ERROR #1: Mispronouncing SH

It is when Spanish speakers pronounce SH /ʃ/ as S /s/, which happens when they don't draw their tongue back. And also it can be mispronounced as CH /ʧ/ sound is present in Spanish.

Example:

"she" becomes "see" (sh - s) "she" becomes "che" (sh - ch)

Exercise #1

Instructions:

1. Start by hissing out the S sound (“ssssssss”).

2. Then round your lips closer together and pull your tongue back to produce the SH sound.

3. Now read the following sentences pronouncing words with the SH /ʃ/ sound as you have practiced in the previous two steps.

Exercise #2

Instructions:

1. First pronounce the sound SH /ʃ/ like the quite sound “shhhh” and the CH /ʧ/ sound like a sneeze “Ah-choo!”.

2. Now pronounce the following words as you have practiced in the previous step to see the difference between those two sounds.

References

English Pronunciation Lesson: /s/ vs. /ʃ/ (s vs sh). (2020, February 15). Happy English - Free English Lessons. https://www.myhappyenglish.com/free-english-lesson/2013/04/24/english-pronunciation-lesson-s-vs-%CA%83-s-vs-sh/

Ocon, I. (2022, April 13). 10 Most common English pronunciation mistakes for Spanish speakers and how to fix them. Parrot. https://blog.parrotlanguages.com/english-pronunciation-for-spanish-speakers/

Comments

ERROR #3: The V and the B are pronounced the same

It happens when the /b/ and /v/ sounds sound the same when Spanish speakers pronounce words with those sounds. In English, the /v/ is fricative, which means the teeth and lips must touch when you say it. The /b/ on the other hand, is plosive. This means both the lips touch together (imagine the motion you’d do when applying lipstick or blowing a kiss). Example: Mispronunciation of these sounds can cause some confusion. “Have you seen the Voice?” sounds like “Have you seen the boys?” "very" sounds like "berry" "van" sounds like "ban" "vase" sounds like "bars" Exercise #1: Instructions: Practise saying both sets of words and check your pronunciation is different for each. Make sure that for the /v/ sound air passes between your teeth and lips with a vibration. Exercise #2: Instructions: Look carefully every picture and repeat the words. Reference Oxford House. (2020, November 11). 6 Pronunciation Mistakes Spanish Speakers M...

ERROR #4: Problems identifying [i] and [ɪ] sounds in words

As Spanish speakers, in our alphabet we only have one sound for each of the five vowels. In contrast to English that are several sounds even just for one vowel. This brings us to this first error in which we cannot identify easily these two sounds because of their similarity. Example: bit - beat chip - cheap dip - deep fill - feel Exercise #1 Instructions: In couples, you will have a chart with different audios of minimal pair words. You have to choose if the word contains either [i] or [ɪ] sound. To help you to choose the correct option, pronounce the word aloud mimicking what you heard in the audio. https://voca.ro/15Tt4vn7L3Jw https://voca.ro/1dkJGksFZDpm https://voca.ro/1hP2lAOrD1Zd https://voca.ro/11I7drbv830j https://voca.ro/1mLAPtAF2sCO https://voca.ro/18GtSufxpas7 https://voca.ro/1hhhlaYaBeYS https://voca.ro/19VcTxstjnmi https://voca.ro/1oH...

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