Tutorial Transcript

Hi everyone. Welcome to The Ultimate Spanish Pronunciation Guide In this series, you'll master Spanish pronunciation. Proper pronunciation is essential in Spanish, and in this series, you'll learn it in a fast, comprehensive, and easy way. In this first lesson, you'll learn about the building blocks of the Spanish pronunciation system that will help you in future lessons. The letters used in Spanish are the same as the letters you use in English, with the exception of one other letter and these letters with accents over them. But be careful not to fall into a very common trap. As you're learning to speak correctly, you shouldn't concern yourself with all the letters. That's right -- forget them! You care about the sounds of Spanish and here they are. There are 27 consonant sounds, and 5 vowel sounds. Each symbol that you see here, represents a single sound determined by the IPA, which is a standardized way to represent sounds with out the accompanying baggage that's often involved with traditional letters. By using these 32 sounds, you can form every single word in Spanish. Still seem complicated? Well how about this: of the 27 consonant sounds in Spanish, you already know 18 of them. That's right, if you are a native English speaker then you already make these sounds every day. We'll cover familiar sounds in lessons 4 & 5. You can also ignore 2 of the vowel sounds for the same reason. The only thing standing between you and Perfect Spanish Pronunciation are 9 new consonant and 3 new vowel sounds. You can handle that! Now let me introduce Alex, who will be helping you to master these new sounds. "Hola, soy Alex." Alex will be giving you native pronunciation examples for you to imitate. But for this first lesson, just sit back and listen to the unique sounds of Spanish. obtuso (obtuse) trigo (wheat) pollo (chicken) cañón (canyon) rumbo (course) bravo (brave) Tláhuac (proper name) quetzal (quetzal bird) ayuno (fasting) rata (rat) vehemente (eager) boscoso (forested) In the next lesson, we'll look at the top 5 pronunciation mistakes Spanish learners make. You'll want to make sure not to fall into these common traps. After that, we'll begin going through the vowels and consonants of Spanish. This is your chance to learn how to correctly say all of the words you just heard. We'll finish up the series by covering some special topics that will really make your Spanish sound natural! To close this lesson, here's a question for you. Why is it important to spend time on learning proper pronunciation, even if you're already an advanced speaker? The answer... You will be understood, and this will help you build more confidence as you communicate in Spanish. For beginners, you're creating a strong foundation to build on. And for more advanced students, this is your chance to improve your accent and lose any bad habits you may have picked up. What is the hardest part of Spanish pronunciation? Tell us about it in the comments. See you in the next Ultimate Spanish Pronunciation Guide lesson!

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