The Alphabet and Spanish Pronunciation

1. The vowels

These are the five Spanish vowels:

a     e     i     o     u

Apart from these five vowels there is no other vocalic sound in Spanish. 

Think of the vowels in English. How many vowels are there in total? Is the vocalic sound in ´sheep´ the same as the one in ´ship´? What about ´car´, ´man´ and ´cup´? 

It turns out English has a lot of vocalic sounds but only five ways to write them, so often a vowel can be pronounced in many different ways, which makes it quite tricky sometimes.

The fact that Spanish only has five written vowels, which always stand for the same sound, makes it a good language to learn.

To know how to pronounce the five Spanish vowels think of closing down your mouth gradually as you go from wide open ´a´ to very close ´u´:

a     Start with a wide open mouth, as if you are shouting ´Ahhhh!"

e     Close your mouth a little. Imagine the way we sometimes say ´er...´ when we are trying to think          what to say next.

i     Now you´re smiling. This is the smiling ´i´

      Your lips are shaped like a half crescent moon

o     Curl your lips into the shape of the vowel and a kind of ´Oh!´ will come out.

u     Curl your lips even more into a close ´u´ shape. This is the kissing ´u´. Imagine getting ready to           blow a kiss.

Some proper names or popular brand names can help us remember this sequence and the pronunciation of the vowels:

a     Anna, Albert

e     Eleanor, Eddie

i      Ian, Isabelle

o     Ollie, Olivia

u     Uno (like the card game)

2. The alphabet march

Spanish pronunciation is very straightforward and consistent. Once you know how each letter is pronounced you can read any word with confidence. You just have to learn the code and apply it every time.

3. Videoele clip on pronunciation (popular brands)

This videoele clip offers a good opportunity to practice the consistency of Spanish pronunciation. With just a few exceptions, foreign words are pronounced following the Spanish pronunciation, not its original language pronunciation, with some interesting results. How do you think the following brands will be pronounced in Spanish?:

Fairy

Colgate

Danone


Watch the clip to check: Videoele Pronunciación de marcas