Pronunciation Guide Overview

Unlike English, Spanish spelling is very phonetic - that is, the letters consistently correspond to the same sounds. Some of those sounds are difficult for an English-speaking tongue to handle, but fortunately, the resulting English accent won't usually get in the way of understanding.

Spanish vowels are very short and pure compared to English ones. Even in unaccented syllables, they are pronounced clearly - completely unlike in English, where unaccented vowels all sound like the vowel in but. You need to remember that there is no such sound in Spanish. It may feel strange to pronounce every vowel, but Spanish won't work without doing it. Spanish vowels correspond to the vowels in the following English words:

• a = "father"
• e = "bet"
• i = "be"
• o = "go"
• u = "to"

Two vowels together can be more challenging. In this guide, the letters "w" and "y" are used to indicate when they glide together as in some English words. For example:

• ay = "side"
• auw = "sound"
• ie = "yen"
• ey = "say"

No attempt is made in this pronunciation guide to approximate the real Spanish sounds of "b," "v," and "d," because trying to remember to pronounce them correctly can be very distracting and make you self-conscious if you are a beginner. It may take time, but you'll pick them up on your own by listening to others talk. Meanwhile, getting them wrong won't prevent others' understanding of your meaning.

Another consonant sound that can be challenging for a native English speaker is the trilled "r," represented by rr. In this pronunciation guide, the trill is approximated by repeating the "r" sound twice, as in [in-ter-rup-TOR] for interruptor.

You may be accustomed to seeing pocket pronunciation guides that use common words of English to approximate the sounds of Spanish, like [deer-ek-SEE-yon] for dirección. We have avoided that approach for two reasons:

1. It perpetuates bad pronunciation of Spanish by not teaching you to keep your vowels short.
2. By relying on the un-phonetic and irregular spellings of English, it masks the regularity and predictability of the pronunciation of Spanish, making it harder for you to learn.