Spanish → English
English uses 43 sounds. You already own 16 of them from Spanish. The other 27 are the work — and 18 of those are the dangerous kind: close enough to something you already say that you will substitute them without hearing yourself do it.
The silent swaps
Your mouth has something close enough to reach for. These survive for years precisely because they sound right to you — the fix is hearing the difference first, not trying harder.
the move: palatal → velar
English: sing · written "ng", "n before k"
Your /ɲ/ is the one in año (year).
the move: bilabial → labiodental
English: very · written "v", "f (of)"
Your /β/ is the one in haber (to have).
the move: dental → alveolar
English: zoo · written "z", "zz", "s (plural after voiced, between vowels)"
Your /ð/ is the one in nada (nothing).
the move: alveolar → postalveolar
English: ship · written "sh", "ti (-tion)", "ci", "ssi"
Your /s/ is the one in sol (sun).
the move: close → near-close
English: sit · written "i", "y", "e (unstressed)"
Your /i/ is the one in sí (yes).
the move: open → near-open
English: cat · written "a"
Between /ɛ/ and /a/; mouth wide.
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: close → near-close
English: book · written "oo (book)", "u (put)", "oul (could)"
Your /u/ is the one in luz (light).
the move: longer
English: see · written "ee", "ea", "e_e", "ie"
Your /i/ is the one in sí (yes).
the move: longer
English: food · written "oo", "u_e", "ew", "ou (soup)"
Your /u/ is the one in luz (light).
the move: dental → postalveolar
English: measure · written "s (measure)", "si (vision)", "ge (beige)"
Your /ð/ is the one in nada (nothing).
the move: voiced
English: judge · written "j", "g (e,i,y)", "dge"
Your /t͡ʃ/ is the one in chico (boy).
the move: open → open-mid
English: bed · written "e", "ea (bread)"
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: trill → approximant
English: red · written "r", "rr", "wr"
Silent after vowels in British English (car /kɑː/); pronounced in American.
Your /r/ is the one in perro (dog).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: make · written "a_e", "ai", "ay", "ei (eight)"
Your /e/ is the one in mesa (table).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: time · written "i_e", "igh", "y", "ie (pie)"
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: house · written "ou", "ow"
Your /a/ is the one in casa (house).
the move: it glides, yours would hold still
English: hair · written "air", "are (care)", "ear (bear)"
American: /ɛr/.
Your /e/ is the one in mesa (table).
Words you may say identically
Two or more English sounds landing on one sound of yours. Until the ear separates them, the mouth cannot — which is what the ear trainer is for.
Genuinely new
Nothing in Spanish sits close to these. They sound foreign in your mouth — which is the good news: you can hear that you are not saying them yet.
house
Closest thing you own: — but labiodental → glottal.
law
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → open-mid, longer.
cup
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → open-mid, unrounded.
near
American: /ɪr/.
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close → near-close.
hot
American: /ɑ/.
Closest thing you own: — but close-mid → open.
boy
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close-mid → open-mid.
car
Closest thing you own: — but front → back, longer.
bird
American: /ɝ/ with the r.
Closest thing you own: — but open → open-mid, front → central, longer.
home
American: /oʊ/.
Closest thing you own: — but it glides, yours would hold still, close-mid → mid, front → central.
Rhythm and pitch
The layer spelling never records, and the one that makes a correct sentence still sound foreign.
| Spanish | English | |
|---|---|---|
| Rhythm | Syllable-timed | Stress-timed |
| Stress | Fully contrastive, and mercifully written: if a word breaks the default pattern (stress on the second-to-last syllable for vowel/-n/-s endings, on the last otherwise) it carries an accent. Three-way minimal sets are common and the accent is the only thing separating them. | Contrastive, and unmarked in writing — the single most common cause of not being understood. Dozens of noun/verb pairs differ only in where the stress goes, and every unstressed vowel collapses to /ə/. |
What you have that English doesn't
11 sounds with no job in English. They are not mistakes — but they are where an accent leaks in, because a sound you own is easy to use when a hard one is due.
The honest caveat
This is a prediction from the shape of two sound systems, not a recording of you. It says what your inventory makes likely — it cannot know that your Spanish has a regional variety that already owns one of these, or that you learned English from someone whose accent you copied. A teacher listening to you beats it. Use it to know what to listen for.
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