Spanish speakers may substitute “th” for “s” when speaking English because some Spanish dialects do not differentiate between the two sounds, so it may be difficult to distinguish them in a foreign language.
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Spanish speakers may substitute “th” for “s” when speaking English because some Spanish dialects do not differentiate between the two sounds. Spanish has a specific sound for the letter “s” that is produced with the tongue touching the roof of the mouth. This “s” sound is also present in some English dialects, but not all. In contrast, the “th” sound is not present in Spanish, and some Spanish speakers may find it difficult to distinguish between the two sounds when speaking English.
According to FluentU, a language learning platform, Spanish speakers tend to struggle with the “th” sound because their “tongue placement and movement for ‘s’ in Spanish is different from the tongue placement and movement for ‘th’ or ‘z’ in English.” This may result in them pronouncing words like “this” as “tis” or “thing” as “ting”.
A study published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America found that “Spanish speakers’ difficulties with English /s/ and /θ/ are due to subtle differences in articulatory constraints between the two languages.”
It’s worth noting that not all Spanish speakers have difficulty with the “th” sound, and it ultimately depends on the individual’s exposure to and training in English pronunciation. Institutes like The Pronunciation Workshop suggest that by listening to and practicing with native English speakers, Spanish speakers can learn to differentiate between the “th” and “s” sounds more easily.
In summary, the use of “th” instead of “s” by some Spanish speakers when speaking English is due to the lack of differentiation between the two sounds in certain Spanish dialects. With exposure and practice, Spanish speakers can improve their English pronunciation and overcome this challenge.
| Interesting facts |
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| In Spanish, the letter “z” also has the same sound as “s” in most dialects. |
| Spanish has five vowel sounds, whereas English has 12 or 13 depending on the dialect. |
| Spanish is the second-most spoken language in the world, with over 460 million speakers. |
As the linguist and author David Crystal said, “The Spanish language is the key to unlock the door to the world.”
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The story goes like this: a medieval king of Spain spoke with a lisp. Wanting to imitate royalty, courtiers picked it up. The resulting th sound wormed its way into the Spanish language.
In the northern dialects, the ‘s’ sound was pushed forward in the mouth to the ‘Inter-dental’ place of articulation. The result was the ‘th’ sound. In the south of Spain and in the Americas, this sound hardly evolved and stayed as the ‘s’ sound.
A video response to “Why do Spanish say th instead of s?”
The importance of mastering the phonemes in Spanish, particularly the letter ‘S’, is emphasized in this video. The differences between vowels and consonants in Spanish and English are explained, with Spanish having more vowel variation and four possible allophones of the letter “s”. While it is recommended to sacrifice consonants for accurate vowel sounds, the variations in pronunciation of the letter ‘S’ may not be noticed by natives, and it’s okay to use the “zed” sound if it helps with producing accurate vowels. The video ends with a call to action to like, subscribe, and comment, and a link to another video about the impact of free variation of vowel sounds in Spanish.
In addition, people ask
Why does Spain pronounce s as th?
Answer to this: Apparently, one of Spain’s medieval kings, usually identified as King Ferdinand, had a lisp. As a form of respect, and to please their king, Spanish people started speaking with this now characteristic sound called by some as the Spanish lisp.
What is the difference between s and th in Spanish?
Response to this: The lisping th-sound of Castilian Spanish is replaced by an s-sound in Latin America and in Southern Spain. European Spanish and Latin American Spanish differ slightly in their use of words (for instance a car is a coche in Spain but a carro in Mexico).
Why don t Puerto Ricans pronounce their s?
The “S” sound: Puerto Ricans will either completely ignore the S sound or turn it into H sound (something that can be found in other caribbean accents such as Venezuelan Spanish). This change also applies for the Z sound. This phenomenon will occur when the S is in the middle of a word or at the end.
Do Spanish people pronounce C as th?
However, in most of Spain, especially outside the areas where Catalan is also spoken, the "c" before "e" or "i" is pronounced as the "th" in "thin"—but not the "th" in "that." In most of Spain, then, "cielo" is pronounced as "THYEH-low" and "cena" as "THEH-nah." To avoid confusion between the two "th" sounds, linguists
What is the difference between’s’ and ‘th’ in Spanish?
The response is: In Spain, the ‘s’ still has an ‘s’ sound, only a little more like a whistle. Not a ‘th’ sound. – PumpkinCalabaza, JUL 28, 2012 There are different accents, but the way that many people speak is to pronounce "c" and "z" as "th" (but not the letter s).
How do you pronounce a s in Spanish?
The answer is: If you pronounce s, z and c like the th in “tooth,” that’s called ceceo. The verb form is cecear. If you pronounce all three of these letters like an English s, that’s called seseo, and the verb is sesear. If you pronounce an s like an English s, but a c or z like a th, that’s called distinción.
Why do Spaniards pronounce Z and C with a lisp?
Response will be: A scene from the Castilla y León region of Spain. Mirci / Creative Commons. If you study Spanish long enough, sooner or later you’ll hear a tale about Spanish King Ferdinand, who supposedly spoke with a lisp, causing Spaniards to imitate him in pronouncing the z and sometimes the c to be pronounced with the "th" sound of "thin."
Why does Spanish have a ‘th’ sound?
Due to prolonged contact with other languages, the Spanish lexicon contains influences from Basque, Germanic, Arabic, and some of the languages of the Americas. The ‘Interdental’ lisp or ‘th’ sound in words such as ‘cinco and hacer’ is merely a development of the language over the past 1,000 years, and not a ‘sudden’ change.
What is the difference between’s’ and ‘th’ in Spanish?
In Spain, the ‘s’ still has an ‘s’ sound, only a little more like a whistle. Not a ‘th’ sound. – PumpkinCalabaza, JUL 28, 2012 There are different accents, but the way that many people speak is to pronounce "c" and "z" as "th" (but not the letter s).
How do you pronounce a s in Spanish?
If you pronounce s, z and c like the th in “tooth,” that’s called ceceo. The verb form is cecear. If you pronounce all three of these letters like an English s, that’s called seseo, and the verb is sesear. If you pronounce an s like an English s, but a c or z like a th, that’s called distinción.
Why do Spaniards pronounce Z and C with a lisp?
Answer: A scene from the Castilla y León region of Spain. Mirci / Creative Commons. If you study Spanish long enough, sooner or later you’ll hear a tale about Spanish King Ferdinand, who supposedly spoke with a lisp, causing Spaniards to imitate him in pronouncing the z and sometimes the c to be pronounced with the "th" sound of "thin."
Why does Spanish have a ‘th’ sound?
Answer to this: Due to prolonged contact with other languages, the Spanish lexicon contains influences from Basque, Germanic, Arabic, and some of the languages of the Americas. The ‘Interdental’ lisp or ‘th’ sound in words such as ‘cinco and hacer’ is merely a development of the language over the past 1,000 years, and not a ‘sudden’ change.