May I Buy a Vowel?

One of the first steps to learning Spanish quickly is to master pronouncing the language. At first, you will definitely not sound like a native speaker, but if given the chance, you can sound near-native speaker-like. A valuable tip in getting acquainted with Spanish is to find every opportunity to speak it. With friends, with family, with co-workers, and even by yourself, always choose the option to speak Spanish rather than reading or thinking it silently.

One of the first things I did when learning Spanish is to read aloud in my bedroom. By doing that, it forced me to pay close attention to each and every syllable I made. It did take me longer, but I was able to sound more authentic over time. By listening to how Spanish was spoken in television, in movies, how native Spanish-speakers pronounced sentences, I tried to emulate them when practicing my Spanish. I would highly recommend doing this if you are first starting out with the language.

Of course you may feel silly or strange at first, but once you get into it and you speak more and more, everything else will fade away. Your speech will correct itself. You will feel more confident speaking to others in public. And that they say is half the battle.

So back on topic with vowels, I am down from my soapbox. Vowels in Spanish are the purest sounding participles I have ever heard. If you ever sing in a choir, they always teach you to make sure your vowels are pure. Spanish is done the same way. In fact, when I lived in Guatemala, that is one of the first things school children are taught – how to speak vowels purely and consistently. They would have them speak, recite and write vowel-valued phrases focusing on each vowel. Let’s start here:

“a” is pronounced like the “a” in what the doctor has you say when you open your mouth and say Ah!

“e” is pronounced like long ‘A’ sound in the word pain.

“i” is pronounced like the long “E” sound as in the expression Eek!

“o” is pronounced like the “o” in ode as in “Ode to Joy” by Beethoven.

“u” is pronounced like the “oo” sound as in the word pool.

Now let’s say all of the above vowels, one right after the other. I will write how they should be pronounced by using the examples from my list above:

Ah – Pain – Eek – Ode – Pool

Now drop any consonant sounds:

A – Ai – Ee – O – OO

Now let’s take it one step further and use the appropriate vowel letter:

A – E – I – O – U

Now here is a cute little children’s rhyme using these vowel sounds:

A – E – I – O – U, el burro sabe más que tú meaning a donkey knows more than you!

Keep practicing your vowels over and over again. I hope you had fun learning the Spanish pronunciation for all of the vowels. In my next post, I will cover the pronunciation of consonants. Until then, take care and Hasta luego!