Spanish Dialects and Regional Differences

Castilian Spanish Pronunciation

Castilian Spanish is spoken in Madrid, the capital of Spain, and the surrounding areas.

Spanish Vowels

a as in father

e as in bed; a as in date; can always be pronounced like a in date

i as in machine 

o as in rope

u as in dude

NOTES

i, u and y have consonants and vowel sounds

i before other vowels has a y sound as in yes
u before a and o has a w sound in we; u before e or i and after g is silent unless the u has an umlaut over it
y at the end of words or by itself has an i sound as in ski

Spanish vowels are pure vowels unlike the vowels in American English where they are as diphthong sounds. 

For instance when an American says the word go, there is a slight w sound after the long o, but in Spanish clip the w sound off and pronounce the o without the glide. The same with the letters e, i and u.




Spanish Consonants

b at the beginning of words as in bat; in between vowels between b and v sound
c before a, o or u as in can; before e or i as in think
d at the beginning of a word as in dog; in between vowels and at the end of a word as in this
f as in finish
g at the beginning of a word as in go; before e or i as in loch; in between a, o or u like the sound of contracting your vocal cords in the back of your throat 
h is ALWAYS silent
j as in loch
k as in king (k is only used in words of foreign origin)
l as in lime
m as in mango
n as in no
ñ as in canyon
p as in pin
q (always with u) as in king
r is 'trilled'
s as in sun; before m as in zoo
t as in toy
v at the beginning of words as in bat; in between vowels between b and v sound
w as in van (used only in borrowed words)
x before consonants as in sink; before vowels as in axe
z ALWAYS as in think

CH, Ll and RR were, at one time, part of the Spanish alphabet as a letter, but now they are treated as consonant blends.

Ch as in church
Ll as in million
RR is 'strongly trilled or rolled'

There are only three letters that are doubled in Spanish and they are the letters c, l and r.
A 'doubled c' is either pronounced as in ache when before a, o or u and as kth like quick thinking before e or i.

**Spanish is a phonetic language in which all letters (99.9%) are pronounced.