MMLS NOTE- LEARNING: The Spanish Alphabet

Introductions: If you know the alphabet in English, you can easily learn it in Spanish. That is because the Spanish alphabet is very similar to the alphabets of most other western European languages, including English. According to the Real Academia Espaola, which is considered the arbiter of what s official Spanish, the following letters make up the Spanish alphabet!

a b c d e ! " h i # $ l m n o p % r s t u & ' ( ) *

The following chart shows the capital letters along with name of each letter. "etter A + . E 1 G 2 I 4 6 L M #ame a be ce de e efe ge hache i %ota ka ele eme "etter N , O / 0 R S T 3 5 7 8 9 : #ame ene e$e o pe cu ere ese te u uve &oble uve e'uis ye (eta

Note: According to the criteria of the Ro)al Spanish Academ), the following consonants or words )-2 RR and LL* are no longer included in the structure of the Spanish Alphabet above.

/ronunciation: The Eas) -onsonants;

+ne factor that makes Spanish pronunciation fairly easy for English speakers is that many of the consonants are pronounced almost like their English e'uivalents. Although there are some subtle differences in a few cases, generally you can pronounce the consonants covered in this lesson as you would in English and be easily understood. +ne thing to keep in mind about Spanish consonants is that they re generally softer and somewhat less distinct than their English e'uivalents )the most notable e,ceptions are the r and rr*. Although their vowel sounds may be distinct, some hispanos hablantes may sound to the untrained ear like they re mumbling. -eep in mind that there are some regional variations as well, although if you follow the descriptions in these lessons you will be understood. .ere are the pronunciations of the consonants with sounds most like English s!

C, at least in most of "atin America, is pronounced like the /c/ in /cereal/ when it comes before an e or an i, and like the /c/ in /car/ when it is other positions. E,amples! complacer, hacer, cido, carro, acabar, crimen. Note: Although you will be understood if you use the "atin American pronunciation, in parts of Spain the c sounds like the /th/ in /thin/ when it comes before an e or i. CH is pronounced the same as the /ch/ in /church./ E,amples! chico, machismo, Chile.

F is pronounced like the /f/ in /fo,./ E,amples! eficaz, fro, frenos. K has basically the same sound in Spanish, although somewhat softer. It is found primarily in words of foreign origin. E,amples! kilmetro, Irak.

M is pronounced like the /m/ in /mother./ E,amples! madre, msica, embajada.

P is pronounced like the /p/ in /spot./ #ote that the /p/ in /spot/ is softer and less e,plosive than the /p/ in /pot./ E,amples! papas, padre, suponer.

Q is pronounced the same as the k. #ote that the u following a q is not pronounced. E,amples! quetzal, siquiatra, que.

S is pronounced like the /s/ in /simple./ 0ou do not give it the /(/ sound heard in /wears/ and many other English plural words, although it can be slightly voiced )like a soft /(/* when it comes before an m, b, d, v, g, l, n or r. E,amples! Susana, seres humanos, sencillo, fantasma.

T is pronounced like the /t/ in /stop./ #ote that the /t/ of /stop/ is softer and less e,plosive than the /t/ of /top./ E,amples! todo, ate, temer. W is pronounced like the /w/ in /water./ It is found primarily in words of foreign origin. E,amples! kilo!att, "imbab!e.

Y is generally pronounced the same as in English. See the lesson on vowels for a more thorough e,planation.

/ronunciation: 5o'els;
English speakers generally find the pronunciation of Spanish vowels fairly easy. 1lose appro,imations of all their sounds e,ist in English, and, with the e,ception of the # and the sometimes silent $, all the vowels have basically one sound. The main thing to keep in mind is that in Spanish the vowels sounds are generally more distinct than they are in English. In English, any vowel can be represented by what s known as the schwa, an unstressed vowel sound such as the /a/ in /about,/ the /ai/ in /mountain,/ and the /u/ in /pabulum./ 2ut in Spanish, such an indistinct sound isn t used. Although, as in most languages, the sounds of the vowels can vary slightly with the letters before and after them, in general the sound remains the same regardless of the word it s in. 3irst, the more or less invariable sounds. 0ou can hear a these sounds and the others in this lesson by listening to the teacher.

A is pronounced similarly to the /a/ in /father/ or the /o/ in /loft./ E,amples! madre, ambos, mapa. There are some speakers who sometimes pronounce the 45a%% something halfway between the /a/ in /father/ and the /a/ in /mat,/ but in most areas the first sound given is standard.

I is pronounced similarly to the /ee/ in /feet/ and the /e/ in /me,/ although usually a little briefer. E,amples! finca, timbre, mi.

O is pronounced like the /oa/ in /boat/ or the /o/ in /bone,/ although usually a little briefer. E,ample! tel&fono, amo, foco.

No' the t'o &o'els 'hose sound can chan"e:

E is generally pronounced like the /e/ in /met/ when it is at the beginning or within a word. It is pronounced similarly to the 1anadian /eh,/ kind of a shortened version of the /6/ in the English /caf6,/ when it is at the end of the word. Sometimes it can be somewhere between those two sounds. It s not 'uite the sound of the English letter /A,/ which if pronounced slowly often has an /ee/ sound at the end, but closer to the /e/ of /met./ -eep in mind that even when it s at the end of the word, in a sentence it may sound more like the /e/ of met. 3or e,ample, in a phrase such as de vez en cuando, each 45e%% has appro,imately the same sound. E,amples! caf&, compadre, embarcar, enero.

U is generally pronounced like the /oo/ in /boot/ or the /u/ in /tune./ &o not pronounce it like the /u/ in /uniform./ E,amples! universo, reunin, unidos. In the combinations gui and gue, as well as after q, the u is silent. E,amples! gua, guerra' quizs. If the u should be pronounced between a g and i or e, an umlaut )sometimes called a dieresis* is placed over it. E,amples! verg(enza, ling(ista.

.iphthon"s and triphthon"s

As in English, two or three vowels in Spanish can blend together to form a sound. The sound is basically the sound of the two or three vowels rapidly pronounced. 3or e,ample, the u when followed by an a, e, i or o ends up sounding something like the /w/ in /water./ E,amples! cuaderno, cuerpo, cuota. The ai combination sounds something like the sound of /eye./ E,amples! ha , airear. The i when followed by an a' e, i or u sounds kind of like the /y/ in /yellow./! hierba, bien, siete. And other combinations are possible as well! miau, $rugua , caudillo.

The letter Y: 7enerally, the is pronounced the same as it would if it were an i, as part of a diphthong. E,amples! re , so , acer. In some words that are derived from English and have a at the end often retain the English pronunciation. 3or e,ample, in popular songs you may hear words such as se) and phrases such as oh bab .

/ronunciation: .i!!icult -onsonants;

8hile many of the Spanish consonants have sounds that are similar to those in English, many are distinctly different. In this lesson we will study those consonants. +ne thing to keep in mind about Spanish consonants is that they re generally softer and somewhat less distinct than their English e'uivalents )the most notable e,ceptions are the r and rr*. Although their vowel sounds may be distinct, some hispanohablantes may sound to the untrained ear like they re mumbling. -eep in mind that there are some regional variations as well, although if you follow the descriptions in these lessons you will be understood. #ote the differences between the sounds of these consonants and their English counterparts in the following e,amples. #ote also that these pronunciations are a guide only, as there are many subtle variations that can vary with locality.

B and V are pronounced e,actly the same. In fact, one of the few spelling problems that many Spanish speakers have is with these two letters, because they don t distinguish them at all from their sound. 7enerally, the b and v are pronounced like the /b/ in /beach./ 8hen either of the letters is between two vowels, the sound is formed kind of like the English /v,/ e,cept that the sound is made by touching the lips together instead of the upper teeth and lower lip. E,amples! beb&, ambos, vencer. D generally is pronounced somewhat like the /d/ in /diet,/ although often the tongue touches the bottom of the teeth instead of the top. 2ut when 9d: comes between vowels, it has a much softer sound, kind of like the /th/ in /that./ E,amples! derecho, helado, diablo. is pronounced much like the English /g/ in /go,/ e,cept when it precedes an i or e. In those cases, it is pronounced like the Spanish j. E,amples! gordo, gritar, gigante, mgico. H is always silent. E,amples! hermano, hacer, hogar. ! )and the g when before an e or i* can be difficult, as its sound, that of the 7erman ch, is absent in English e,cept for a few foreign words where it is sometimes retained, as in the final sound of loch or the initial sound of Chanukah. The sound is sometimes described as a heavily aspirated /h,/ made by e,pelling air between the back of the tongue and the soft palate. If you can t pronounce it well, you ll be understood by using the /h/ sound of /house,/ but it s worthwhile to work on the correct pronunciation. E,amples! garaje, juego, jardn. " is always pronounced like the first /l/ in /little,/ never like the second one. E,amples! los, helado, pastel.

"" is usually pronounced like the /y/ in /yellow./ There are some regional variations, however. In parts of Spain it has the sound of the /ll/ in /million,/ and in parts of Argentina it has the /(h/ sound of /a(ure./ E,amples! llama, calle, *ermosillo. # usually has the sound of the /n/ in /nice./ If it is followed by a b, v, f or p, it has the sound of /m/ in /empathy./ E,amples! no, en, en vez de, andar. $ is pronounced like the /ny/ in /canyon./ E,amples! +o+o, ca+n, campa+a. % and %% are formed by a flap of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, or a trill. See the R and RR /how to/ guides for these letters. & varies in sound, depending on the origin of the word. It is often pronounced like the /,/ in /e,ample/ or /e,it,/ but it also may be pronounced like the s or the Spanish j. In words of ;ayan origin it can even have the English /sh/ sound. E,amples! &)ito, e)periencia, ,&)ico, ta)i. ' generally sounds like the /s/ in /simple./ In Spain it is often pronounced like the /th/ in /thin./ E,amples! zeta, zorro, vez.

In a language like Spanish with which you can be able to start talking after a few lessons, the studying of the alphabet must be taken seriously. The crux of matter is not to say I speak, it is to speak PROP R!" to be understood. "our interest is the key to reach the success. #r. $O !