When a Spanish speaker talks in English
they often have a Spanish accent
but what does this mean?
in this video I’m going to show you some of the features
that create a Spanish accent in English
and I’m going to be using clips of actress Sofía Vergara to show you what I mean
of course there are many varieties of Spanish spoken across the world
but most of these features will apply to most varieties
in this word here, are the two L sounds pronounced the same?
if you’re a speaker of Southern British English, like me,
they’re pronounced differently
the first is a lighter L sound
and the second is darker L sound
level
but if you’re a Spanish speaker,
then you’ll probably pronounce them both as a Light L
when I pronounce the words dolphin, velvet, ungrateful
I use Dark Ls
but now listen to Sofía Vergara
and she uses Light Ls
Spanish speakers tend to pronounce the TH sounds in English
with the tongue coming out the mouth past the teeth
linguists call this interdental
but British speakers tend to keep the tongue behind the teeth
watch Sofía Vergara say the and that:
in Spanish, words and syllables can’t end with a /m/ sound
this means that when talking in English
Spanish speakers may replace a /m/ at the end of a word
with a /n/ or /ŋ/ instead
listen to Sofía Vergara say time, handsome
Spanish words don’t end in more than one consonant sound
this means that Spanish speakers aren’t used to
pronouncing multiple consonants together
so in English a Spanish speaker
may delete the final consonant of an English word
listen to Sofía Vergara say husband, understand, and front
like many non-natives, Spanish speakers will have problems with the /ɪ/ sound
listen to how I pronounce the vowel in tipsy, delicious, trip
now listen to Sofía Vergara:
Spanish speakers will also have problems with the /ʌ/ vowel
listen to how I pronounce the sound in money, hungry, dungeons
now listen to Sofía Vergara:
if you need some more time to think before speaking
you may make a sound to tell the other person you’re still thinking
this is called a hesitation sound
and different languages will have different hesitation sounds
in my British English accent it’s /əː/
but in Spanish it’s….
these are just some of the features that create a Spanish accent in English
of course there are others like Bs and Vs and R sounds
that make a difference
but I can’t cover everything in one go
if you’ve enjoyed this video, please like it
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