Practicing pronunciation

[Mastov]

I go to a tutor 4 times a week for 1.5 hours each time. This forms the bulk of my learning technique. My goal is to get to an intermediate fluency level for talking to people in latin America. I don't need this for academics or work.

My main issue right now is that my pronunciation is bad. Even if I know a word and use it in a sentence correctly, a native Spanish speaker won't recognize what I'm saying.

I want a CD that I can listen to driving to work (must be CD not cassette). I spend 2-3 hours commuting each day, so this is an ideal time to practice my accent. Right now I just listen to Spanish radio, which I don't think helps that much.

[Rusty]

Pronunciation of words is very straight forward in Spanish.
Do not be tempted to pronounce a consonant the same you would in English. There are very few consonants that are pronounced the same way.
The vowels are pure vowels. Do not at all attempt to pronounce them like English vowels. Very few English vowels are pure vowels.

If native speakers don't recognize what you're saying, you must take the time to learn how each letter is pronounced. Almost without exception, each letter is pronounced differently than we pronounce it in English.

Have a native speaker say each letter. Carefully mimic what you are hearing, remembering that in most instances the pronunciation will differ from English.
The new consonant and vowel sounds you learn should be used without much variance from word to word.
Some consonants soften when they appear between vowels. This is especially true for the letters b and v. Those two letters, by the way, are pronounced the exact same way.
This is also true for the letters s and z, and c, when it is followed by e or i.

There are certain consonant sounds that don't sound good together, like the 'n' in 'en paz' and the 's' in 'isla'. In the first case, the 'n' is pronounced as if it were an 'm'. In the second case, the 's' is pronounced like the English 'z'.
There are other consonant pairs that have an altered pronunciation.

Knowing which syllable gets stressed is very important.

Blending words together also seems to be pretty straight forward. The unstressed vowel endings are usually elided, as is a final 's' sound (in some regions more than in others).

[Glen]

Welcome to you, Mastov, and you'll do well to heed Rusty's excellent advice.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, they say, and it's been the most helpful thing I myself have done on the long road to becoming understood. What I mean is, while listening to the radio I like to try to duplicate what I hear by periodically turning the volume off immediately following a short phrase and saying it out loud do myself. Of course my listening is done on shortwave, so when I hear something like

Esta es Radio....., transmitiendo desde..., territorio libre en las Américas (don't want to mention which country, for political reasons!)
I make a stab at what I can recall hearing, trying to duplicate the stress, the accent etc.

In addition, a pocket-size digital voice recorder is handy for recording transmissions for playback at your convenience, and then speaking along with them - pausing when necessary. If you happen to be a baseball fan like I am, live broadcasts of games are a goldmine of terminology & sayings; just as in English, sportswriters and broadcasters are known for their colorful language.

Just some ideas. Good luck to you and again, Welcome!

[Mozzo]

An MP3 player is an excellent investment in listening and speaking practice. You don't need the latest iPod - a generic Wal*Mart or e-Bay one for $9.99 with 4 gig of memory can hold immense amounts of training material.

I have some folders on mine, that are full of little scraps of dialogue from other sources ... 2 to 5 words at a time. I play those on "shuffle" to help train my mind to be nimble enough to quickly latch on to the meaning of each sample.

If I'm alone I'll speak these bits aloud. It doesn't matter that the result is all gobbledegook - the point is to develop familiarity with the "feel" of the sounds in my mouth. It's too hard for a beginner to speak extemporaneously. Let the MP3 player prompt you with things to say, and follow along.