BBC SPANISH PHRASE BOOK & DICTIONARY

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It’s designed to have a “clean” look, so it should be easy to refer to with few visual distractions. The book is organized in a three column approach, with the English phrase, Spanish phrase and Spanish pronunciation all appearing side-by-side. Start by selecting a couple of Spanish phrases. Perhaps the ones you’re most likely to need in your next conversation. ai, ay like 'eye': baile ( BAI-lay) au like 'ow' in "cow": causa ( KOW-sah) ea like 'ay-ah': fea ( FAY-ah) ei, ey like 'ay' in "say": reina, rey. ( RAY-nah) eu like 'eh-oo': euro ("eh-OO-roh") ia like 'ee-ah': piano ( pee-AH-noh) ie like 'ee-eh': pie ( PEE-eh) io like 'ee-aw': dio ( DEE-aw) iu like 'ew' in "few": ciudad ( syoo-DAHD) oi, oy like 'oy' in "boy": soy ( soy) ua like 'wa' in "wash": cuatro ( KWAH-traw) ue like 'we' in "well": puedo ( PWAY-daw) ui, uy like 'ooey' in "phooey": ruido ( ROOEE-doh) uo like "wo" in "won't": averiguo ( ah-beh-REE-gwaw) Accents and stress [ edit ] Dorothy Richmond has written five books in this ‘Practice makes perfect’ series and they have helped countless learners get off and running with their Spanish.

These phrases cover common scenarios like transportation, emergencies and other situations tourists might encounter. The book is not regionally specific, but a generic pronunciation is provided for each phrase. STOP PARE, ALTO, STOP ( PAH-reh, AHL-toh, stohp) NO PARKING NO APARCAR / ESTACIONAR ( noh ah-pahr-KAHR-oh/ ehs-tah-syoh-NAR) PARKING APARCAMIENTO / ESTACIONAMIENTO ( ah-pahr-kah-MYEHN-toh/ ehs-tah-syoh-nah-MYEHN-toh) NO ENTRANCE PROHIBIDO EL PASO ( pro-ee-BEE-doh el PAHS-oh) GIVE WAY/YIELD CEDA EL PASO ( SEH-dah el PAHS-oh) SLOW DESPACIO ( dehs-PAH-syoh) DIVERSION/DETOUR DESVÍO ( dehs-BYOH) ONE WAY SENTIDO ÚNICO ( sehn-TEE-doh OO-nee-koh) DEAD END SIN SALIDA ( seen sah-LEE-dah) DANGER PELIGRO ( peh-LEE-groh) CAUTION/ATTENION ¡PRECAUCIÓN!/¡ATENCIÓN! ( pray-caw-SHYON/ ah-ten-SHYON)January enero ( eh-NEH-roh) February febrero ( feh-BREH-roh) March marzo ( MAR-soh) April abril ( ah-BREEL) May mayo ( MAH-yoh) June junio ( HOO-nyoh) July julio ( HOO-lyoh) August agosto ( ah-GOHS-toh) September septiembre ( sehp-TYEHM-breh) October octubre ( ohk-TOO-breh) November noviembre ( noh-VYEHM-breh) December diciembre ( dee-SYEHM-breh) Writing time and date [ edit ] Most diphthongs can be approximated by blending the first vowel into the second in a single syllable. Every section has written exercises to test your knowledge, along with interesting reading comprehension exercises to help you build vocabulary and further cement your grammar knowledge. As a new Spanish learner, you might know your hola from your gracias and a handful of common Spanish phrases, but things get real when you’re asked to talk about your hobbies, emotions or language skills. single r: For American English speakers, like the dd in "ladder". This sound is created by putting the tip of the tongue up against where the front of the roof of the mouth meets the upper teeth, very similar to the action English speakers make to pronounce l or d. To some English speakers, it may sound a bit like a combined "d-r". Take care to pronounce r separately when it follows a consonant; a blended English tr will not be recognized in the Spanish word otro ("other"), which should be pronounced more like "OHT-roh". Try to avoid the common pitfall to distinguish the words by the vowel: There is no difference in the e sound of pero and perro and Spanish native speakers won't hear any if you try to make one.

Spanish pronunciation varies by region, though speakers from different countries can generally understand each other without trouble. Dialects are usually grouped into the varieties spoken in Spain (which is called Iberian, Peninsular, or European Spanish) and the varieties spoken in Latin America, but there is substantial variation between each of these groups. The one most striking difference between all Latin American dialects and most Spanish dialects lies in the pronunciation of "z", and "c" before "e" or "i". While all Latin American dialects produce an "s" sound (thus making "caza" and "casa" homophones) most Spanish dialects in Spain produce a "th" sound (with the tongue between the teeth, represented as "θ") for those consonants. Which expressions surprised you or challenged you as a Spanish learner? What’s your single favorite phrase in Spanish and why? And can you recommend more phrases we didn’t include? The best part of this book, though, is the opportunity it gives the reader to practice what they have been learning. WikiPedia:Spanish language This is a guide phrasebook. It covers all the major topics for traveling without resorting to English. But please Plunge forward and help us make it a star!

He will teach you how to construct useful sentences and help you build your vocabulary repertoire through repetition and immersion in practical everyday scenarios. a like 'a' in "father" e between 'ay' in "pay" and 'e' in "pet" i like 'ee' in "see" o like 'o' in "roll" u like 'u' in "rule" y like 'ee' in "see". Very rarely used at the middle or ending of words. Like "y" in young at the beginning of words. Consonants [ edit ] b like 'b' in "elbow" at the beginning of a word and after 'm': boca (mouth). A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere, specifically a 'v' sound but with your two lips pressed together in a 'b' or 'p' shape with the airflow of a 'v'. c In most cases it is pronounced like 'c' in "scare": calle (street). When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (in the Americas, the Canaries and some parts of the Philippines) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine (cinema, pronounced by Latin Americans as SEE-nay, Spaniards as THEE-nay) ch like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho (boy) [tʃ] d like 'd' in "dog" at the beginning of a sentence or after 'n' or 'l'; like the 'th' in "the" between vowels: de (of/from), pasado (the adjective or noun past). You're usually fine just using the 'th' sound as in "the". f like 'f' in "fine": faro (lighthouse) g when followed by 'e' or 'i', like a throaty 'h' ( general = heh-neh-RAHL, meaning general), otherwise like 'g' in "ago" ( gato, cat). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the 'u' serves only to change the sound of the consonant and is silent ( guitarra, guitar), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" ( pedigüeño, beggar). In between vowels, it tends to be weakened to a softer sound, [ɣ]. h silent: hora= OR-ah (hour). Pronounced like a softer 'j' only in foreign words. j like a throaty 'h' in "ha": jamón (ham), the sound of Scottish or German "ch" as in "Loch" is close [x] k like 'k' in "ski" or silent like Spanish H: kilo knox The letter K is only used in foreign words (kárate, kilo, Kevin, Karen, etc.). l like 'l' in "love": lápiz (pen) ll Varies substantially by dialect. The easiest widely understandable pronunciation is like 'y' in "year": llamar (to call). Pronounced like a 'zh' [ʒ] as in 'Zhivago' or 'sh' [ʃ] as in 'show' only in Argentina and Uruguay; in some other countries it may be pronounced like an English 'j' [dʒ] as in "ninja" or like 'ly' [ʎ] as in the English word "million". The [ʎ] pronunciation was once enforced in school education as the "only correct" form especially in Francoist Spain but is now retreating northwards in Spain and otherwise only prevalent among bilingual speakers whose other language (e.g. Catalan or Quechua) contains this phoneme. m like 'm' in "mother": mano (hand, a rare example of a word whose grammatical gender breaks the rules outlined above—"la mano" is correct) n like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche (night), ancla (anchor) ñ like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón (canyon) [ɳ], piñata. This is a separate letter in the Spanish alphabet. Pronouncing this as "n" will usually be intelligible but can sometimes make an entirely separate word. For instance, año is "year" but ano is "anus"—you'll want to avoid saying that you have 33 anuses when you mean to say that you're 33 years old. p like 'p' in "spit": perro (dog) q like 'k' in "ski" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so (cheese) r, rr Spanish has two 'r' sounds, both of which are different from their counterpart in English. Some effort should be made to approximate each of them, to help listeners distinguish between perro ("dog") and pero ("but") — or perhaps to understand you at all: An accent can also be used to differentiate between words that are pronounced the same but have different meanings: This is recommended as one of the best books to learn Spanish available and the textbook you need if you want to learn Spanish verbs.

Become comfortable with them through listening repetition and speaking repetition (rather than memorizing a whole bunch of phrases out of nowhere). Regions with Spanish as an official language. They are mostly concentrated in Europe and the Americas.

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The pronunciation guides below approximate one Latin American accent. As mentioned above, the most salient difference in Castilian Spanish is that z , as well as c before i and e , is pronounced like the 'th' in "think" instead of the 's' in "sink". Good pronunciation cannot be represented by English approximations. If you pronounce these phrases as shown here, your amused listeners will probably understand you, but after listening to their pronunciation for a while, you can ignore what we have suggested here. Basics [ edit ] Day-month constructions ( 4 de julio, for example) are not usually abbreviated. In the rare cases that an abbreviation is used, the number of the month is not used, but its initial letter is. Usual examples are: Chunking is more about parroting what you hear and trying to speak as naturally as possible, rather than learning Spanish verb conjugations. Additionally, if the accent marks a diphthong a syllable break occurs between the two vowels of the diphthong. Different learners will have different specific preferences depending on what and how they wish to learn so we have compiled a handy list of the 7 best books to learn Spanish!