help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

I am confused over the pronunciation of the double L, as in billete, botella etc. I thought it was pronounced as a Y sound , ie boteya. However an on line course I am using pronounces it as a J sound, ie boteja. Is this a South American thing or is it like this in mainland Spain or more to the point in the Valencia region?

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

the 'h' pronunciation is indeed south american

in some countries it is even a 'tch' - llueve comes out as 'tchooweveh'

here it is indeed more like the english 'y' sound

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Hi,
Just as a matter of interest, how is the "c" pronounced before an e or i? And where? (e.g. Barthelona or Barsselona?)
TIA

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

it's regional - different areas pronounce it differently

personally I pronouce it 'th' - I was taught that way, but I had an intercambio for a while with a lady who pronounced it 's'

I can't remember where she was from

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Yes that is the pronunciation on the course I'm using. Like a short J. The reason I ask is that I have heard people in Javea pronounce it that way and wondered if perhaps it is the way it is pronounced in Valenciano/Catalan

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

that's because we have a lot of south americans in Javea!


there is no 'll' in valenciano - the 'x' is pronounced 'sh' in valenciano though

so Xabia is pronounced 'shabia' in valenciano

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Of course, that'll be it!

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

It sounds like you were learning argentinian Spanish. Very typical is the "j" sound. So calle (caye" becomes almost a caje sound")

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Though even within Argentina the 'hardness' of the ll in, to use that example, varies. Memory fails me but I think Buenos Aires & far west are harder, more like cazhe, or the j in jeremy. Elsewhere more like the sh in share. Andaluz is similarly hard, though inevitably not everywhere!

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

I taught english to a couple of Argentinians - both from near Buenos Aires

they both used a really hard 'tch' sound


I also know a Venezuelan who has pretty much the same pronunciation

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

When you consider the accent variants in the UK, and then of course america, australia etc.. I guess its no different in Spain, its Islands and South America etc

Jo xxx

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Curiously enough I was wondering this morning, before I saw this thread.....

Doesn't paella originate from Valencia? If so, is paella a translation into castellano? What's the valencian for paella and how is it pronounced?

Also the name Lluis, with 2 Ls - is a catalan spelling of Luis, isn't it? As far as I know, Valencian is very very similar to catalan, but I may be assuming too much. Have never been in either place.

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

We call it paella, and it's called paella on the menu from school which is in Valenciano



btw - when I said in an earlier post that there is no 'll' in Valenciano, I meant really that it doesn't make quite the same 'y' sound, so maybe we should be pronouncing 'paeya' as 'paelya':confused:

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Thank you :)

So ll in valenciano (and catalan?) is -ly- ?

Re: help needed with Spanish pronunciation.
 

Could do with all our spanish members to help out;)