Spanish pronunciation classes for beginners are essential in the early stages of learning the language. Spanish is a phonetic language. This means that it is read and pronounced exactly as it is written.
While Spanish grammar is a little more complex than grammar in other languages, pronunciation is usually relatively easy for Spanish learners.
You just have to remember some simple rules to communicate correctly in Spanish.
So… Let’s get started!
When I have Spanish pronunciation classes for beginners with my students I always tell them that, for pronunciation, we have to group the vowels into two teams:
The letter “g” has two sounds in Spanish and the letter “j” has one.
The /x/ sound is used for these syllables: ja, je, ji, jo, ju, ge, gi. For example: jamón, jefe, jirafa, rojo, julio, gente and colegio.
The /g/ sound is used for these syllables: ga, go, gu and also for gue, gui, where the letter “u” is silent. For example: gato, gorra, guantes, hamburguesa and guitarra.
In this video, you can see the contrast between the pronunciation of ge, gi and ga, go, gu:
This is a topic I love teaching in my Spanish pronunciation classes for beginners: the umlaut.
The umlaut is the two little dots (¨) that we put above the letter “u” in the syllables güe, güi and that allows the “u” to be pronounced (it is not silent). For example: cigüeña and pingüino.
In this video, you can see how to write and pronounce some words with umlauts:
If you want to learn more about writing and pronouncing the letters G and J, I recommend this course from the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme: Cómo pronunciar y escribir las letras G y J.
We continue with the next important point of Spanish pronunciation classes for beginners: the letters C, Z, Q and K.
Pay attention because although you see four letters, there are only two sounds: the /θ/ sound and the /k/ sound.
The syllables that are pronounced with the /θ/ sound are: za, ce, ci, zo, zu. For example: zapato, cerebro, cien, brazo and zumo.
The syllables that are pronounced with the /k/ sound are: ca, que, qui, co, cu. Pay attention because in the syllables que, qui, the letter “u” is silent. For example: casa, queso, quince, comer and cuello.
The syllables ka, ke, ki, ko, ku are also pronounced with the /k/ sound. The letter “k” is not very common in Spanish, however, we use it in common words such as kilómetro, kilo or kiwi.
In this video, you can see and practise the pronunciation of the letter “q” with me:
If you want to learn more about writing and pronouncing the letters C, Z, Q and K, I recommend this course from the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme: Cómo pronunciar y escribir las letras C, Z, Q y K.
In my Spanish pronunciation classes for beginners I always insist that pronunciation does not have to be perfect, it has to be understandable. Having an accent is not a bad thing either, as long as it does not affect communication, that is, whether the people you speak to understand you.
This is especially important with the letter “r” for French-speaking, English-speaking, and Japanese students.
Don’t worry guys, you don’t have to have a perfect pronunciation of this letter, just an understandable one.
The letter “r” has two sounds in Spanish: the soft sound /r/ and the strong sound /r̄/.
The soft sound is always written with one “r”: corazón, árbol.
The strong sound can be written with one “r” or with two “rr”: ratón, perro.
In this video you can see the difference in pronunciation between the two sounds, as well as the rules to correctly write the letter “r”:
If you want to learn more about writing and pronouncing the letter R, I recommend this course from the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme: Cómo pronunciar y escribir la letra R.
Pronunciation is a fundamental part of your journey of learning a new language. Personally, I find it really difficult to pronounce the right way in English when I communicate, so I know what I’m talking about.
You have to practise, practise and practise. Sometimes exaggerating, other times in front of the mirror, you can also imitate natives (look for videos on YouTube) and another good idea is to record yourself speaking in Spanish and then listen to your Spanish.
In short, you have to create sounds when speaking in Spanish so that the person you are communicating with can understand you.
I recommend you absorb these sounds and get used to them by listening to podcasts in Spanish or watching television series and movies.
If you liked these four Spanish pronunciation classes for beginners, I encourage you to visit the Your Spanish Hub Membership Programme, where, in addition to having pronunciation and writing courses, you can also access vocabulary, grammar and conversation courses.
Enjoy the courses!
