I am sure you guys will be able to settle the following for me.

We have for the past few months been having discussions with our neighbours about how to pronounce the ll in Spanish They are having Spanish lessons here in Spain and are taught to pronounce it with a j. My hubby had Spanish lessons in the Uk and was taught to pronounce it with a y. Please please can someone tell me the correct way to pronounce the ll because its driving us nuts :curse:

ll = English "y" or German type "J". Like "Ja" for "yes".

So you mean both can be used?

No, I mean that "Y" in English sounds the same as "J" in German and a lot of other languages for that matter.

I guess your Spanish teacher doesn´t just teach Brits and he/she has got a bit confused as to how the "J" is pronounced in various different countries.

Tell a Brit to pronounce ll like a Y.
Tell a German to pronounce ll like a J.
You should get the same end resulting sound.

Also here in Ayamonte I have been told it is the local dialect to use the j, although I cant tell. I am happy now to know it is pronounced with a y and can speak Spanish with more confidence in knowing I am doing it correctly.

Thankyou Mr Walters

Now, just to confuse you cos I´m mean like that, you could also say that the Spanish LL is pronounced a bit like "dy" in English cos the "y" by itself sounds a bit too soft and weak. But a "J" would be much too hard and abrupt sounding.

Enjoy practicing that one! I can envisage you now sat in front of your comp trying to get your mouth around how to pronounce "dy".

llorar = to cry.

Pronunciation:
yorar - a bit too soft sounding.
jorar - too harsh sounding
dyorar - better, if you get it right.

Oh God, I wish I hadnt started this thread now

Just go grab someone from down in the Fadesa office and ask them. You must have known you wouldn´t get a straight answer from me!

The problem is they are local people and when I ask local people they say you can use the j and the y All I want to know is the proper Spanish way of pronouncing it and not the Ayamonte way

Here in Valencia I often hear Yo pronounced jo and words like llaves as javes.

The J sounds like the G in the French word plage.

Here in Ayamonte they pronounce llaves and jabes

It's all foreign to me.

I have always used Y as a LL, it sounds ok to me!
Luv Eve
xx

generally you pronounce it like an english y

although of course there are differences in local accents

I know a lot of south americans who pronounce it 'ch'

Javea is Havea/Habea

Xabia is Chabia/Chavia

two different languages

I was always told that the ll was pronounced as ly, with only a little of the l sound there, certainly a lot of the Spanish round here do have some of the l sound in it.