Spanish is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world, especially because in most of the American continent it is the mother tongue. That is why many foreigners strive to learn the language in the best possible way. If you are one of them, you have come to the right place, because today we will give you some tips to improve your Spanish pronunciation.
Spanish, grammatically speaking, is one of the most complex and complete languages of all. It has a wide range of word types, accentuation rules and verb conjugation tenses. That is why it is becoming increasingly important to learn each of the factors involved in the practice or use of a language (reading, writing and speaking).
Regardless of the language you wish to learn, one of the factors that will always be the most difficult to internalise is its pronunciation. For, although Spanish has similarities with other languages that stem from Latin, the pronunciation is certainly quite different due to the particular sounds of each phoneme in Spanish.
For that reason, if you have been studying Spanish, either for hobby or academic/work reasons, you need to know our tips to improve your Spanish pronunciation. So that you can chat with other Spanish speakers and understand each other at all times. Below you can read tips on how to improve your Spanish:
Familiarising yourself with the language will help you to improve the way you understand, write and pronounce it. If you are lucky enough to have Spanish-speaking family or friends, all the better.
But if not, what you can do is start listening to songs in Spanish, watch series or films in Spanish and even the news in Spanish. The more you listen to the language the better you will be able to identify how to pronounce each of the sounds correctly.
Ideally, at first, you should simply listen to the language to internalise the sounds of the language. But, as you progress with your practice, the best thing to do is to repeat everything you hear.
This will be a dynamic that will allow you to correct the way you are pronouncing the words as you listen to the language. This way you will be able to study continuously and make clear progress in your language learning process.
To study Spanish you can't just go over its pronunciation and that's it. It is essential that you also learn about the rules that govern the language. Both grammatically and orthographically speaking.
In the case of Spanish, you should always remember the rule of the stressed syllable. All Spanish words are divided into syllables and in each word there is one syllable that must be pronounced with a higher voice strength. This, in conjunction with the accentuation rules, will allow you to identify acute, grave or sdrújulas words.
The point is that the rule of the stressed syllable is fundamental when pronouncing words. By pronouncing the wrong syllable with the strongest voice, you run the risk of not being understood or of confusing homographs (words that are spelled the same, but pronounced differently).
Another of the best practices you can do to improve your pronunciation is to converse with native Spanish speakers. Whether they are from Spain or somewhere in Latin America.
Of course, in order to do this you must take into account the differences between Spanish in Spain and Spanish in Latin America. Although they speak the same language and, in general, are quite similar, there are some terms that change in each region, as well as the way in which words are pronounced.
Another tip that will help you to improve the way you pronounce Spanish is to read Spanish texts aloud. These can be short texts such as short stories, poems or news articles, as well as a novel that you like.
This is something you can do comfortably at home and it won't take much time. If you read a few pages of text a day, you will have something to practice with for several days.
Finally, if you love music and you love singing then you can start practising with your favourite songs by Spanish-speaking singer-songwriters. This is ideal as a final practice, as the songs usually pronounce the words quickly to match the melody of the instrumental sounds. So it will certainly allow you to practice your pronunciation skills in a more advanced way.
Now that you know the best tips for improving your Spanish pronunciation, it's time to put them into practice. However, if you have already put them into practice and are still not making any progress in your learning, you may want to consider the idea of studying with a private teacher. If this interests you, at WeSmartly we have a wide variety of teachers ready to help you.
From our web platform you can get in touch with private tutors who specialise in all existing teaching areas. That is why you will also find language teachers who will be willing to help you, especially when it comes to learning a language as complete as Spanish.
