This post is intended for people who have just recently started studying Spanish. Most probably, you do not realize much of what’s going on in your mouth, you just open and shoot -which is alright for beginners- but if your own gringo accent is driving you crazy, or absolutely nobody understands what the hell you’re saying (nobody except teachers, we are so nice), then it’s likely you are using English sounds which do not exist in Spanish. They are just a few, so take a look, and remember, whenever speaking Spanish, avoid them like socks with sandals.
Sound: "z", as in zoo, cheese, exit
Phonetic description: voiced alveolar fricative
Whenever we say azabache, zoológico, azar or any word with "z", we make the same sound as we would when saying "s". So, asar (as in asar la carne) and azar (as in suerte en el azar) sound exactly the same, there is no phonetic distinction between them. The difference between the two sounds, /s/ and /z/, is that in /z/ there is vibration of the vocal folds; try to produce the sound in isolation, sounds like a bee hu? (it should) The /s/ sounds like a hiss, and that’s the sound we Spanish speakers produce whenever there’s a "s" "z" or "ce" "ci" (in Spain it’s a bit different, see below).
Now, the same goes for "x". In English, if the "x" is in between vowels, you say /gz/, as in exit. In Spanish there is no /z/, so whenever there’s an "x", we say /ks/, as in axe or éxito.
Sound: "th" as in think, anthem
Phonetic description: voiceless dental fricative
No, we don’t have it, unless you go to Spain. Here in America we dropped it, but in the old continent they make a distinction between "s" and "z" "ce" "ci". For the last three, they make the same sound you make when saying think, so you save yourself the trouble of finding out whether they meant casar or cazar (pretty big difference).
Sound: "th" as in the, with
Phonetic description: voiced dental fricative
No, we don’t use that either... forget about it.
Sound: "v", as in vase, cover
Phonetic description: voiced labio-dental fricative
When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me that vaca and burro did not start with the same sound. Twenty years later, the world’s changed, turns out, they do start with the same sound! So vaca, bacán, boca and vocal, they all start with the same sound, which is pretty similar to (but not exactly like) the English /b/. In Spanish, the sound is not very easy, as it has two variants (for more info on that click here).
Sound: "j" as in jungle
Phonetic description: voiced palato-alveolar affricate
Seven times no...
Sound: dark /l/ as in well, help, table
Phonetic description: voiced lateral approximant
In English, you’ve got two /l/ sounds, a clear one, and a dark one. In Spanish, we only use the clear /l/. But... what the hell is a dark /l/? Say these words aloud: leave, lock, silly, all over. Now say these words: feel, help, table, apple. Is it the same /l/?
The last batch have the dark /l/. The main difference is that the back of the tongue is raised, which gives a back vowel resonance... It really is not that important, just try not to do that /l/ in words like cal, mal, alto.
Sound: "g" as in genre, gigolo, "s" as in vision, measure, "g" as in beige
Phonetic description: voiced palato-alveolar fricative
This sound is actually French (historians out there remember how much the English language was affected by the French). Even though a few people use it for the letter "y", as in yo, I find it snobbish. Your choice; I don’t use it.
Sound: "h" as in heat, ahead
Phonetic description: voiceless glottal fricative
No dude! When you say ahí, ahora, almohada -remember, the letter h is "mute" in Spanish! Just pretend it’s not there, and it will return the favor.
Sound: "r" as in right, carry
Phonetic description: voiced palato-alveolar approximant
Hold your horses, we do have an "r" sound in Spanish, but who in his right mind would say it’s the same sound as the one used in English?
In the near future, Spanish consonant sounds which do not exist in English, stay tuned.-
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