Café de Pronunciación

Cajas 37-40

Box 37-ce and ci letter combinations.  These are pronounced differently depending on which dialect you are using.  In Latin America, they are generally pronounced like an s sound and in Spain, they are generally pronounced with a th sound.  Listen and practice both dialects.
Box 38-The Silent H.  Never ever pronounce the letter H in Spanish.  It is ALWAYS silent.  The J in Spanish is pronounced like the English h, however, so many English speakers get these confused.  Don't fall into that trap.  Practice both sounds here in box 38.
Box 39-Ge and Gi combination.  The g in Spanish sounds like an English h if it is followed by the letters e or i.  Gigante, for example is pronounced heGANtay.
Box 40-The ex combination.  Almost the same as English!

Cajas 34-36

Boxes 34-36 all focus on the two Spanish r sounds.  The single r, which is actually pronounced like a soft d and the double r (rr), which requires the speaker to roll the tongue when it is being pronounced.  RRRRuffles have rrrridges!!

Cajas 32 y 33

Box 32-In this box, we focus on the two common pronunciations for the Spanish z.  We begin with the Latin American pronunciation, which is like an s.  Then we practice the European pronunciation which is a th sound.
Box 33- The double l or elle.  As discussed earlier, this letter has two common pronunciations.  We review both here along with more words that have written accents that affect there pronunciation.

Cajas 28-31

Box 28-The Spanish ñ.  This letter is simply pronounced as if there were an n with a y following it.  Like the word canyon in English.
Box 29-Focuses on common blends of consonants with the r sound. Pay special attention to the blends as you listen and repeat.
Box 30-The Spanish letter eh-yeh (ll) can be pronounced like a y or like a soft j or soft ch.  In this activity we practice both the Central American pronunciation and the alternative pronunciation that can be heard in places such as Uruguay.
Box 31-Here we practice the r sound again.  This time in combination with different vowels.  You will also notice that there are several words in this box that have written accents. Notice how the written accents affect how the words are pronounced.

Cajas 25-27

Box 25-Here we learn to pronounce the Spanish D. The Spanish D is lighter than the English D.  It is pronounced similarly to the English th in the word though.
Box 26- This box focuses on pronunciation of the letter g in front of the vowels o, u, and a.  The hard G sound is used when this letter is followed by o, u, or a in Spanish.  *Careful-it is pronounced differently when followed by i or e.  We will discuss those later.
Box 27- Review of the hard G sound combinations.  Gui is pronounced GEE (as in geek), Gue is pronunced GUE(sound like gay, but with shortened y sound).

Cajas 21-24

Box 21-The Spanish letter J.  When you see a J in Spanish, just pronounce it as if it were an H in English.
Box 22- Focuses on the combination of ie in words like siete and coriente.  Listen and practice this vowel combination sound.
Box 23-Intonation--To form a question, your voice rises at the end of a a phrase.  To form a statement, your voice does NOT rise at the end of a phrase.  Listen to the samples of questions and statements.
Bos 24- Intonation-Expressions of differences within the same phrase using the conjuction "but"/pero.

Cajas 15-20

Box 15- The "Ch" in Spanish is always pronounced as it is in the English word chair.
Box 16- The "ue" combination is pronounced like a "w" in English. 
Box 17- Review of all sounds studied up to this point.
Box 18- Focus is on the "es" combination. It's pronounced just as you would expect.  Listen and practice.
Box 19-Focus is on saying actual Spanish sentences using previously learned sounds.
Box 20-The Spanish "v".  The Spanish V does not sound like the English v.  It sounds like a soft b and does NOT have the long vibrating sound that the English V has.  Listen and practice.

Cajas 12 -14

In box 12, the focus is on reviewing sounds previously learned..
In box 13, the focus is on words that end in "l".  Words that end with the consonant l,  like tamal and parasol, do not follow the accent rule of placing the accent on next to the last vowel.  These words instead are pronounced with the accent on the FINAL syllable.  taMAL, not TAmal, etc.
In box 14, we review the sounds previously learned and combine them to create some actual Spanish sentences.

Cajas 9-11

In box 9, we focus on pronouncing the Spanish B.  The Spanish b is not as abrupt as the English b.  Other than that, they are pretty similar.  Listen and Practice.
In box 10, the Spanish letter "r" is presented.  The way you pronounce your "r" can be a dead give away that you are not a native Spanish speaker.  The difference is explained in the sound file.  Listen and practice saying it without the English "r" sound.
In box 11, we practice the "n" sound.  This is very similar to the English pronunciation.

Cajas 5-8

In box 5, we focus on the "que" combination.  This combination is always pronounced like the name of the letter K in English.  Any time you see "que", it is pronounced K(short and square pronunciation!).
In box 6, the focus is on the "qui" combination.  "Qui" is always pronounced KEY(short and square). 
In box 7, the focus is on pronunciation of the Spanish letter p.   The p is similar to the English p, except that the Spanish p is more vocal and its sound comes from the back of the mouth rather than the front. (kind of like the English b)
In box 8, we see a combination of all of the sounds previously discussed.  Think of this as a summary or review box of previously learned sounds.