As attractive and effortless as Spanish sounds, there is always a certain amount of demanding work involved in learning any new language. The rules might seem difficult at first, but don't forget that the English language is often cited as one of the most complicated to learn, thanks to each rule's numerous exceptions.
Spanish, by comparison, is fairly by the books, which makes it ideal for those who want to learn on a budget as you don't need fancy teachers or huge textbooks. Practice your pronunciation and you'll learn Spanish free before you know it.
Spanish Vowels And How They Sound
Spanish vowels are mostly letters are the same as in English, but the way they are pronounced is different. For instance, the letter "A" is voiced "uh" in Spanish, and "e" becomes an "ay" sound. "I" changes to a long "e" sound, and "u" is pronounced with an "ooh." There's only one vowel that keeps the same sound in English, and that's "o," as in "oh."
Let's take a one Spanish sentence and examine how it is pronounced using these sounds. Our sample will be the easy sentence "I like to eat the cheese."
Me gusta comer el queso.
"Quiero" is the first word, and it means "I want." Pronounce this "kee-air-oh." The next word, "comprar," means "to buy" in Spanish and is spoken "comb-per-ahr." "Pantalones nuevos" means "new pants," and can be pronounced "pahn-tah-lone-ays new-ay-vozz."
Spanish Consonants And How They Sound
Consonants take a backseat to the vowels in Spanish just as they do in English. There are a few more rules we have to observe here than there were in the vowels, and even an extra "letter" of sorts: "ch." The letter "ch" is pronounced as you'd pronounce the same letters in the English word "champion."
The letter "c" becomes an "s" sound when used in front of an "e" or "i," for instance the word "cero," or the Spanish version of the English word "zero." A "g" in front of an "e" or "i" produces the "ch" sound, but if it's used anywhere else it represents a hard English "g" sound, as in "go."
There are additional hiccups as well. The letter "z" will make a "th" sound. The letter "h" is always silent. There's a second new letter as well, the "ll," which is pretty common in Spanish and makes a hard "y" sound like in "you." That sound is used in the word "llamar" and gives the word the following pronunciation: "ya-MAR."
Then there's the little tilde that shows up above many Spanish words, such as in "el nio." In this case, this word makes the same sounds as the "ll" did. As a result, it is pronounced "el neen-yo." These are the majority of Spanish sounds, so as long as you practice these often, you'll be able to say whatever you want.
Even so, the ground we've covered in this article certainly isn't everything, but it's a good start for those who want to learn Spanish free. There are a couple more sounds which can come in handy.
One would be "qu," which makes a nice "k" sound. Any "r" should be rolled off the tongue if you are capable of dong so. And the "y" letter is pronounced like its English counterpart, except that when it's alone it becomes an "eee" sound.
Spanish, by comparison, is fairly by the books, which makes it ideal for those who want to learn on a budget as you don't need fancy teachers or huge textbooks. Practice your pronunciation and you'll learn Spanish free before you know it.
Spanish Vowels And How They Sound
Spanish vowels are mostly letters are the same as in English, but the way they are pronounced is different. For instance, the letter "A" is voiced "uh" in Spanish, and "e" becomes an "ay" sound. "I" changes to a long "e" sound, and "u" is pronounced with an "ooh." There's only one vowel that keeps the same sound in English, and that's "o," as in "oh."
Let's take a one Spanish sentence and examine how it is pronounced using these sounds. Our sample will be the easy sentence "I like to eat the cheese."
Me gusta comer el queso.
"Quiero" is the first word, and it means "I want." Pronounce this "kee-air-oh." The next word, "comprar," means "to buy" in Spanish and is spoken "comb-per-ahr." "Pantalones nuevos" means "new pants," and can be pronounced "pahn-tah-lone-ays new-ay-vozz."
Spanish Consonants And How They Sound
Consonants take a backseat to the vowels in Spanish just as they do in English. There are a few more rules we have to observe here than there were in the vowels, and even an extra "letter" of sorts: "ch." The letter "ch" is pronounced as you'd pronounce the same letters in the English word "champion."
The letter "c" becomes an "s" sound when used in front of an "e" or "i," for instance the word "cero," or the Spanish version of the English word "zero." A "g" in front of an "e" or "i" produces the "ch" sound, but if it's used anywhere else it represents a hard English "g" sound, as in "go."
There are additional hiccups as well. The letter "z" will make a "th" sound. The letter "h" is always silent. There's a second new letter as well, the "ll," which is pretty common in Spanish and makes a hard "y" sound like in "you." That sound is used in the word "llamar" and gives the word the following pronunciation: "ya-MAR."
Then there's the little tilde that shows up above many Spanish words, such as in "el nio." In this case, this word makes the same sounds as the "ll" did. As a result, it is pronounced "el neen-yo." These are the majority of Spanish sounds, so as long as you practice these often, you'll be able to say whatever you want.
Even so, the ground we've covered in this article certainly isn't everything, but it's a good start for those who want to learn Spanish free. There are a couple more sounds which can come in handy.
One would be "qu," which makes a nice "k" sound. Any "r" should be rolled off the tongue if you are capable of dong so. And the "y" letter is pronounced like its English counterpart, except that when it's alone it becomes an "eee" sound.
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Besides learning some vocabulary you will want to also possibly have some online lessons. There are various resources online where you can learn Spanish free. Have a good look around and you'll find the best way to learn Spanish to ensure steady progress. Get some of those free software lesson packs that show you effective visual learning methods.
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