Pronunciation of the vowels
  • Prissy August 2012
    I'm having a hard time understanding the pronounciation of certain alphabets such a, e, i, o, u, and y.

    Can you please help?

    Thanks
  • Christopher August 2012
    Hi there. I'll let one of our tutors add to this, but let me give it a shot first. Spanish vowels are "cleaner" than a lot of English vowels, which are really technically diphthongs. (Think of the o sound in show; there's an /o/ followed by an /oo/ and some speakers even start with an /uh/.) So the first thing to listen for on the audio is the crispness of vowels in Spanish.

    a as in gato is similar to a in father or o in hot, at least in standard US pronunciation. (not like a in bad or hat)
    e as in de is like ay in day, but without the /ee/ at the end. Start to say "day" and stop halfway through the vowel, before your jaw raises.
    i as in ir is like ee as in see. But again, crisp and clean.
    o as in no is like the o in soda, but without the /oo/ quality at the end.
    u is like oo in pool, but with the jaw a bit lower
    y is the same as i.

    Of course, it's hard to write about how vowels or consonants sound. But listen to the audio and pay close attention, and you should be able to make more sense of this. And of course, work with your eTutor.

    One quick caveat. Don't get hung up on having perfect pronunciation at the beginning. It's not a realistic goal, and it will make you frustrated. Good pronunciation will come with time, and even if perfectly native pronunciation never comes, that's fine.

  • Prissy August 2012
    This helps a lot! Thank you Christopher for taking the time out to explain. :-)
  • Anna August 2012
    Hi Prissy!

    Here is a post I wrote in our blog about Spanish pronunciation tips:

    1. Vowels

    Learning the vowels correctly will improve your Spanish and your ability to be understood by native Spanish speakers. Spanish vowels are simple, brief and consist on a single sound. a-e-i-o-u Lets practice and repeat!

    “a” as hat (casa/house), “e” as pet (pez/fish), “i” as me (mi/my), “o” as old (oso/bear), “u” as boot (mucho/a lot).

    Master your vowels in Spanish and your pronunciation will have come a long way!




    2. V and B sounds

    V and B they both have the same sound, like an English B for boy. Bueno and Vino sound exactly alike!


    3. The R sound

    That famous “trilled r” some learners get nervous about. Many English speakers find this sound difficult but there is nothing to worry about. Practice is the clue and if you don´t master the “R” don’t worry about it! You’ll just sound exotic and interesting to native Speakers!

    There are to kinds of “R” sounds:

    STRONG R

    - R at the beginning of a word is always strong: RAMÓN, ROSA, ROJO

    - RR in the d of a word is also strong: ARROZ, CARRO

    SOFT R

    The soft R sounds a little bit like D in English. ÁRBOL, PARTE



    4. H sound

    The H is completely mute, as opposite than in English.

    Hotel, Hospital, Honesto, Huevos, Alcohol

    Do not stress the H as in English and you will sound like a native Speaker!



    Practice, practice and practice is the only clue!

    Practicing out loud you will develop confidence in your Spanish pronunciation skills and you will learn quicker.

  • Prissy August 2012
    Thank you, Ann this is great!
  • Christopher August 2012
    Thanks for a much better answer than mine, Anna! Prissy, let us know if you have any other questions at all. I hope you're enjoying learning Spanish with us, and that you're taking advantage of the eTutoring. As you can see from Anna's answer, we have great eTutors!
  • Mahima August 2012
    Wow ! This is great. Had my orientation few hours back and just had my first lesson. This is a great supplement to that. Gracias :)
  • Christopher August 2012
    Fantastic, Mahima! Glad you did the Orientation. We're looking forward to seeing you in the first session, after lessons 1 and 2 of Essential! Don't forget that you can take the sessions more than once, and that's a great way to see how much you've improved. (A little bit of a boost along the way to speaking a new language is a good thing!) If you ever have any questions, please post them here, or feel free to email us at [email protected]. We're here to help.
  • THoth September 2012
    aahh, eeyy, e, ohhh, eewwww
  • Anna September 2012
    ¡Hola chicos!

    @THoth: The last sound for "u" sounds like: BOOOOOO.

    @Mahima: Check out this Spanish rumba really good to master the sound of the vowels.

    Peret - "Borriquito como tú, que no sabes ni la u!"

    Hahaha this song is the best! In Barcelona rumba is very popular and I grew up singing thi song (tear) :_)

    Here are the lyrics:

    Borriquito como tú, que no sabes ni la "u"
    Borriquito como tú, yo se mas que tú

    A, E, I, O, U
    AHHHHHHHHHH, E, I, O, U

    Borriquito como tú, que no sabes ni la "u"
    Borriquito como tu, yo se mas que tú

    Yo soy el cantante,
    Yo soy el poeta, 
    Soy el más querido,
    Soy el preferido de la juventud,
    con solo 6 letras hago mil canciones
    y todos aplauden con gran entusiasmo mis inspiraciones.

    Le canto a las chicas,
    canto al tavernero, 
    canto a la portera,
    canto a lo que sea,
    canto al mundo entero.

    Y con este acento parezco extranjero,
    pero soy de Vigo
    me hago llamar Peter,
    y mi nombre es Pedro.

    A, E, I, O, U
    AAAAAAH, E, I ,O, U

    Borriquito como tú, que no sabes ni la "u"
    Borriquito como tú, yo se mas que tú
    ...

Add a Comment