5 Steps To Improve Your Spanish Accent

Have you ever wanted to speak Spanish with more of an authentic sounding Spanish accent?

If so then today’s post will be perfect for you.

That’s because we will be walking you through the step-by-step process to quickly improving your Spanish accent.

Watch the video below to see everything you need to know (or you can read the text version below).

Step 1 - Choose a specific Spanish

The first thing you want to do to improve your accent is pick a specific type of Spanish.

This is important because it is going to influence the kind of content you consume in the future.

It will also affect your Spanish speaking identity, including the words you use, how you pronounce those words, and the flow of your Spanish.

If you don’t pick a type of Spanish to study, you will most likely confuse yourself by mixing different Spanish characteristics.

For example, let’s say you first are studying Puerto Rican Spanish, and you begin to substitute the r’s for l’s. I’m not saying ALL Puerto Ricans do that, but many do — like me.

So instead of saying “llamar” you say, “llamal”.

But then let’s say you also mix in some characteristics of the Spanish from Argentina, where the double LL sound becomes the “Sh” sound.

Now instead of saying “llamar” you are saying “shamal.”

What you’ve done is created a type of Spanish that NOBODY speaks or relates to.

Picking a specific type of Spanish is essential as it ensures consistency in your linguistic structure.

So what kind of Spanish should you choose?

I’m a big believer in choosing a Spanish that you are passionate about.

This passion will lead to much more focus and consistency in the long term.

It doesn’t matter which one you pick.

Every type of Spanish in the world is beautiful, and we can all communicate no matter how different our Spanish is.

This brings me to another point for why having a passion for a particular Spanish type is essential.

Along your Spanish speaking journey, you will meet many Native speakers who say that you say a word wrong or maybe your accent sounds weird to them because it is not THEIR accent.

As Spanish speakers, we all believe OUR Spanish is the best.

Being passionate about the Spanish you are using will make you much more confident when a Native may say something about how you pronounce a word.

Step 2 - Researching characteristics

The next thing you need to do is research the characteristics of the Spanish you have chosen.

If you are passionate about a type of Spanish, it is very likely that you already know many of the traits…

But to sound more authentic, you need to know as many as possible.

The beauty is nowadays we have the internet.

All you have to do is go to a website like Wikipedia and search for a specific type of Spanish, and they will tell you common characteristics, words, and phrases from that Spanish.

When you become aware of those characteristics, you will know what to be on the lookout for when you are consuming content, and you will know what sounds you will want to mimic when you are speaking Spanish.

Step 3 - Content based on desired accent

Next, you want to find content to consume that is in the Spanish you want to learn.

One of the best ways to find this content is to do a simple google search.

I recommend finding different types of vloggers and podcasts.

For example, if you want to learn Mexican Spanish, you can search “Top Mexican Vloggers on YouTube.”

I highly recommend vloggers or podcast-style channels because those people will talk in regular everyday speech.

They will also tell stories and be very entertaining, which will help you remember words.

Find a few kinds of resources so that way you always have content to turn to.

Once you find that content, you want to consume it at least 30 minutes a day.

Of course, you could do more, but 30 minutes should be the minimum.

Most people never reach the level they want with Spanish for the simple fact that they don’t consume enough of it.

So find content in the type of Spanish you want to learn and then consume it every day.

Pretty simple, right?

Step 4 - Pronunciation and Intonation

That brings me to the next tip: when you are consuming the content, you want to focus on pronunciation and intonation.

Intonation is the rise and flow of the voice.

So you see how sometimes I go up, and other times I go down.

This is an overlooked characteristic of speaking, especially when it comes to learning Spanish.

Most students only practice pronunciation, never intonation.

Pronunciation is important, but I would argue that intonation is even more critical when mastering your Spanish accent.

I can pronounce every word correctly, but if I have no up and down flow in my voice, then I sound like a robot, right?

It’s important to focus on the speaker’s flow of speech.

Essentially, three things make up a specific type of Spanish.

Just think about it…

What’s the difference between, Spain Spanish and Puerto Rican Spanish?

The pronunciation, the intonation, and the types of words we use.

So you can reverse engineer the process…

Analyze the type of Spanish you chose to learn.

Focus on the pronunciation of every word, the intonation of sentences, and the kinds of words they use to express themselves…

Which again, is why you don’t want to mix different types of Spanish… it will only make things more difficult and confusing for you.

Step 5 - Mirroring Technique

The next step is to use the mirroring technique.

If you’ve watched our channel before, I am sure you are very familiar with the Hyperspeed method, where we speed up the content then slow it down to help your listening comprehension.

To work on your speaking accent, you want to reverse that process.

You want to slow it down so you can mirror what the person is saying, exactly how they are saying it…

So focusing on how they are pronouncing every word and also the flow of their sentences.

For example, you can go to a video on YouTube and put it at .5 speed.

Then from there, you would mirror exactly what the speaker is saying.

Once you feel like you’ve mastered it at a slow pace, you can increase the speed until you get to normal speed.

The goal should be to produce the same pronunciation and intonation as the native speaker at a regular speed.

If you do this consistently for a few minutes a day, you will see drastic improvements in your Spanish Accent.

Conclusion: These 5 Steps Can Have You Sounding Like a Native In No Time

So let’s quickly run through the steps we covered today…

Pick a type of Spanish to focus on.
Research the characteristic of that Spanish
Consistently consume content in that type of Spanish.
Focus on the pronunciation and intonation of the speakers.
Use the mirroring technique to mimic those speakers to the best of your ability.

If you do that – I guarantee your Spanish accent will improve.

If you are really looking to take your Spanish to the next level, then check out our FREE 3 Secrets To learn Spanish faster training, where I will show you my 3 most significant secrets to become fluent in Spanish faster.