ONE of the most important things to remember is that Spanish vowels are pure and unwavering, ie one sound, and always the same, unlike English, which is impossibly inconsistent and riddled with diphthongs. In English the same vowel may be pronounced in a range of different ways, for example, the vowel ‘a’:

again (uh), small (aw), cap (ah), car (aahh), many (eh), paper (ay), and so on.

Compare this with the absolute consistency of Spanish: pan, casa, cerveza, zanahoria, ie a short ‘ah’ sound.

As we have said, Spanish consonants, like vowels, are always pronounced consistently. The only Spanish consonants which have more than one pronunciation are ‘c’ and ‘g’, yet these differences are defined by set rules which are logical and never change. Let’s have a look…

The letter ‘c’ is pronounced ‘k’ (hard) before a, o, u and any consonant, eg casa, copa, cubo, actriz, acción, sección. On the other hand, ‘c’ is pronounced ‘th’ (soft) before e or i, eg cerveza, excepto, cocina, acción, sección. Note the pronunciation of the ‘cc’ in the latter two examples above, ie ‘kth’ – ah-k-th-ee-on, seh-k-th-ee-on.

The rule is similar with the letter ‘g’. Before a, o, u and a consonant it is pronounced ‘g’ (hard), eg pagar, gol, agua, ignorancia. Before e or i ‘g’ is pronounced ‘ch’ (like ‘ch’ in Scottish ‘loch’). For example: generación, gira, agitar. To achieve a hard ‘g’ sound before e or i, a ‘u’ is inserted, as in guerra, guiri.

This rule takes a bit of getting used to, but if you listen out for examples and become aware of spellings, you should soon get the hang of it.

Other interesting points to note are:
* The Spanish alphabet has 29 letters, the extra three being ‘ch’, ‘ll’ and ‘ñ’.
* The letters ‘b’ and ‘v’ are virtually indistinguishable from each other, so much so that the occasional Spaniard is guilty of mis-spelling words by interchanging ‘b’ and ‘v’.
* There are no double consonants except ‘nn’ in words beginning with the prefix ‘in-‘, ‘cc’ as we saw above, and ‘ll’ and ‘rr’, which are separate letters in their own right.

© Don Pablo

Don Pablo is Paul Whitelock, a graduate in Spanish and German, a retired Ofsted school inspector and former UK languages teacher. He now lives with his German wife near Ronda and is a freelance journalist, translator and interpreter. Paul can be contacted by email at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or by telephone on (+34) 952 87 40 38 or (+34) 636 52 75 16. www.a1-solutions-spain.com 

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Spanish Pronunciation and Spelling
Sunday, 27 September 2009
ONE of the most important things to remember is that Spanish vowels are pure and unwavering, ie one sound, and always the same, unlike English,...

© 2012 - Secret Andalucia - Guadiaro Valley, near Ronda

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