American English pronunciation errors made by speakers native to Mexico

Common
American English
Pronunciation Errors

Vowel Errors

Mexico

Pronunciation will be improved dramatically by correcting 3 or 4 critical Vowel errors.

Problem:

Vowel length is too short

i.e.

“feet" sounds like “fit”

i.e.

"ran” sounds like “run"

Long "o" vs. short "o"

i.e.

“bought” sounds like “boat”

i.e.

"note” sounds like “not”

Solution:
AAP Vowel Tutorial

Techniques Taught :

- Tongue Position
- Lip Position
- Jaw Position
- Tongue Tension
- Vowel Length
- Compound Vowels

Targeted Exercises

- Vowel Reductions
- Vowel Sounds
- Vowel Pairs
- Vowel Length Drills

Consonant Errors

Mexico

Pronunciation will also be improved by correcting a few critical Consonant errors.

Problem:

Sounds mispronounced:

"b" and "v" sounds are often confused

i.e.

"vet" may sound like "bet"

i.e.

"boat" may sound like "vote"

"sh" and "ch" sounds are often confused

i.e.

"sheep" may sound like "cheap"

i.e.

"chop" may sound like "shop"

"z" sound is pronounced lik "s"

i.e.

"was" may sound like "wuss"

i.e.

"busy" may soune like "bissy"

i.e.

"zoo" may sound like "sue"

"k" sound is pronounced like "g"

i.e.

"come" may sound like "gum"

"w" sounds like "b"

i.e.

"wall" may sound like "ball"

Solution:
AAP Consonant Tutorial

Techniques Taught :

- Placement
- Airflow
- Voicing

Targeted Exercises

- Consonant Sounds

24 different sounds

- L Drills

Blends
Sound combinations

- R Drills

Beginning
Middle
Ending

Intonation Errors

Mexico

Using the correct stress and rhythm will immediately improve your ability to be understood.

Problem:

Spanish is a language of syllables - American English is a language of stress. Pitch and stress must go up and down to create the melody to emphasize important words.

Pitch - Tends to be flat

Stress - Syllables are stressed too evenly

Intonation - Often incorrect word stress

Rate - Often too fast

Solution:
AAP Intonation Tutorial

Techniques Taught :

- Stress
- Pitch
- Steps and Glides
- Duration

Targeted Exercises

- Intonation Patterns
- Compound Nouns
- Heteronyms
- Word Reductions
- Sentence Level Intonation
- Contrastive Intonation
- Response Drills
- Tag Questions