Vanessa Prez 1st Spanish lesson THE SPANISH ALPHABET A ah B beh C seh CH cheh D deh E eh F eff-eh G heh H ah-cheh

I ee J ho-tah K kah L el-leh LL eh-yeh M em-eh N en-eh en-yeh O oh P peh Q coo R err-eh RR err-eh (roll those Rs!) dohbleh S es-eh T teh U oo V oo-beh W oo-beh-doh-bleh X eh-kees Y yeh Z seh-tah

*All the Spanish letters are feminine: la a, la e, la m, la p, la v, la z A as in father B bad, bomb C before e/i like thin rest: as in coffee, compost CH church, nacho D similar to day, detective
(instead of the tongue touching the roof of the mouth behind the teeth, it should touch the teeth themselves)

between vowels = as th in the E ten, egg F four, factory G get, government before e/i = English letter h in
(same pronunciation as Spanish J)

house, hockey H Silent, like in honor I like e in he, police J similar to ham, loch K ask, kilometer L line, legal LL like y in yahoo M move, mother N no, national as in canyon O vote, more P peninsula, port Q quit, chemistry.
(same pronunciation as Spanish K)

R butter RR hard r is the sound of r at the start of a word or after l/n/s radio S six, seven, soup T tetxt, ten U twing, pool (but shorter), tutor V bandage
(same pronunciation as Spanish B)

W Washington X excellent, Mexico Y Itself/end of word = just as i Z soft c, like c before e/I, th.

Vowels in Spanish are pronounced differently from their English equivalents. The vowels a, e, and o are pronounced quite softly, while i and u are pronounced with a strong tone.

a ah

e i eh ee oh

o oo

a: la, pan, clase, cama, nada, encantada, naranja, manzana e: el, ese, mes, leche, caf, edad, enemigo, telfono, emergencia i: chica, bonita, seorita, da, aqu, all, fin, salir, hijo o: yo, los, hola, color, doctor, gato, nombre, dos, son, llamo u: t, uno, gusto, saludos, azcar, ayuda, computadora

Consonants that pose problems for English speakers include b, v, , rr,and ll.

1. The letters b and v In English, the letters b and v are clearly differentiated. Theyre not so clear in Spanish. Ask a native Spanish speaker to say the English word very and he may well end up saying berry. The vibrating v sound doesnt exist in Spanish. Instead, v is pronounced in a much softer way. Listen to the following words that start with v and repeat each of them in the space that follows. voy, vamos, ver, viajar, vivir, vela, vaca, vacaciones When the v sound comes in the middle of a word, it becomes less distinguishable from b. Try these words aloud. avin, novia, cerveza, llave, invierno, octavo, prevenir 2. The letter The sound is pronounced a little bit like an n with a hum. Think of it as an ny sound, like canyon. Practice with these words. seor, seora, seorita, nio, nia, bao, maana, ao, lea, caa, cuado, caada, cizaa, cigea 3. The letter rr The double R sound can be incredibly difficult for English speakers. Yet it is a very important sound in the Spanish language, because some words can completely change their meaning depending on whether or not the r sound is trilled (caro (expensive) versus carro (car), pero (but) versus perro (dog). To pronounce the double-R sound properly, you need to learn to trill your rs. Try making a purring sound like a cat. Feel your tongue vibrate. Practice rolling your rs with the following words. correr, barrer, cerrar, guitarra, aburrido, pelirrojo Now, practice the difference between a rolled and unrolled r with the following words. carro / caro perro / pero 4. The letter ll The double-L sound in Spanish is pronounced like a y. ella, talla, all, callado, pollo, caballo, llamar, llegar, llover

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikimedia/en-labs/4/42/Spanish.pdf http://www.donquijote.org/spanishlanguage/alphabet/