How to practice your Spanish pronunciation

I’ve been teaching Spanish for almost 15 years now and one of the top goals of my students is improving their pronunciation.

As a phonetic language, once you know what sounds the vowels in Spanish create, half of your work is done.

A = ah ; E = eh ; I = ee ; O = oh ; U = oo

Pair that with my tips below and you’re on your way! Here are a few of my favorite ways to practice pronunciation:

Read out loud Head to a site like cnnespañol, pick an article, and start reading. You can begin with a paragraph at a time. I recommend reading each section at least three times. Remember, perfect is not the goal. You can track your improvement by recording yourself and playing it back.

Sing out loud Create a mini-playlist of songs in Spanish that get you moving and listen to them on repeat. Start with one song at a time and a new one once you learn the previous one. Do you have a playlist in Spanish? Here borrow mine

Trabalenguas Also know as tongue twisters, these are my favorite and super fun. Try saying them at regular speed and once you get comfortable, pick up the pace. Here’s one to start out with: