Tutorial Transcript

Hi everyone. Welcome to The Ultimate Spanish Pronunciation Guide. In this lesson, you'll learn all 5 Spanish vowel sounds. With these sounds, you can pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in Spanish! Are you ready? Then let's get started! The first vowel is... This is similiar to the A sound in the word 'spa' but there is one subtle difference: try to relieve the pressure from the back of the throat a little. The next vowel is... This is similar to the E sound in the word 'let'. The next vowel is... It's identical to the double E sound in the word 'see'. The next vowel is... This is similiar to the O sound in the word 'boring'. And the last vowel is... It's identical to the double OO sound in the word 'boot'. Did you notice how in all of the examples Alex said the vowels short and simply? This is how you should do it too. Many Spanish learners tend to stretch out the vowel sounds longer than needed. Try not to do this. Now let's move onto the next topic. A diphthong, refers to two vowel sounds that are pronounced within the same syllable. You can kind of think of it like gliding from one vowel to the next very quickly. English has diphthongs as well. Take the word 'loin' for example. It's not pronounced 'lo-in', but 'loin'. " "Notice how the O transitions into the I very quickly. It's almost like you're trying to merge the two sounds. 'Loin'. Notice the difference?" Okay. Now, let's listen to a few examples in Spanish. Okay. I think you got the hang of it. Most vowel sound pairings are diphthongs in Spanish. However, sometimes they're pronounced individually. Listen to the following examples. Words that are pronounced seperately are marked with an rising accent from left to right. We'll cover more about accentuation in lesson 8. But that's all for vowels! Well done! You've just learned all 5 vowel sounds in Spanish! With these sounds, you can properly pronounce any vowel that could possibly appear in the Spanish language! Isn't that great? In the next lesson, you'll start learning consonant sounds. Which diphthong is the most difficult to pronounce for you? Let us know in the comments. See you in the next Ultimate Spanish Pronunciation Guide lesson!

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