In Spanish there are sharp accents on top of some vowels, in particular "á", "é", "í", "ó" and "ú". If you see them, there's no reason to worry. They simply mean that you have to stress the syllable which contains that same accent.

Allow me an example: Let's say you are reading the word "lámpara", which has three syllables (lám-pa-ra), then you put all the stress on the first syllable which has the accent on it: "LÁM-pa-ra".

	Description (pirate)
	Description (landlubber):
	lámpara (lamp)
	océano (ocean)
	piratería (piracy)
	línea (line)
	embarcación (ship)
	pólvora (powder)
	último (last)