To begin to study Spanish is very important to consider some aspects. Unlike many other languages Spanish is very easy to read, since all the words are pronounced exactly as written.
The most important thing to consider is the vocalization and pronunciation of the vowels mainly, most consonants sound quite similar to English, however we must be careful with some of them because they have a sound somewhat different in Spanish .
The current Spanish language alphabet contains 27 alphabetical characters recognized as letters.
A – B – C – D – E - F - G – H – I – J – K – L – M – N – Ñ- O
P – Q – R – S – T – U - V – W - X – Y - Z
The "Ñ" is a letter that only exists in the Spanish language, and its pronuncied like: "ENYE".
It is necessary to indicate that the "W" is not for the Spanish alphabet, as well as the "k", but both are used in words of foreign origin and in case of the "k", in words of Greek root. There exist some sounds that recently were eliminated as letters (1994), but continue being important sounds in the Hispanic language.
Other cases
CH – RR – LL –
Ch - sounds like in CHILDREN in English.
LL - it sounds like a french "J"
There exist other sounds that have not been considered to be letters, but that constitute very frequent sounds in the language.
BR – BL- CR – CL – GR – GL- DR - FR – FL -– PR – PL – TR – TL
Wich is:
B, C, G, D, F, P, T + R, L
It is frequent to meet difficulties as for the sound of some phonemes, such is the case of: B – V / C – Q – K / Y – LL
B - C – G – J – K – LL - Q – R – RR – S – V – Y - Z
The Association of Spanish Language Academies met in Madrid for its 10th Annual Congress on April 27, 1994 and voted to eliminate CH and LL as separate letters of the Spanish Alphabet.
Words beginning with CH will be listed alphabetically under the letter C. words beginning with LL will be listed alphabetically under the letter L. The Two separates letters historically have had separating headings in dictionaries and alphabetized word list. Spanish words that contain the letter “ñ” are now alphabetized accordingly with words that do not contain the “tilde” (virgulilla) over the “n”. For example, the Spanish system of alphabetizing used to place the word andar before añadir because the “ñ” would fall in after all words containing “n”. According to the new system, añadir is placed before andar because alphabetizing is now letter by letter. The same applies to word containing “rr”.
The move was taken to simplify dictionaries, to make the Spanish more compatible with English, and to aid translation and computer standardization. The vote was: 17 in favour, 1 opposed and 3 abstentions. Ecuador voted “NO” and Panamá, Nicaragua and Uruguay abstained.
Pronunciation
Each vowel in Spanish is pronounced clearly and distinctly. Some important vowel sounds to remember in Spanish are: a as in father, e as in day, i as in police, o as in no, and u as in rule. Diphthongs include ai or ay as in bide, ei or ey as in day, io or yo as in yoga, ue as in west, uo as in woe, and ui as in week. Also, an accent over a vowel indicates stress, as in información, or is simply used to distinguish two identical words, as in si (if) and sí (yes).
Many consonants sounds are similar to English, but keep in mind some of the exceptions: gü as in Gwen, ll as in yes or jar, ñ as in onion, v as in village, and silent h. D between vowels is pronounced as in thin. The consonant r at the beginning of a word or the double rr within a word is a trilled sound made with the tongue against the ridge behind the upper teeth. A single r within a Spanish word sounds a lot like dd in udder or tt in butter, pronounced as in American English.
While traveling you'll notice local differences in pronunciation. For example, c (before i and e) and z are pronounced as soup in Latin American, but as think in Spain. Another variation you'll hear is in the pronunciation of ll: like the lli in million, the j in juice, the sh in show, or the s in pleasure.
