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Step 1
First, let's look at what is silent. In Spanish, the "h" is silent. The only time you will hear an "h" pronounced is if it is part of a "ch".
In these cases the "h" is silent:
hacer
hay
hembra
The "h" should be completely ignored, except for spelling purposes. -
Step 2
You have to be careful when pronouncing the "v" in Spanish. It is not pronounced like a "v" at all. It is much more like a "b" sound than a "v" sound. You will hear some Spanish speakers pronounce it as if it were a softer version of "b". However, in most cases the safest thing is to just pronounce it like a "b".
return = volver (bowl-behr)
I go = voy (boy)
we go = vamos (bah-mos) -
Step 3
Now let's look at another tricky letter, the double "l", or "ll". The "ll" is a common letter but is not often pronounced anything like an "l". In most countries, it is pronounced almost exactly like a "y". Occasionally, it will sound like the "lli" in million. However, in Argentina, it is pronounced like an "sh". The safest bet is to pronounce it like a "y", unless you happen to be traveling to Argentina.
Look at these examples:
chicken = pollo (poy-yo)
call = llamar (yah-mar)
rain = lluvia (you-bee-a) -
Step 4
We won't cover the rest of the consonants here because they generally loosely correspond to similar forms of the English way of pronunciation.
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Step 5
Now let's look at the vowels. Fortunately, in Spanish, vowel sounds are regular, unlike in English where the spelling of a word often doesn't correspond to the pronunciation.
Here are the vowels:
a (sounds like "ah" in the English word "ascend")
e (sounds like "eh" in the English words "met" or "café")
i (sounds like "ee" in the English words "feet" or "meet")
o (sounds like "oh" in the English word "bone")
u (sounds like "oo" in the English word "tune") -
Step 6
Be sure to listen to Spanish songs and read the lyrics online. By listening to the music while reading the lyrics, you will hear native speakers and see how the words are pronounced correctly.
(If you don't know how to find the lyrics, click on the link on "How to Find Spanish Lyrics" in the resource section below). -
Step 7
Now you know a few of the basics of how to pronounce Spanish words!
