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Pronunciation · For spanish speakers

English pronunciation for spanish speakers

In short

Spanish has 5 pure vowels where English has around 20, so the highest-impact work for Spanish speakers is vowel contrasts — ship/sheep, cat/cut — plus the b/v merger and the extra 'e' that sneaks in before s-clusters (eSpain).

Your priority sounds, in order

Ordered by impact on being understood — not by how noticeable the error is. (That's why the famous 'th' is rarely first: it's heard often but changes meaning almost never.)

  1. 1

    /ɪ/ — i as in sit

    /ɪ/ merges with /iː/ — 'ship' and 'sheep', 'live' and 'leave' sound identical

    Fix: Relax your lips and jaw — no smile. Practise: ship vs sheep

  2. 2

    /æ/ — a as in cat

    /æ/, /ʌ/ and /ɑː/ collapse into one Spanish 'a' — cat/cut/cart blur together

    Fix: Open your mouth wide — wider than feels natural at first. Practise: bed vs bad, cat vs cut

  3. 3

    /v/ — v as in very

    b and v merge into one soft sound — 'berry' and 'very' are indistinguishable

    Fix: Touch your top teeth to your bottom lip — same position as /f/. Practise: vest vs west, berry vs very

  4. 4

    /z/ — z as in zoo

    no /z/ in Spanish — 'eyes' devoices to 'ice', plural endings disappear

    Fix: Same position as /s/ — tongue near the ridge. Practise: price vs prize

  5. 5

    /dʒ/ — j as in job

    /dʒ/ and /j/ swap — 'jet' becomes 'yet' and vice versa

    Fix: Start as if saying /d/ — tongue on the ridge. Practise: jet vs yet

  6. 6

    /ʃ/ — sh as in she

    Latin American speakers often merge /ʃ/ into /tʃ/ — 'ship' becomes 'chip'

    Fix: Pull your tongue slightly further back than for /s/. Practise: see vs she, chair vs share

  7. 7

    /ə/ — a as in about (schwa)

    Spanish has no reduced vowels — every syllable gets a full vowel, making rhythm staccato

    Fix: Relax everything: lips, jaw, tongue in the neutral middle position.

Beyond sounds: stress and rhythm

Suprasegmentals — stress, rhythm, intonation — transfer from Spanish in predictable ways, and research shows fixing them improves real-world comprehensibility more than sound polish does.

  • Spanish is syllable-timed; English squeezes unstressed syllables. Practise weak forms (of → /ə/, can → /kən/) to unlock natural rhythm.
  • Avoid the extra 'e' before s-clusters: school, Spain, street start straight on the /s/.
  • Spanish pitch range is narrower — exaggerate stressed-word pitch jumps until they feel theatrical; they will sound normal.

Quick wins to start this week

  • ✓Master /ɪ/ vs /iː/ first — it fixes hundreds of everyday words.
  • ✓Hold a long 'vvvv' with teeth on lip daily until b/v separate.
  • ✓Read plurals aloud, buzzing every final s into a /z/: dogs, plans, ideas.

Keep exploring

Frequently asked questions

What are the hardest English sounds for spanish speakers?
The highest-impact challenges are /ɪ/ (/ɪ/ merges with /iː/); /æ/ (/æ/, /ʌ/ and /ɑː/ collapse into one spanish 'a'); /v/ (b and v merge into one soft sound). These are ordered by how much they affect intelligibility, not by how noticeable they are.
Do spanish speakers need to lose their accent for IELTS?
No. IELTS explicitly accepts every standard accent — the descriptors only mention L1 accent at Band 8, and only through its effect on intelligibility. The goal is clarity, not sounding native.
Where should I start?
Master /ɪ/ vs /iː/ first — it fixes hundreds of everyday words.

Next step

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Record a two-minute sound check in SpeakMetry and the AI maps your actual weak sounds — usually a shorter list than the one above — then coaches you through them.

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