Learning Spanish requires you to be well-versed with the vocabulary and grammatical rules and to develop various skills that can be learned through speaking, listening, writing, and reading.
If you are a new learner trying to learn Spanish, you will likely encounter some hardest words to pronounce in Spanish. You can take an online course or refer to digital resources to solve pronunciation problems.
Every area of learning Spanish entails many challenges. You must understand the words and correct the aspects of Spanish pronunciation that many English-speaking people have the most difficulty with.
Dealing With the Difficulty of Pronunciation in Spanish
1. Exaggerated tone
In Spanish, almost all the words are spoken with an open mouth and by exerting power. The syllables, vowels, and consonants are fully pronounced.
2. Don’t rely on English vowels
It is necessary to make the switch and pronounce each Spanish vowel correctly with an open mouth. The correct pronunciation of vowels in Spanish are:
- The “a” in Spanish is pronounced like the vowel in “cart.”
- The “e” is pronounced in a short version of “eh,” as in “red.”
- The “i” is pronounced like the “i” in “sick.”
- The “o” is pronounced like a shorter sound of o in “song,”.
- The “u” is pronounced like in “should”.
3. Listen and imitate
Imitating or mimicking the Spanish who are fluent in their language can help.
How to Handle the 10 Hardest Words to Pronounce in Spanish
Below are some hard words in Spanish to pronounce. If you master these, the rest becomes quite easy:
1. Ferrocarril (railway road)
This word contains two “r”s, and thus it is one of the hard Spanish words to pronounce.
The “r” is rolled when it is doubled at the beginning of each word, but the standalone “r” is also pronounced differently than in English, making it the hardest word to say in Spanish.
When making the “r” sound in Spanish, touch the tip of your tongue slightly with the top of your mouth. The key to rolling the “r” is to vibrate the tongue at that position. Exhale through your mouth and vibrate your tongue up and down.
2. Verde, Tarde (green, afternoon)
The Spanish “rd” combination is quite difficult for the tongue. Focus on the first syllable and the difficult “r,” then soften the “d” and make half of the word “de.”
3. Desarrolladores (developer)
There are double hits of “rr” and “ll,” and there are many syllables to activate. The correct pronunciation of “ll” varies from country to country.
4. Aeropuerto (Airport)
The word has most vowels, making it one of the most difficult words to pronounce in Spanish.
5. Estadística (statistics)
Too many “t’s” and “d’s” in a Spanish word can cause problems. Notice the emphasized syllable in the center. Do not emphasize the difference between the “t” and “d” in this word. Pronounce the first syllable well so that you can tell that you are speaking Spanish instead of English.
6. Difícil, Fácil (difficult, easy)
The accent of these words is not where you expect. It is not “DIficil” and “faCIL” – the correct pronunciation is “diFIcil” and “FAcil”. Pay attention to the accent and emphasize the syllables.
7. Paragüas (umbrella)
This Spanish word contains diacritics, a soft r, and g. If you are well aware of how you should pronounce the sound of each syllable, you can pronounce it slowly and correctly.
8. Ronronear (purr)
This word contains two harsh r sounds, a soft r, and a vowel pair.
9. Agujero (hole)
This is one of the most mispronounced Spanish words because of the mixture of g and j sounds. In Spanish, j is said quite differently and thus remains one of the hardest sounds to pronounce.
10. Espantapájaros (scarecrow)
This word has repeated consonants and too many vowels with various stresses. In this case, it slowly progresses syllable by syllable, such as es – pan – ta – pá – ja – ros. You can say the whole word faster once you understand all the syllables correctly.
Conclusion
These are some of the 10 hard words to say in Spanish which need constant practice to improve your pronunciation.
You must slowly learn the pronunciation and practice with tongue twisters to master the art of pronouncing difficult Spanish words. It is certainly difficult but a rewarding journey. The better you pronounce, the more you will be able to understand the language.
Mackenzie Xanthos
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