Struggling to learn Spanish? Here are the most common pronunciation mistakes – and how to fix them 

Learning a language is hard.  

Whether it’s pronunciation, accents, verb conjugation or definitions, it’s hard to wrap your brain around it all. 

People learning Spanish – especially individuals whose first language is English – can have a hard time learning America’s second-most spoken language. According to recent United States Census data, Spanish was the most common non-English language spoken in U.S. homes, and the number of Spanish speakers in America is 12 times greater than the next four most common languages. 

Studies show that more than 500 million people across the world speak Spanish as their mother tongue, and another 23 million are studying it as a foreign language.  

And while it’s all well and good to be able to read, write and understand Spanish, having the ability to speak the language is crucial – and that’s where some people lack, especially with pronunciation. 

Thus, online Spanish lesson provider Preply has come up with a list of the most common pronunciation errors English speakers make.  

Even better, they recommended ways to fix these issues. 

Liquifying the letter “R”

According to language experts at Preply, the letter “r” in the English language is liquified because the tip of the tongue never touches the gum ridge or teeth, meaning there is no phonetic stoppage. This makes for a smooth transition between preceding and following sounds, such as “bleary,” “sorry” and “clearly.”

“In contrast, Spanish ‘r’ sounds are never liquid,” Preply experts explained. “Instead, they require tapping or trilling the tongue against the gum ridge.”

With this pronunciation, the soft single “r” in Spanish is similar to “dd” in English:

• Caro (expensive)
• Pero (but)
• Oro (gold)

“If you struggle with this, try substituting the ‘r’ with a ‘d’ sound — for example, say ‘caddo’ instead of ‘caro’ and then repeat it quickly,” Preply recommends.

The double ‘rr’ is also difficult for English speakers because it doesn’t exist within English, experts said. Thus, it requires practice to master; Preply recommends practicing with words like “Perro” (dog) and “Carro” (car), but these may be hard for people who can’t roll their tongue.

Pronouncing the letter “H” — or not

In Spanish, the letter “h” is almost always silent, and any word with an “h” in it is pronounced as if the letter doesn’t exist, according to Preply.

“Many English speakers mistakenly pronounce the ‘h’ out of habit, so a helpful trick is to pretend it’s not there,” language experts said. “The only exception is when ‘h’ follows a ‘c,’ such as in the word ‘chico’.”

Preply recommends practicing with the following words:

• Hola (hello): Pronounced “ola”
• Héctor: Pronounced “Éctor”
• Habichuela (Common bean): Pronounced “abichuela”

The difficult letters: “G” and “J”

The letters “g” and “j” can give English speakers trouble when learning Spanish words, because in English, a “g” before “e” or “i” sounds like a “j” (like “geology” and “giraffe”).

In Spanish, however, the letter ‘g’ has two distinct pronunciations:

• Hard ‘g’: Occurs in words like “gato” (cat) and is similar to the “g” in “go.”
• Guttural ‘h’: Occurs when a “g” is followed by an “e” or an “i” — examples of this are “girasol” (sunflower) and “gemelos” (twins), which are both pronounced as if they began with “h,” like the English word “Hello.”

“Spanish learners often mix these up,” Preply experts said. “A good rule of thumb is to pronounce the Spanish “j” like the English “h,” and while not the exact same, it’s close enough to be understood.”

An example of that would be the word “cajón” (drawer) which is pronounced “ca-hone.”

Vowels

Unlike English, where vowel sounds change depending on the word and letter placement, Spanish vowel sounds remain consistent:

• A: Pronounced “ah” as in “father”
• E: Pronounced “eh” as in “bet”
• I: Pronounced “ee” as in “machine”
• O: Pronounced “oh” as in “note”
• U: Pronounced “oo” as in “food”

“English speakers often apply their language’s varying vowel sounds to Spanish, but mastering these five sounds simplifies pronunciation significantly,” Preply said.

Double “L”

In Spanish, the double “l” (LL) is pronounced as a “y” sound, and this is something that a good chunk of English speakers trying to learn Spanish have trouble with.

“Many English speakers mistakenly pronounce the double ‘L’ as an ‘L’ due to their phonetic habits,” Preply explained. “To avoid this, train yourself mentally to replace a double ‘L’ with ‘y’ whenever you see it.”

Examples of words with the double “L” sound are llave (key) which is pronounced “yah-vay” and calle (street) which is pronounced “cah-yay.”

The Spanish “Ñ”

The ‘ñ’ — pronounced similar to the “ny” in “canyon” — does not exist in English, but is easy to master:

• Niño (boy): Pronounced “neen-yo”
• Año (year): Pronounced “ahn-yo”
• España (Spain): Pronounced “es-pahn-ya”

The ˜ mark on top of the letter “n” is called a tilde.

“V” and “B” sounds

Whereas “v” and “b” are pronounced differently in English, in Spanish, they are pronounced almost the same: with a soft “b” sound.

“This can be confusing for English learners who naturally pronounce the ‘v’ sound,” Preply said.

An example of this include vaca (cow) and baca (roof) being pronounced pretty much the exact same. Another example: vaso (glass) and beso (kiss), which are only different because they don’t have the same second vowel.

For more information surrounding online Spanish classes, visit Preply.com.

¡Buena suerte!