Guidelines for submitting articles to Mazarron Murcia
Hello, and thank you for choosing Mazarron Murcia to publicise your organisation’s info or event.
Mazarron Murcia is a website set up by Murcia Today specifically for residents of the urbanisation in Southwest Murcia, providing news and information on what’s happening in the local area, which is the largest English-speaking expat area in the Region of Murcia.
When submitting text to be included on Mazarron Murcia, please abide by the following guidelines so we can upload your article as swiftly as possible:
Send an email to editor@spaintodayonline.com or contact@murciatoday.com
Attach the information in a Word Document or Google Doc
Include all relevant points, including:
Who is the organisation running the event?
Where is it happening?
When?
How much does it cost?
Is it necessary to book beforehand, or can people just show up on the day?
…but try not to exceed 300 words
Also attach a photo to illustrate your article, no more than 100kb
Date Published: 23/04/2024
Top English pronunciation struggles for Spanish speakers
Many everyday English words leave Spanish speakers tripping over their tongues
Although it is widely spoken from one corner of the world to the other, English has long been regarded as one of the more difficult languages to learn. Spaniards in particular have trouble pronouncing some of the most frequently-used words in day to day speaking, according to a recent study conducted by the British Council and released on English Language Day 2024.
Learning and pronunciation in English can represent a "considerable" challenge for Spaniards due to the phonetic differences between both languages, explains the British Council, the United Kingdom's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities.
Linguistically, individual challenges vary depending on regional accents and dialects, but certain patterns emerge. Notably, commonly encountered English terms prove unexpectedly tricky for Spanish learners. Among the top offenders are frequently used words like "hello", "house", "happy" and ironically enough, "Spanish".
Research reveals that the absence of initial sp-consonant combinations in Spanish impedes accurate pronunciation of such English vocabulary, causing many Spanish natives to insert artificial 'e' prefixes, so that 'Spanish' ends up sounding like 'Espanish'. Similarly, Spanish speakers struggle with English expressions commencing with the written 'h', typically substituting Spanish 'j' equivalents.
Other complications arise due to the difference between written and spoken English. While Spanish employs few silent letters, English abounds with them. Examples include "walk", "talk", "would" and "could", where the letter 'l' isn't heard.
Another sticky point are vowels. In Spanish there are five vowel sounds compared to approximately 20 in English. This leads Spanish speakers to opt for the Spanish vowel that most closely resembles that of English. It's not always a problem, but some words like ship, live, hit, whose 'i' is short, could be confused with other words that are pronounced with a long 'i', like sheep, leave and heat.
Asked, worked, loved: another characteristic of English is consonant groups or clusters. The absence of these words in Spanish creates the need to look for strategies to pronounce them. On some occasions, a vowel will be incorporated between the consonants and, on other occasions, one of the consonants will be omitted.
Although it's not an error that usually causes difficulties in communication, if -ed is not vocalised in past tense verbs, it can lead to clumsy sentences that sound like they're in the present tense.
Image: Freepik
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