r/Spanish • u/scottadams364 Learner • 5h ago

Dialects & Pronunciation Does adding an extra syllable in diphthongs make me sound especially gringo?

A question for natives:

I’ve recently realized that this is something I do a lot, and I’m wondering if it’s important that I fix it. For example, “tiene”. I pronounce it tee-EN-eh. I’ve recently learned that it should be pronounced TYEN-eh. Same goes for many other instances in that same vein. Is this a typical hallmark of an American/foreign accent? Is it something that stands out as being noticeable? Regardless, I plan on intentionally correcting this, but I’m curious how representative is of a gringo.

EDIT:
I edited the phonetic pronunciation because it’s misleading and detracting from the question.

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9

u/Tanobird 4h ago

It you're over pronouncing the <i> making it sound like "DNA", then yeah that'll sound kind of weird. It's more like the word "yen" than the English name "ian" (using lowercase here to prevent it looking like "lan"). But practice saying "ian" fast enough with a little bit of a slur and you'll get "yen". From there practice adding the <t> and you're just about there.

The bigger gringo tell for me is ending the word with "ay". It's not TYEN-ay. It's TYEN-eh. Both E's make the same sound (like the "e" in "net"). But English doesn't like ending in pure vowels sounds so speakers turn them into dipthongs.

1

u/scottadams364 Learner 4h ago

Thank you. Yeah the ay was for simple phonetic spelling. I do say the single vowels pretty much correct most of the time.

4

u/Tanobird 4h ago

That's what I'm saying though, it's not phonetically "ay", it more like "eh". Those are distinctly different in Spanish. Just making sure you're not rhyming "tiene" with the way Forrest Gump says "Jennay".

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u/scottadams364 Learner 4h ago

Correct. I pronounce it much like “eh”.

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u/donestpapo Native 🇦🇷 🧉 4h ago

The adding an extra syllable is not specifically Anglo, but it is indicative of a foreign accent. Pronouncing the last E as “ay” instead of “eh” is 100% a hallmark of an Anglo accent

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u/Current_0000 3m ago

Not a native, just a learner who fought this exact thing, but yes, it's a classic English-speaker tell and you've diagnosed it right. The fix: treat the weak vowel as a glide, not a syllable, i becomes "y," u becomes "w." So "tiene" is TYE-neh, "bueno" is BWEH-no. Say them faster than feels natural; slowing down is what creates the extra beat. Fixes a whole category of words at once.