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

and share it with your Spanish-speaking friends

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