As we know, pronunciation is a very important part of learning a language, in this case, Spanish. When you learn Spanish, the first thing you are usually told is that it is pronounced the same way as it is read, but… BE CAREFUL! This is not entirely true, because there are some rules that we must follow.
In this article, we are going to explain the three basic rules:
1. The first rule we must know is simple and a key point to learning Spanish.
The “H” DOESN’T SOUND, some examples would be the words “helado, hotel and hablar”. When you start speaking Spanish it can be a bit complicated because in English this rule doesn’t exist, but with practice, everything gets better.
Attention! There are some cases in which the letter “H” must be pronounced. This happens when there is a “C” before the “H“, making it “CH“; some examples are the words “coche, chico and China”.
2. The second basic rule of Spanish pronunciation is about the letter “L”.
The double “L“, is to say “LL“, and sounds like the letter “Y“. This sound is very similar to the English words yoghurt and New York. Some examples in Spanish are “llorar, camello and llaves”.
3. Last but not least, we have the phonetics of the R/RR, which is essential to pronounce Spanish well.
In Spanish, we have two types of “R”: RR and R.
The double “RR” should be pronounced so that it sounds strong as “correr, Tierra y guitarra”.
The single “R” has two possible pronunciations: Strong (like the double “rr”) as “ratón, correr and roca” and soft as “cantar, libro and comer” (in English it would be like the sound of car and rain).
It is so important to differentiate between the two pronunciations, as there are times when this can lead to confusion, for example with the words “perro” and carro”, which with a double “rr” means dog and car, but with an “r” “pero y caro” means but and expensive.
If you like Spanish and want to learn to speak correctly, follow these little tricks and visit our Spanish school in Valencia, Spain.
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Our Spanish School:
Spanish & Valencia – Private Spanish Lessons.
Calle del Mar 23-25 Valencia -Spain