Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world after Mandarin Chinese and English.  It?s no wonder that many English speakers are interested in learning the language for the purposes of traveling, making new friends and business interactions.  Fortunately, for English speakers, Spanish is a language that is much easier to learn than Mandarin Chinese.  Spanish uses almost the same alphabet and many of the pronunciations are similar to English.  Learning Spanish will not be an easy goal to achieve, but it is definitely attainable and very practical.

In Spanish as in English, the five vowels are: a,e,i,o,u and sometimes y.  Pronouncing Spanish vowels is a little simpler in most cases than the pronunciation of English vowels.  Spanish vowels are essentially the same in almost all words.  Here are some examples to help you get started:

A- The sound of the ?a? is very light in Spanish, it sounds like ?ah?.  You can hear the similarity to the way we pronounce ?draw? or ?soft? in English.

Spanish examples: gato, palabra, agua, alma

E- In Spanish the ?e? sounds like a combination of the ?ay? in ?pay? and the ?e? in the word ?pet?.  The Spanish ?e? is just a little softer than the sound of ?pay? but has more emphasis than ?pet?.  In many English words like ?bike? or ?some? the ?e? is silent at the end of the word.  This never happens in Spanish, the ?e? is always pronounced.

Spanish exampes: madre, hermano, chicle

I- The Spanish ?i? is very similar to the long ?ee? sound in English, as in the word ?sheep?

Spanish examples: camisa, si, chico, primo

O- Beginning Spanish speakers will probably pronounce the ?o? just like an English ?o? in ?joke?.  As new speakers get more practice and their ear becomes attuned to the nuances of Spanish, they will notice that the Spanish ?o? is just a little shorter and lighter than the English ?o?.

Spanish examples: hola, abuelo, perro, guapo

U- The ?u? sounds like the ?oo? in the English word ?igloo?.  In Spanish, the ?u? does not sound like the ?u? in the word ?unite? or the word ?fun?.  As in English, ?u? sometimes combines with ?q? and is not pronounced at all as in ?quizas?.  In Spanish the ?u? can also do this when combined with ?g? as in ?guitarra?.

Spanish examples: usted, fabuloso, gusto, mucho

Y- In both English and Spanish ?y? is sometimes considered a vowel.  The letter ?y? alone is a Spanish word that means ?and?.  It is pronounced similarly to the ?ee? sound in ?keep?.  Also, in Spanish ?y? is considered a vowel when it is the last letter in a short word like ?rey?.

Simply reading about the Spanish vowel pronunciations will not be enough to help you in the real world.  You will need to listen to plenty of audio examples of Spanish being spoken by native speakers and also practice speaking with other Spanish speakers as much as you can.  It?s very likely that there are immigrants from Spanish speaking countries living in your neighborhood or community who would be happy to speak with you and help you practice learning their language.  If you seek out a language practice partner, your pronunciation skills will improve dramatically by getting feedback from your partners as well as listening to them speak.  It will take time to train your ear to distinguish the differences between the Spanish and English pronunciations of vowels, and also to train the muscles in your mouth to produce sounds differently than they have before.  Keep practicing speaking and listening and one day you will have impeccable Spanish vowel pronunciation.

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