VOWELS---The Key To Clear English Pronunciation There are at least 12 vowel sounds in spoken Spanish, and yes, they matter. When we speak English, we can hear the difference between the "a" sound in hat and the short "o" sound in the word map just as clearly as we can hear the difference between the long "e" sound in the word teen and the short "u" sound in the word cut. Nearly the same thing could be said about the differences between the short "i" sound in the word sit and the long "e" sound in the word seat. The problem is, nowadays, people don't like any kind of tedious work, and "once-over-lightly" approaches that don't require much effort are popular. But without good training in pronunciation, learners often develop fossilized pronunciation errors---they have said it incorrectly for so long that they now say it wrong fluently! Those habits are hard to break---but they're not impossible. If you've been learning English and have never had good accent training, now is the time to get the input you need. Under normal circumstances, everybody can learn to listen and to imitate good, accurate pronunciation--but it's not something you're going to get out of a book. Book a few lessons and get this issue resolved permanently--it's well worth the investment!