Okay, so I'm taking this kind of Spanish course online. In the oral course, it says "The Spanish 'v' is never pronounced like the English 'v'. It sounds like an English 'b' but do not allow the lips to touch. This sound does not exist in the English language." Now if that isn't the most confusing thing, I don't know what is! Anyone care to try to explain this to me?
That's true, actually in spanish the 'v' is so similar to 'b' that even us (spanish people) sometimes make mistakes when writing, in pronuntiation just use it like a 'b', like... Vaca (cow in spanish ) you can say it like Baca, BYe, If you wanna prectice some spanish or have questions email me at ( hiei.tk@gmail.com ) Saludos, juan andres
in fact, the official language academy deleted from the rules the different pronunciation between 'b' and 'v', so in the official Spanish their pronunciation is actually the same. Our parents studied at the school with that difference, but we didn't.
It's also a matter of where in the Spanish-speaking world you are. In my family, we pronounce "v" and "b" pretty much like an American English "b" but the lips just barely touch.
http://studyspanish.com It's a great site and has been really helpful (excluding the b and v part, anyways)
Wow! That really helps! It's something I've been wondering about. What about the y? Is it a "y" as in "yellow", or a "j" as in "jello"?
its not an english constanant and as a result you should find the proper pronuciation through learned behavior....heaven forbid another country has a language that isnt made easy for americans to speak. what were the spaniards thinking?
It's the same difference that exists between american english and UK english... Spanish from spain is more or less classical, whereas South American Spanish is mixed with some english, italian and portugeese. For instance, in my family, that is argentinian, we say "checkar" for "to check" i,stead of "verificar", We prenouce "Lleno" ("full") "jeno", Llaves->javes etc... It's an accent matter. pronounce this: este pobre perro parece cruzar la via del fuerocaril. Rowl the "R"s! or this : Viens tu ce soir chez ce cher Serge? (thats french)
hola! dependiendo de qué zona de España se pronuncia bien o mal,por ejemplo,en la zona de Levante(comunidad valenciana) (yo soy de alli)si se pronuncia bien la v y la b,pero mi novio que es andaluz no pronuncia la v.Yo pienso que es importante saber pronunciarla y los profesores en los colegios deberian enseñar a sus alumnos a pronunciar bien.
Mejor andaluz que anda-tiniebla, no? Pronuncio la "v" y la "b" distinctamente pero no soy seguro que es porque aprendí frances antes de español, o porque mi madre vino de El Salvador. Fuerocarril, o ferrocarril? R con R cigarro... "Only lemon Hello is jello." This was IIRR a mispronunciation by someone in my mom's English class.
its all about where you're from. i am from spain and in our writing and language it is offivially a v. but in talking sometimes it sounds like a b. as for the 'll' thing we always pronounce it 'y' and never 'j' but i have an uncle from argentina who pronounces it like a j.
