Learning American Accent: Words with S

Many words in English begin with an “s-blend,” which is when the letter s is followed by another consonant.  For example, the words state, space, school, and special all begin with s-blends.

Some non-native speakers of English have difficulty with combining consonants because they don’t use this construction in their native language.  In Spanish, words with these sounds begin with an “e,” such as especial, escuela, and estado.  Consequently, a common accent pattern in English is to add an additional “e” sound before s-blend words.

Listen to the following pairs of words.  Note that the words are similar, but the Spanish word has and "es" and the English word has only "s."

space/espacio
special/especial
state/estado
stamp/estampa

To avoid this problem, start by practicing s-blend words alone.  Then slowly add words before your s-blend word, being careful to start your target word with an “s,” not an “es.”  It might help you to draw out the “s” sound a little longer.

After saying s-blend words by themselves, slowly add more words to your phrase until you are able to say the s-blend word correctly in a sentences.   For example, use the recording below to try this exercise:
special
special service
provide special service
we will provide special service