The Letter T

Today, we're going to look at the consonant "t" which shares the same issue of aspiration that we talked about last time with the letter "p". Additionally, the Spanish pronunciation of "t" differs from the English pronunciation by where we place the tongue. We'll get to that soon enough, but let's start with the issue of aspiration. 

A little review from my previous post, aspiration is when there is a puff of air that emanates from your mouth at the same time you pronounce the letter. We saw that last time with the letter "p" and how in English most "p's" are aspirated except when following a consonant. So, the "p's" in "parrot", "top", and "open" all have aspiration while in words like "spit", "span", and "spend" there is none. Spanish "p's" always sound like the latter set of words with no aspiration. 

So, coming back to the letter "t", we find the same thing. Let's look at some English "t's" first. Put your palm in front of your mouth and try saying these words.

table

sit

baton

Did you feel the puff of air? Now try these on for size.

stem

stark

stop

Hopefully, you felt the difference. Now for the Spanish.

toro

lata

gente

If you're having trouble make the non-aspirated "t", you can try the splitting exercise. Start first with:

s--tem…s--tem…s--tem…s--tem

Next, make the "s" even softer and increase the pause between the "s" and "t".

s----tem…s----tem…s----tem…s----tem

Now drop the "s" altogether.

tem…tem…tem…tem…

For a Spanish word, add an "a".

tema…tema…tema…tema…

See, simple!  I know the "e" sound is a little different going from the English "stem" to the Spanish word "tema", but we're just focusing on the "t" right now. 

Ok, now let's take a look at tongue placement which also contributes to the difference between Spanish and English "t's". With English "t's" we place the tip of our tongue on the bony ridge right behind our top front teeth like in the words "tea" or "tail". However, in Spanish, the tip of the tongue is placed at the bottom of the front teeth and even sticks out a little between the top and bottom teeth.  In fact, the position of the tongue is very similar to the placement of the tongue when we say the English words, "theme", "thank", "through". 

Try this exercise. Repeat the following word a few times paying attention to where your tongue is at the beginning of the word.

through…through…through…through…through… 

Now, pretend you are going to say "through" and place the tip of your tongue between your teeth or close to the bottom of your top front teeth. But, instead of saying "through", say the Spanish word "toro". 

toro…toro…toro…toro…toro….  

Did that work for you? Be careful that you're not producing a "th" sound and saying something like "th-oro". We're just concerned about the starting position of the tongue. So, just get your tongue in the right place by pretending that you're going to say "through", but then say "toro." 

Well, hope that was helpful in getting your "t's" to sound more like an authentic Spanish accent. To recap, the Spanish "t's" differ from English "t's" in that they are never aspirated and the tip of the tongue is placed between your teeth or close to the bottom of the top front teeth. 

All right. Here's your next trabalenguas, or tongue twister. Ready?