Learn To Speak Spanish

Now could very well be the time for you to learn to speak spanish. It is reported that Spanish is the fourth most spoken language in the world with more than 330 million native Spanish speakers worldwide.

This figure dramatically increases when you add in people who speak Spanish as a second language.  By 2030 it is projected that Spanish will be the second most spoken language after chinese.

The Spanish Alphabet

You can form almost every sound in Spanish using the English sounds that you already know. Look at the Spanish alphabet below. See if you can't pick out the letters that do NOT occur in the English alphabet:

a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, rr, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z

If you said ch, ll, ñ, and rr, you'd be right!

• The ch sound is pronounced just as it is pronounced in English, like Charles.

• The ll sound is often pronounced like a y, as in yo-yo.
  Please note that this sound is difficult to pin down, as it is pronounced in a variety of ways around Latin America.

• The ñ sound is pronounced like an n followed by a yay.

• The rr sound is pronounced by trilling the r sound. Think of a purring cat!

Below is a guide to the pronunciation of the letters of the alphabet. Just remember to pronounce the letter combination "ay" as in "day" and the letter combination "ah" like you were opening your mouth for the dentist, and you'll be fine!

A    ah
B    beh
C    say
CH  chay
D    day
E    ay
F    ef-ay
G   hay
H   ah-chay
I    ee
J    hotah
K    kah
L    el-ay
LL   ay-yay
M    em-ay
N    en-ay
Ñ    en-yay
O    oh
P    peh
Q    coo
R    air-ay
RR  airrr-ay (roll those Rs!)
S     es-ay (like 'S'-ay)
T     teh
U     oo
V     beh
W    doh-bleh-beh
X     eh-keys
Y     ee-gree-ay-gah
Z     say-tah

Of course this is just the beginning.  If you are really serious about learning Spanish, I suggest get this interactive course that has made learning the Spanish Language a whole lot easier. The name of this course is Rocket Spanish and it gets you learning real life situations and phrases rather than just individual words.