How to Make Your Spanish Sound Less Like English

A formerly misunderstood gringo shares tips on shedding your verbal baggage

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” — Nelson Mandela

You’ve spent hours, months even, learning a strategic handful of words and phrases. Eager to try them out, you rattle off something you've learned to a Spanish speaker. To your frustration, all your hardwon knowledge is met with a blank stare. Your brain screams: I know that’s the right word! And you’re right, it is. But your English has somehow gotten in the way — the strange noises escaping your throat simply do not belong to the Spanish soundscape...

Learn from my gringo experience

I was born in rural Georgia to a very white family. By and large, I only heard English throughout my childhood, with most of that being poorly spoken by most people’s standards.

My exposure to Spanish was limited to the offerings of the Taco Bell menu and the phrases of Speedy Gonzales on the Looney Tunes. (I loved to run around screaming “Holy guacamole! ¡Ándale! ¡Ándale! ¡Arriba! ¡Arriba! Yii-hah!” knowing it was sure to annoy the hell out of my parents.)

Today, I can say that I have come a long way in achieving near native-sounding fluency. If I can do it, starting out with a thick Southern American accent, I know you can, too.

Allow me to share some uncommonly seen tips for shedding your English phonetic baggage. They will make you much more easily understood in Spanish — even if your aim is just to read a few phrases out of a guidebook on an upcoming trip (you know, in 2021).

Lose the schwa, bruh

“Do you know what a foreign accent is? It’s a sign of bravery.” — Amy Chua

The schwa, the ‘uh’ sound /ə/, is the most common vowel sound in English. Unstressed syllables usually get converted to this quick, low-effort sound.

Sadly, your go-to vowel does not exist in Spanish.

For example, take the Spanish word:

Internacional

If you pronounce it “een-tuhr…”, you can see what I mean. “Een-tehr...” uses the correct vowel.

It can take some time to realize how much this sound creeps into your Spanish pronunciation as an English speaker. But learning to banish the schwa is the single most helpful step you can take toward being more easily understood.

Don’t get lazy with the articulation

“Happiness lies in the joy of achievement and the thrill of creative effort.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt

As English speakers, we tend toward the lazy side when it comes to pronouncing every syllable in a sentence. If the ending of a long word is obvious, or if a sound is inconvenient, we just skip over it. (Or maybe throw in a schwa for good measure.)

In Spanish, though, every sound gets a similar amount of attention, even the unstressed ones.

As tempting as it is to speak quickly in your new language, you won’t do yourself any favors this way as a beginner. Slow down, give each syllable an adequate amount of attention, and try to master the articulation of each sound if you hope to improve.

(Bonus tip: Once you are ready to speed things up, learn the lyrics to a reggaeton song you like, and try to keep up.)

A little less melody, a little more percussion

“Lo único mejor que la música es hablar de música.” (“The only thing better than music is speaking of music.”) — Gabriel García Márquez

Spanish speakers often say that anglophones, when we’re speaking their language, sound a bit like we’re singing.

The reason behind this has to do with the differences in the patterns of stress between the two languages. In English, the extra articulation we give to stressed syllables in a sentence makes for a rising and falling rhythm. This sounds very distinct from the ra-ta-ta percussiveness of Spanish.

A good way to account for this difference is to practice shortening your vowel sounds in Spanish. This was a particular struggle for me as a Southerner prone to speaking in drawn-out vowels.

Just don’t take it too far, or else you’ll risk sounding robotic.

“A different language is a different vision of life.” — Federico Fellini

However far along you are on the journey of learning Spanish, the simple tips above will help you be more easily understood. They will help you encounter less frustration when you begin to practice everything you’ve learned so far.

Don’t waste any time if you’re a beginner — the sooner you get a handle on your pronunciation errors, the easier they will be to correct.

What’s more, your improved accent will make it all the easier to connect with the new and exciting culture you have chosen to engage with by way of its language.

While you may be a gringo like me, you don't have to sound like one.

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