as Don Quixote (now spelt Don Quijote in modern Spanish) and of course Mexico (Me-hi-co).

The letter ç was once used, but has since been replaced with z in modern Spanish.

More information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_alphabet