I have been to Costa Rica many times and I have spoken to native Spanish-speakers many times about learning English. I remember one of the first native Costa Ricans who had learned English that I spoke to. I asked him what was for him the hardest part of learning English and he quickly responded that it was the pronunciation. I also have recently been working with my cousin as she tackles learning the English language. Her common complaint is also the pronunciation. I even remember in one my college Spanish classes that my teacher commented that he hated learning English simply because of the pronunciation. For native Spanish-speakers, the pronunciation of English sounds and words is one of the most difficult aspects of production and comprehension. There are many different ways they struggle with this, but luckily this isn’t an insurmountable obstacle for their success in learning the English language.

There are quite a few common problems that I have noticed Spanish-speakers struggling with. First, the most frequent difficulty and a general complaint is forming the “th” sound because it is not a sound they have in their language. Most of the time when they have to make this sound, it just comes out as either only a “t” sound or sometimes as a “d” sound. Another sound they have trouble making is the combination of three consonants. For example, when they try to say the word “strong,” it often comes out as “es-trong.” They seem to add the “e” sound before because it is not easy to put together consonant clusters . Lastly, another difficult that my cousin has mentioned to me many times, is not knowing when looking at a word whether to pronounce the vowel in long or short form. This is common problem for all English learners and it can only be learned through many years of being around English and of course, trial and error.

Fortunately for Spanish-speakers learning English, these problems can be overcome. Because English is such a dominant language and it is spoken all around the world, it has become a Lingua Franca, a language spoken far beyond countries where it is the native language. And because English is so often spoken by people from all different countries and cultures who all bring different accents and adjustments to the original English language, a Lingua Franca core has been formed. This core contains only the essential features and sounds of English needed to communicate intelligently and effectively around the world. Luckily for Spanish-speakers, all consonants are important except for the “th” sound.

This makes sense because I have noticed that no matter how incorrectly Spanish-speakers pronounce the “th” sound, it is still easy to understand what they are trying to say. Therefore, I would continue to encourage students to practice saying words like “this” or “thirty” because over time it will get easier, but I will also make it clear to them that this problem will not interfere greatly with them being able to communicate. As far as their struggles with consonant clusters and long and short vowels, practice and time can surely fix these troubles.

Leslie Gutierrez