How to Pronounce the Spanish /d/
Or, “How I Almost Offended the Policia Nacional”
Over the past year in Barcelona I’ve become aware that I don’t pronounce the /d/ sound correctly. It isn’t too different from that of English. At times, I’m told it sounds good; at other times, people make me feel like I’m crazy, like I’m saying an /f/ instead of an /m/. The /d/ can’t be that different, can it?
There’s been more than a few times I confused Spanish speakers with my pronunciation, including today when a group of four officers from Policia Nacional (think state police / FBI / Border Patrol) came into the cafe where I was studying (but more on that in a minute).
A different time, I had tried to say that I’d ‘already ordered’, pedido, but it came out sounding like pedito, or “little fart”. Another time, I and a Portuguese were talking to two Venezuelans, who insisted that they couldn’t understand my pronunciation. To me, the conversation went like this:
Venezuelans: “It sounds like this, ‘duh’.”
Me: “Duh.”
Portuguese: “No, you’re saying, ‘duh’ — it’s more like ‘duh’.”
Me: “Duh.”
Venezuelans: “Say it like he did: ‘duh’.”
Me: “Duh.”
This went on for several minutes.
How it works in English
The short of it is: An English /t/ and /d/ are made the same way, it’s just that you voice the /d/ sound. You turn on your vocal cords. Hold your hand to your throat and say, “try” a few times, slowly. You should feel vibration only when you get to the ‘ry’ sound. Now try with the word, “dry”. You should feel the vibration in your throat for the /d/ as well.
That’s it, in English.
How it works in Spanish
In Spanish, the /d/ is a different letter, phonetically. In fact, it is made the same way as the English eth, /ð/, also known as the /th/ in father, and the. This sound is a voiced, dental, fricative. That is:
- Voiced: Use your vocal cords,
- Dental: Hold your tongue against your teeth,
- Fricative: Pass a continuous flow of air through your mouth.
So…‘the’… ‘then’. It’s that sound.
(Better still, it’s more of a /ð̞/, or voiced dental approximant: A less exaggerated sound, close enough to the fricative that they aren’t easily distinguished. Instead of a fricative as in “though” it is more of a plosive, as in “dough”… but still with the tongue pressing against the teeth).
To me, the difference between the Spanish and English /d/ doesn’t sound as noticable depending on the vowels around it. “Dile”, or “tell him”, is easy for me to say correctly.
The “doh” sound, as in “mirado,” is not well received in my US English accent. It comes off more like “mirato” to Spanish ears, though I feel like I am saying, “mira-dough” with a /d/.
How an English speaker should think of the /d/ sound
In reality, it should be said more like “mira-though.” That might sound crazy, but check out Agustina’s pronunciation in the screen grab above. If you’re reading lips in English, she’s saying they — not de. Of course, as mentioned in the aside about “approximants” above, it’s not exactly that sound… but it’s close.
(Above video in Spanish, on how to pronounce the /d/ and /ð/ in English)
Reading the Spanish speakers’ comments in this video about an English speaker’s pronunciation of the Spanish /d/… I think there’s another point worth distinguishing:
Spanish does have a /d/ pretty close to the English /d/, especially when it starts a word. It is when it is intervocalic, or between vowels, that it is spoken as a /ð/ or /ð̞/ (sounds more like /th/ in “the”).
So how does this add up to today’s dose of discomfort in a second language? When the four policia nacional were ordering coffee, I noticed that I was occupying the best 4-person table in the (otherwise nearly empty) coffee shop. I was close to finishing up anyway. I started packing my things just as they started coming over.
One officer said, “Buenas” to me and a woman nearby. Good day. Then he said to me something to the effect of, I hope you’re not leaving on our account.
I nervously stammered out a, “No, está bien, me estoy yendo… de todos modos.” No, it’s fine. I´m leaving anyway.
He didn’t understand. “Perdón, cómo?”
I repeated myself, and he smiled, “ah, de todos modos. Bien, bien.” Ahh, anyway, good good.”
Another officer saw my nervousness and added, “Muy bien Castellano, bien dicho😊” Very good Castilian (Spanish), well said.
As I was leaving, I was thinking about my pronunciation. With how I say “modo” as “moto”, it’s likely he heard something entirely different.
“Está bien, me estoy llendo, de todos motos.”
It’s okay, I’m leaving, on all motorcycles.
That is… an expression in neither Spanish nor English, but I imagine it sounds like one! It kind of feels like, “I’m getting out of here, on any ride possible.”
That made me laugh while walking back home, and broke some of the discomfort. I halfway wanted to return to explain to them that there is a very common issue with English speakers in pronouncing the “intervocalic /ð̞/” sound in Spanish, but I’m sure that could only have made it worse 😄
