How to Pronounce Spanish

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How to Pronounce Spanish

By Curt Smothers



Spanish pronunciation consistent


Spanish pronunciation is not difficult. Unlike English, its rules are consistent and easy to master; and once learned, the Spanish student can pronounce any word in the language. 


In English, foreigners must cope with a baffling array of inconsistencies. For example, how can we explain that the word "daughter" and "laughter," so close in spelling, are so far apart in pronunciation? 


Such is never the case in Spanish, but it is an important element that seems to be overlooked in many Spanish conversation courses taught to adults nowadays.


Learn Those Letter Combinations


In my experience as a Spanish tutor for beginning adult students at my local community college, I have seen the difficulties my students have in mastering pronunciation of such words as "quesadilla" or "guerra." It was obvious that my students were taught neither Spanish letter combination rules nor the simple rules of word pronunciation. (The latter two words are pronounced "kay-sah-DEE-yah" and "geh-rra [double trill on the "r"s].)


Learning Syllable Stress in Spanish Is Easier than English


I will devote the rest of this article to the easier aspect of Spanish pronunciation: that of proper syllable stress for Spanish multisyllabic words. 


First, a note on what I mean by stress: In English we mostly stress words of more than one syllable on the first syllable. For example, in the foregoing sentence, we stress the syllables as follows: "In ENG-lish we MOST-ly stress words of more than one SYLable on the first SYLable.” 


However,  there are so many ex-CEP-tions that it is im-POSS-ible to make con-SIS-tent rules, be-CAUSE - well, who knows? So, we do it in English by simply learning how the word is pronounced through hearing it.


Only 3 rules to Learn in Spanish, amigos!

Happily, for the Spanish learner, there are three, and only three word pronunciation rules to learn, and they apply to every Spanish word, no matter how many syllables:


Rule 1: Any multi-syllable Spanish word written with an accent will be stressed on the syllable where the accent is written.


Examples: habló (ah-BLO), América (ah-MEH-ree-cah), dólar (DOH-lar)


In Spanish, the written accent is part of the word's spelling and is never omitted.


Rule 2: Any multi-syllable Spanish word not having a written accent AND which ends in a vowel and the consonants "n" or "s" will ALWAYS have the accent on the SECOND-TO-THE-LAST syllable.


Examples: iglesia (ee-GLEHS-yah); botilla (boh-TEE-yah), independencia (een-deh-pehn-DENS-yah), hablas (AH-blas),


Rule 3: Any multi-syllable Spanish word not having a written accent AND ending in a consonant (other than "n" or "s") will ALWAYS have the accent on the LAST syllable.


Examples: hablar (ah-BLAR), reloj (reh-LOH), juventud (hoo-behn-TOOD)

Note that rule 1 (for accented multi-syllable words) is really nothing more than a written instruction to the speaker as to how and where to violate rules 2 and 3. 


By the way, we also find some single-syllable Spanish words written with accents, for example "él." This accent is known as an orthographic and is for the purpose of differentiating a word spelled the same as another, but has a different meaning, i.e.,él = he, el = the.


Conclusion/Final Advice


So, unlike the pronunciation difficulties English learners must overcome, Spanish offers a friendlier learning environment for the new speaker. However, Spanish does have a few more challenges in the area of vowel combinations that are encountered in words like “Venezuela, cierto," etc. 


In other cases, a written accent will likewise intervene to not only break the letter combination but also to tell the speaker where to put the stress on the word, examples are “pandería, María.”


So my advice to beginning Spanish students is this: As your first priority, learn Spanish pronunciation rules first. It is worth it for obvious reasons, not the least of which is that the rules are universal and can be applied without exception to any Spanish word we encounter.


Oh, and by the way, I tutor beginning Spanish online. Contact me at cjsmuz@vivaldi.net to set up lessons. Your first half-hour lesson is free! I have posted three free Spanish lessons on my website.

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