# Spain (pronunciation "s", Ehspain)



## Basenjigirl

Some Spanish speakers add this "eh-" sound before the letter s in English. What's a trick they can use to avoid/stop saying this? I notice that a lot of my Spanish students have problems pronouncing the letter "s" correctly when it appears at the beginning of an English word. Any advice? Also, the "s" sound exists in Spanish and sounds exactly like the English "s," so why does there exist this tendency to add the "eh" sound in Spanish? The explanation I've heard in the past was confusing , so if anyone has a nice clear explanation, I'd love to hear (read) it! Thanks!


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## juandiego

Because in Spanish there's no word begining with -s- if the next letter or sound is not a vocal (sa...,se...,si...,so...,su...). Basically you can not pronounce -s- before a consonant without adding a vocal before to the -s- and the natural vocal to add there, is the -e- since the -s- letter is called -ese-.


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## laydiC

Just do some practices with them exagerating the ssssssss sound.... sssssssssspaguetti....ssssssssspain.....ssssssssspecial..... 

Just make them aware that it sounds terrible to say the espanish...espain.... most students do it because of laziness more than anything else. It's not a difficult thing to learn, they just have to get into the habit, and make it an everyday thing.


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## juandiego

One question on the matter. Do you pronounce the same way the beginning of the words *special* and *especially*?


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## Montgo

Juandiego is absolutely right. Most of the English words that begin with an "s" which have a similar word in Spanish, like stupid, special, study..in Spanish begin with "es". Therefore Spaniards are not used to pronounce words starting with a "s" and only Sapniards those  who have learned English or other language since very young can pronounce it properly.


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## Basenjigirl

juandiego said:


> One question on the matter. Do you pronounce the same way the beginning of the words *special* and *especially*?



English speakers make a distinction with those words. They are pronounced differently in English. 

_That cake is special.
That cake is especially good. _

Sorry, I don't know the phonetic notations, but trust me when I tell you that the sounds of those two words are different in English.


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## laydiC

espechali... 

sssspechal... 

Suenan en inglés más o menos así...si lo lees en español. ¿Me explico? jeje


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## juandiego

Basenjigirl said:


> English speakers make a distinction with those words. They are pronounced differently in English.
> 
> _That cake is special.
> That cake is especially good. _
> 
> Sorry, I don't know the phonetic notations, but trust me when I tell you that the sounds of those two words are different in English.



I guess there must be a difference but how the first -e- of especially sounds there? like the -e- in _met_, or rather like the -e- in _England_?


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## Basenjigirl

JuanDiego: Listen carefully. It will sound subtle when you only hear one word but there is a difference in how they are pronounced.

Pronunciation audio of special
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/special

Pronunciation audio of especial
http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/especial


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## juandiego

Basenjigirl said:


> JuanDiego: Listen carefully. It will sound subtle when you only hear one word but there is a difference in how they are pronounced.
> 
> Pronunciation audio of special
> http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/special
> 
> Pronunciation audio of especial
> http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/especial



Agree, a subtle difference. I hope that this wouldn't be the key to misunderstand me when I speak English because if it is, I have no solution.


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## Bocha

Hola:

Una posibilidad para evitar que se agregue una _e_ extraña es sugerirles pronunciar como si la _s_ perteneciera a la palabra anterior

your spectacles -> yours pectacles

my slipper -> mys lipper

outer space -> outers pace


Suele ser efectivo, excepto cuando la s impura está al comienzo de la oración.


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## juandiego

Bocha said:


> Suele ser efectivo, excepto cuando *la s impura* está al comienzo de la oración.


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## lazarus78

I think we Spaniards are really terrible talking English. I agree with LaydiC that things like that are quite easy to be learnt and phonetics is just a matter of training, but I consider there's something else... Very rarely a Spaniard will try to speak with the correct accent, rather s/he will not make any effort to imitate British/American accent but will emphasize the Spanish one. I don't know why, but it's somehow shameful for many of us to have a very good accent, and I've heard many Spaniards making jokes about others who have an excellent accent. I think it's considered somehow "posh" or maybe even snob to have a proper accent. 

I hope nobody will get offended, but it's a very stupid complex!  The way to solve this? I have no clue... I guess insisting on phonetics exercises, watching subtitled films or TV programs could help. 

Good luck and be patient!


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## Blade Runner

Just tell them to imagine the "s" is part of the previous word and it'll work. 
i.e. "I live inspain" or "I live ins pain" I know it looks weird when written, but pronounced at a normal speed it works.

Sorry! I've just seen Bocha gave the same tip!


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## Outsider

As Juandiego has said, the reason why Spanish speakers tend to add an _e_ before "_s_ + consonant" is that clusters of the form "_s_ + consonant" are not allowed by the phonotactics of Spanish at the start of words. The phonology of a language is not just a collection of sounds. It's also how they are distributed, and how they affect each other.

Bocha's suggestion on how to overcome this problem is good. Another option would be to start with words that have "_s_ + consonant" within them, and gradually delete the sounds before the consonant cluster:

hasta --> ha-sta --> (ha-)sta --> sta --> star


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## Basenjigirl

Thanks to all who responded. I got some great tips out of this. Thanks! 

Regarding Lazarus78's comment, yes, I've noticed the same situation here in Madrid and heard the same biting remarks and snickers from some people in class when one of their classmates is speaking with American or British pronunciation. It can be kind of cruel.  I think the only cure is to travel more and have more contact with English speakers of different backgrounds. Once a Spaniard sees that communication is easier with what to him (or her) seems like a  "fake"  or "posh" British or American accent, they'll be inclined to use it more frequently!


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## lazarus78

Basenjigirl, sometimes having Spanish accents gets very disappointing. It's several years that I live abroad, and although I make my best on pronunciation it happened more than once that only saying "hello!" people matched my origin...!!!  and I swear I was not saying "jelou" 

salud


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## jonquiliser

On the other hand, accents are often nice. I for one like the Spanish accent, and most accents for that matter. They are personal, and make language interesting.


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## eleonb

lazarus78 said:


> I guess insisting on phonetics exercises, *watching subtitled films* or TV programs could help.



In Chile (maybe in all Latin American countries), all the movies at the cinema keep their original voices, except for the movies for children. I've been told that in Spain, France, Italy and Germany, all the movies are dubbed into the local language. So... come to Chile!


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## Soulcruz

It´s true Eleonb... i live now in germany and all movie films are dubbed into german.  All of them!!! If you want to see a film with the original voices you have to go to certain cinemas... but they are not well know and most of the time far away...

As i lived in Argentina, going to the cinema was something amazing for me... I loved to hear the original voices, especially in movies like Shrek, etc...


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## mrgshelton

Bocha said:


> Hola:
> 
> Una posibilidad para evitar que se agregue una _e_ extraña es sugerirles pronunciar como si la _s_ perteneciera a la palabra anterior
> 
> your spectacles -> yours pectacles
> 
> my slipper -> mys lipper
> 
> outer space -> outers pace
> 
> 
> Suele ser efectivo, excepto cuando la s impura está al comienzo de la oración.


La idea de Bocha es buena, y hay una variación que tambien sirve: que los estudiantes pronuncien la palabra varias veces en seguida empezando con la última sílaba...

tacles-*pec* tacles-*pec* tacle-*spec*tacles
lipper-*mys* lipper-*mys* lipper-*my s*lipper
*pace*-outers *pace*-outers *pace*-outer *space*

Así nos dió a aprender pronunciar bien la sílabas finales franceses -_on, -en, _y _-an_ y muchas más.


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## Agua07

lazarus78 said:


> Basenjigirl, sometimes having Spanish accents gets very disappointing. It's several years that I live abroad, and although I make my best on pronunciation it happened more than once that only saying "hello!" people matched my origin...!!!  and I swear I was not saying "jelou"
> 
> salud


 
I completely agree with Lazarus. I have been living abroad for a couple of years now, and I really try to do my best pronouncing my first worlds. But as soon as I say “hello” sometimes people knows where I come from. 
Why?
Saludos a todos.


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## achilles07

It is the same problem that the english have with the sound "z" in spanish. If you can say "think" and "thanks", why can't you say "cerveza" or "caza"? Some friends are learning spanish but I don't know how to teach them this sound. Any help?


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## yttebchat

Mrgshelton:
Why don't you meke them some comparations for example. make them pronounce 
*ESTRELLA* an then *STRELLA. *
*ESTUDIANTE* and then* STUDIANTE*. I know that in Spanish the words strella and studiante don't even exist, but it helped me with my pronounciation when I was learning. I remember my teacher said : If you were a foreign person you would say strella instead of estrella. We repeated around 3 times and that was enough to me. 

I HOPE THIS EXERCISE HELPS YOU


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## mrgshelton

achilles07 said:


> It is the same problem that the english have with the sound "z" in spanish. If you can say "think" and "thanks", why can't you say "cerveza" or "caza"? Some friends are learning spanish but I don't know how to teach them this sound. Any help?


 
How to teach them the c-z sound?  Easy!  Don't let them see the written words first.  The normal progression of language learning is hear-speak-read-write.  For an English-speaker, trying first to *read* _cerveza_ will "spoil" the pronunciation.  Like the baker said, "Through the years I thought I'd seen enough dough to make a thoroughbred hiccough!"  Pity the poor non-English speaker who tries to read that out loud before ever hearing it.


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## Paul Clancy

laydiC said:


> Just do some practices with them exagerating the ssssssss sound.... sssssssssspaguetti....ssssssssspain.....ssssssssspecial.....
> 
> Just make them aware that it sounds terrible to say the espanish...espain.... most students do it because of laziness more than anything else. It's not a difficult thing to learn, they just have to get into the habit, and make it an everyday thing.



OK so I'm mother tongue English and this is a personal opinion, but I like to hear Spaniards and other Spanish speaking latins pronounce Spain etc like ehSpain ... it sounds lovely.  I personally hate to hear a French or Spanish mother tongue speaker speaking in English with an English accent or an Irish one for that matter... I think it is such a shame.  If the person's grammar and sentence structure is correct ... and if there is only an extra eh before an S ... its not such a big deal ... at least to me ... I'd prefer that.  I don't think that someone learning English should aim to lose their own total accent when they speak, I think that would be a shame afterall, the Irish don't speak English with a British accent, the NewZealanders don't speak English with an Irish accent and that is the way it should be.  But this is my personal opinion.


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## Paul Clancy

Agua07 said:


> I completely agree with Lazarus. I have been living abroad for a couple of years now, and I really try to do my best pronouncing my first worlds. But as soon as I say “hello” sometimes people knows where I come from.
> Why?
> Saludos a todos.



My guess would be because you pronounce it like hehllo (even if you don't think you do) ... (much nicer than a plain ordinary HELLO) ... don't change it....


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## Argónida

Paul Clancy said:


> OK so I'm mother tongue English and this is a personal opinion, but I like to hear Spaniards and other Spanish speaking latins pronounce Spain etc like ehSpain ... it sounds lovely. I personally hate to hear a French or Spanish mother tongue speaker speaking in English with an English accent or an Irish one for that matter... I think it is such a shame. If the person's grammar and sentence structure is correct ... and if there is only an extra eh before an S ... its not such a big deal ... at least to me ... I'd prefer that. I don't think that someone learning English should aim to lose their own total accent when they speak, I think that would be a shame afterall, the Irish don't speak English with a British accent, the NewZealanders don't speak English with an Irish accent and that is the way it should be. But this is my personal opinion.


 
You Irish, always lovely people, always kind, always positive


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## achilles07

mrgshelton said:


> How to teach them the c-z sound? Easy! Don't let them see the written words first. The normal progression of language learning is hear-speak-read-write. For an English-speaker, trying first to *read* _cerveza_ will "spoil" the pronunciation. Like the baker said, "Through the years I thought I'd seen enough dough to make a thoroughbred hiccough!" Pity the poor non-English speaker who tries to read that out loud before ever hearing it.


But then I have to teach them the same things twice, haven't I?


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## mrgshelton

Quote:
Originally Posted by *mrgshelton* 
How to teach them the c-z sound? Easy! Don't let them see the written words first. The normal progression of language learning is hear-speak-read-write. For an English-speaker, trying first to *read* _cerveza_ will "spoil" the pronunciation. Like the baker said, "Through the years I thought I'd seen enough dough to make a thoroughbred hiccough!" Pity the poor non-English speaker who tries to read that out loud before ever hearing it.




achilles07 said:


> But then I have to teach them the same things twice, haven't I?


 

In a word: no

Not, that is, unless you consider teaching someone to speak and teaching someone to read are the same things.


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