Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! While most people who are trying to learn Spanish want to jump right in and start speaking (who doesn’t?), it’s important to learn how to spell words. It may sound overly rudimentary, but when it comes time to spell out your name, of anything for that matter, you could find yourself in a tight spot if you don’t know “el abecedario” (the alphabet). Be sure to pick up the PDF for this lesson, which has practice tips in it, so that you can further your studies on your own terms! Come on, let’s go back to kindergarten! ¡Suelta la lengua con SpanishPod101.com!
This entry was posted on Sunday, December 23rd, 2007 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Phonetics Lessons. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
8 Responses to “Phonetics Lesson #1 - Learning the Alphabet”
December 18th, 2007 at 1:23 am
Today’s lesson was recorded on-site in NY, USA.
Which letter do you think presents the most difficulty in regards to its pronunciation? What is it about this pronunciation that makes it difficult?
December 24th, 2007 at 11:31 pm
I would just to make a point about the name of the letters here.
I also learned the name of the following letters this way:
* r = /’erre/ or /’ere/ - this last one, just like Beatriz taught!
* b = /’be/ or /’be ‘larga/ - this last one used in Argentina
* v = /’ube/ or /’be ‘corta/ - this last one used in Argentina
* i = /’i/ - this is the first time I hear it being pronounced like “i latina”
Also, Joseph, have you spent some time in Buenos Aires? I heard you pronouncing “amarillo” and you sounded just like a “porteño” 
¡Hasta la próxima!
December 25th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Oi João Paulo!
Good points! Yes, you are exactly right. There are some variations on the names of the Spanish letters.
I would say that “r” should be called “ere”, because the “rr” is pronounced “erre”. In practical terms though, you can always say “doble ere” (double r). The same thing occurs with the “l” which is called “ele” and the “ll” which can be called either ‘elle” or “doble ele”.
Also, for both the “i” and the “y” we can often say “i” (pronounced (”ee”, like in “feet”). We usually distinguish one from another (i-latina, i-griega) when we want to clarify which one is used.
About your comment on my “porteño” accent, I get that a lot. For those who don’t know, the word “porteño” refers to someone/thing from Buenos Aires, Argentina. The answer to your question: no, jajaja, I haven’t been to Argentina (unfortunately), but I do have a number of Argentine friends and apparently a bit of their speech patterns has stuck with me. Also, I have to admit that I’m very fond of the porteño accent… It sounds so…. convincing! Jajaja…
Maybe you could help out our English speakers or rather, our aspiring Spanish speakers: how would you describe the porteño “ll” of “amarillo” as opposed to the softer “ll” spoken elsewhere? Can you think of an example with an English word/sound that demonstrates it? I know it’s a tough one, but I bet you can figure it out!
Desde NY, te mando muchos saludos navideños,
Joseph
December 25th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Hello, Joseph…
I knew there was something from Bs As in your accent. LOL
Anyway, of course I can help.
People from the city of Buenos Aires (Bs As) pronounce “ll” and “y” like the sound of “s” in pleasure /pl’e??/.
I would also just like to point out two things:
1) when “y” is alone in the word “y” • meaning “and” • it’s simply pronounced like “e” in English in all variants of Spanish pronunciation.
2) People in other parts of Argentina follow basically the same pronunciation used in the rest of Latin America, pronouncing “ll” and “y” like the letter “j” /d?/
I think that’s it, isn’t it?
Saludos navideños a todos en SPOD también.
Abrazos 
December 25th, 2007 at 12:49 am
By the way, I tried using some phonetic symbols in my post above, but they all got converted into “?”.
Anyway, I think it’s possible to understand the general idea.
JP
January 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am
¡Hola, Jõao, hola amigos!
¿Cómo están todos? Quisiera aprovechar esta oportunidad para hacer un
comentario acerca de los nombres usados para las letras del abecedario
(o alfabeto) y también acerca de su pronunciación.
- La “b” es llamada indistintamente “b grande”, “b larga”, “b alta” y
“b bilabial”;
- La “v” es llamada indistintamente “uve”, “v chica”, “v corta”, “v
baja” y “v dentilabial”
- La “y” es llamada “i griega” y pronunciada “ye”
- La “r” es lllamada “ere”
- La “rr” es llamda “erre”, siendo un diágrafo derivado de la “r”
- La “l” es llamada “ele”
- La “ll” es llamada “elle”
- La “ch” es llamda “che”, siendo un diágrafo derivado de la “c”
Tradicionalmente la “be” debía ser pronunciada de forma “bilabial” (o
sea, labio contra labio) y la “v” debía ser pronunciada de forma
“labiodental” (o sea, acercando el labio inferior a los bordes de los
dientes incisivos superiores). Actualmente no existe diferencia alguna
en la pronuciación de las letras “v” y “b”.
Como vemos la “b” y la “v” son un muy buen ejemplo de cómo la fonética
del castellano ha evolucionado simplificándose. Otro punto interesante
es la letra “h” (léase “hache”) que hoy en día es muda. Es decir se
escribe pero no se pronuncia, como por ejemplo: “hielo” que se lee
“ielo”.
La gramática de un idioma va cambiando. Antes se pensaba que la
función de la gramática era dictar las reglas que los demás debían
seguir en base a la manera “correcta” de hablar. Hoy en día la
gramática normaliza lo que la gente día a día va convirtiendo en
norma común de uso.
February 27th, 2008 at 2:15 am
Hola everyone!
I learned Spanish at the advanced level in the past, but forgot most of it ( I was using French instead!). Now, I’m starting at the very beginning, and I’m glad I did, because this lesson taught me things that I learned a little differently when I first started Spanish in high school. (That was a *few* years ago ).
In my class, we never learned that “i” was “i latina”, for example. We just called it “i”, and distinguished the “y” by calling it “i griega”.
Even though I can read and understand Beatriz’s last comment here, I am going to go through the lessons one by one starting at the Newbie level, because they are all so informative.
And Beatriz, what a beautiful accent you have!
Bouks
February 28th, 2008 at 6:04 am
Bouks,
I’m glad that you’re enjoying the lessons! With regards to the distinction between the “i latina” and the “i griega”, we understand that there are a number of ways to talk about these. We preferred to distinguish them this way, which seems explicit to us, even though, as you say, we often just say “i” and “i griega”.
I think it’s a great idea for you to start the lessons from the beginning! Even though you’ll probably be reviewing a bit, I’m sure you’ll also learn some new things along the way.
Muchas gracias por el cumplido acerca de mi accento. Soy limeña y no lo puedo ocultar, pero me esfuerzo en pronunciar bien las eses, ya que muchos limeños inclusive yo inconscientemente pronunciamos la ese como si fuera la jota. 
Espero leer tus próximos comentarios sobre ésta y/u otras lecciones.
Muy agradecida,
Beatriz
Leave a Reply
Subscription Information
Course Information
Technical Information
Feature List
Video Guides
Privacy Statement
Category: Phonetics Lessons |
Grammar: Names of Letters | Function: Spelling words in Spanish | Topic: Spanish Alphabet, Spelling | Politeness Level: informal
Share This