What are the most common pronunciation mistakes made by Latin American people when they speak English?

Question

By Latin Americans I mean people in whose countries Romance languages, as Spanish or Portuguese, are spoken and considered the official languages.

Answer 1

There are a number of individual sounds that speakers of Spanish form differently from speakers of English.

There are fewer vowels in Spanish than Engliish, so they often cannot tell the difference or pronounce the difference between words like "live" and "leave".

However, I believe the difference that affects understandability the most is the rhythmic difference. Spanish gives the impression that all the syllables are of about the same length, while English gives the impression that some syllables are much longer than others. English speakers listen for longer syllables, and they have a hard time when Spanish speakers don't make certain syllables long enough.

I have not heard enough Portuguese-accented English to give a very good answer on that one. (You do realize that there are Portuguese speakers too in Latin America, right?)

Answer 2

Considering my wife is Peruvian, I have experience with her English. She has problems with her "th" sound. That sound is not in the Spanish language. It sounds more like "dee" or even "tee." So, when she says "with," it sounds like "wid" or "wit." She also writes the same. When she writes "with" it becomes "whit."

So, for those of you that think that this will be a racist question, get over it. I have experience that you don't. I have been trying for 6 years to help my wife with her English. She appreciates everything I do to help.

Answer 3

A lot of Hispanics have trouble with the American 'r', especially in some of the combinations with r as in 'fork', the 'ch' sound is more like our 'sh', their 'd' is more like our 'th'.

One of my Hispanic friends told me the other day that one of his friends was at his job, and was asked by the boss to show a group of visitors around. This friend wanted to start out by saying,, "Okay, guys... " but , instead, it came out,, "Okay, gays.." and the boss took him off of the assignment.

A lot of people make a big fuss about Hispanics and their English,,, but I never hear any complaints about the Italians and their English,, in fact it is a popular accent around here. And the Brookly accent,,, oh, but they do make fun of that, don't they? and how about the hillbillies? Well, to me the Bahstun accent is very funny. Pahk the cah.

I was in Rhode Island one time, and was introducing a friend of mine to a man from there. I said,, "Sam, this is my friend, Mark",, and the man said, "Hi, Mac",, and I said, " No, Mark" but he repeated, "Mack"... I was getting frustrated, and wondered if he was deaf or had some kind of speech impediment. I realized later that he was saying Mark in his accent.

Answer 4

My ex used to say "b i tch" instead of beach.

Answer 5

You seem to be the expert. Why don't your share your fantastic knowledge with all of us????? !!!