Spanish Pronunciation: Vowels and Alphabet

Luckily, Spanish uses the same Latin Alphabet as English, with only a few small differences. The most important letters to learn are the vowels: a, e, i, o, u.

They are always pronounced the same way- which makes Spanish pronunciation WAY easier than English. There is no long a and short a and schwa sound- every time you see the "a" in Spanish, it sounds like (ah).

Spanish Vowels and sounds:

a - (ah) e - (eh) i - (ee) o - (oh) u - (oo)

This is a helpful video emphasizing the vowels sounds. (*Disclaimer* This is not my video, but it is well done by the people at fluentin6months.com. I am a teacher and as such have learned that reinventing the wheel over and over is wasted effort, and so I beg, borrow, and steal any non-copyrighted info that I can find)

Getting Started with Spanish

Learning a language is a process: it takes time and effort. If you try to learn, and watch some TV in Spanish and listen to music, it helps. The more you try, the more you learn.

The human brain learns language best under the age of 5. After that, it requires more effort. After the age of 13, it is very difficult to learn an accent. Grammar can still be learned perfrectly, but many of the sounds become increasingly difficult.

The best way to learn Spanish is through immersion, but many people do not have the ability to immerse themselves in Spanish for a prolonged period of time. However, wherever you live, there are easy free opportunities to speak Spanish ranging from volunteering in highly Latino areas to diving into a Spanish soap opera (telenovela).
Learning Spanish will not happen overnight, but the more you try, the more you will learn.

Why learn Spanish?

Why Learn Spanish?

-Learning Spanish will help in every business or job opportunity. Anyone who can speak Spanish improves their marketability, and a business that can expand their market to Spanish speakers increases profits.

-Learning Spanish can open the door to travel throughout Latin America, Spain, and around the world.

-Learning Spanish also will accompany learning about the cultures that speak it. It can be tremendously rewarding and exciting to see how different people live and do things differently.

Interesting Spanish facts:

-Spanish is the 2nd most spoken language in the U.S. (50 million Spanish speakers)

-Spanish has the 2nd largest population of native speakers in the world. (239 million Spanish Speakers, behind Mandarin)

-Spanish is the 3rd most spoken language in the world. (500 million Spanish speakers, behind Mandarin and English)

-"Spanish" actually refers to 4 distinct languages: Galician, Basque, Catalan, and Castillian (castellano, en espanol). Castillian is by far the most common and what we know as "Spanish."

-There are 20 countries where Spanish is the official language:

Mexico, Columbia, Argentina, Spain, Peru, Venezuela, Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Cuba, Bolivia, Dominican Republic, Honduras, El Salvador, Paraguay, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Panama, and Equatorial Guinea