Hola! I'm Jordan, and this is a Spanish Quickie. Fast, easy Spanish lessons from somebody who
speaks your language.
In today's video, we'll go over Spanish pronunciation, what you need and don't need to worry about,
and my personal tactic to learn how to pronounce everything in Spanish in just one day.
When I took Hebrew in college, I was shocked that the entire class was able to read Hebrew
fluently after just one week. Don't get me wrong, we had no idea what we were reading,
but we could all read awesome after one week.
Think about that. Half the class had zero experience with Hebrew and had never seen
even one letter before.
It turns out, after you learn what sound each letter makes, Hebrew's really not that hard
to read when you already know how to read another language.
So, if my entire class could read Hebrew, with all those strange letters and symbols
after just one week, I think it's fair to say that you can learn how to pronounce Spanish
in just one day.
I mean, our letters are almost all exactly the same--and they usually make the same sounds
even. In fact, if you can read English, you can basically already read Spanish.
I put together a little list of the letters and the sounds they make. It's really straight
forward and there's no reason to go through it now in this video. Over at GringoEspanol.com/pronunciation,
you can find that list, along with the audio, and whatever else I mention in this video.
There are a few key items I want to call your attention to right now though.
First, the rolling r's. If you can do it, awesome. Do it when you see two r's like this:
rr. One r is just a normal r.
But if you can't do the rolling r, who cares? They'll understand you if you use the normal
r for the rolling r. Plus the rolling r is quite rare--very few words have the double
rr.
Okay, the i. That's actually called e in Spanish and makes an eeeeee sound. That's tricky at
first. Just know, when you see an i, it's an e and makes the ee sound.
Then the e is called eh and makes the eh sound. Like in Hello.
Then there's the y, I don't even remember what it's called in Spanish because it's not
important. But y makes the eee sound just like the i does which is actually an e in
Spanish.
Confused yet? Don't worry, I'll give you a solution in a second.
Now, I should probably tell you while we're here. Just the letter y... it makes the ee
sound, like I said a second ago, but when you see it alone... just a little, old y all
alone--it's actually the word for "and". So when you want to say "and" in Spanish. Just
say "y". It looks weird at first, but you'll get used to it fast.
Okay, next is the ñ which looks like an n with a squiggily above it. The ñ makes the
nya sound like "señor" or "señora" which is "Mister" or Mrs." respectively.
Those are two good words to know. All the vocab words in this video will be added to
the Word List, which you can find at GringoEspanol.com/downloads.
Then there's the ll. Whenever you see two l's next to each to each other, that makes
the sound of a y in English basically. So the word spelled l-l-a-m-a-r is pronounced
yamar.
Last thing. Those accents. Don't worry about them too much. Once in a while, they come
into play, but usually when you see them, just say the word like you normally would.
Yes, you're supposed to stress that syllable, but it won't matter 99% of the time, and your
energy and effort is better spent elsewhere.
Now, here's my trick for learning how to pronounce Spanish in just one day.
Find a song you like, and listen to it over and over again, while reading the lyrics to
the song. That way you start to associate the sounds with the letters. Since you're
picking a song you like, this won't be work.
I've embedded three of my favorites at GringoEspanol.com/pronunciation. If you don't love any of those songs (sometimes
it takes more than one play to fall in love with a song) then use Spotify or YouTube to
find something you do like.
Below each video, I've put a link to the lyrics of that song. Just play the song, and read
along with the words as it plays.
At first, it'll be hard to follow along at all. It'll sound like complete gibberish.
But if you listen to it at least twice, you'll be amazed how much better you are the second
time.
For that reason, it's important to stick with the same song, and listen to it over and over
again. Repetition is the key with everything in language learning. If you jump from one
song to another, it'll help, but not as much as if you had stuck with the same song.
If you feel at all overwhelmed, just focus on one verse, or the chorus. Keep going over
that part until you have it down, then go to the next.
If you really want to get this down, sing along with the words. It will be tough at
first for sure, but it will get easier each time through, and you'll feel amazing afterward.
Now, here's what I want you to do. Go to GringoEspanol.com/pronunciation and pick one of the songs. Click the link
below that video to bring up the lyrics to that song. Then play the song three times
while reading along. Then come back here, tell me what song you picked, and how it went.
Was it easier to understand the second time? The third time?
And that's it for today. If you found this information valuable, make sure you subscribe
to my YouTube channel or like my Facebook Page. And if you want to gain access to exclusive
training material I only share with my email subscribers, it would be smart to hop on the
email list by clicking the link below this video or going directly to GringoEspanol.com.
Do it now!