La Lengua

Lengua means “tongue” in Spanish, and, just like in English, it is sometimes used as a synonym for the word “language.” I have found that the tongue definitely gets in the way when learning new languages. I have been teaching my host mom English in the afternoons (and my host brother has joined in, recently), and the biggest difficulty that we have is pronunciation. In my opinion, it is much easier to go from English to Spanish. In Spanish, any word that you encounter is pronounced exactly the way it is spelled (for the most part), while in English, a word could have any number of pronunciations. Especially if you are not a native English speaker the pronunciations could seem almost arbitrary (or even if you are a native).

All of the sounds made in the Spanish language are also made in English, which makes learning pronunciation pretty simple. Unfortunately, the reverse is not true.

Some English Sounds Not Found in Spanish

A as in ant or after

I as in fish or firm

Sh as in shore

Z as in zipper

V as in very

Aspirated H

Th as in the

Unrolled R (arriba vs far)

Words that end in (dental) consonants (D, T, etc.)

Consonant sounds that are not separated by vowels (as in children)

I think the most difficult think in the pronunciation are the last two. You can get away with pronouncing Sh as Ch or Z as S or V as F or B, but words ending in consonants are very difficult for people that I teach to say correctly, especially when in a combination where they are not separated by vowels. For example, they might pronounce the word “parents” as “pareh.” I think it is very difficult for them to close to the consonant and do so many different sounds at once.

Word endings are something I’ve been trying to work on with my host mom for quite some time. It’s also an experience for me as I’m learning so many new vocabulary words to try to describe the placement of the sound (no, it’s more in the back of your throat or your tongue goes between your front teeth and you blow, etc.). Additionally, I’m also getting a better handle on translation as I learn from my host mom the specific ways different words can be used. The entire family had an intense discussion about the difference between cuchillo (knife), puñal (knife), and cuchilla (knife), because to me the words were translated the same way. It’s very interesting to learn where they have synonyms where there are none in English.