Torrevieja Forum

[Torretay]

Hi All
Can anyone help and advise me on how to pronounce the letter V?
Text books tell you to pronounce the same as B, however to my ear when listening to Spanish being spoken and listeneng to audio CDs a lot of the time it is being pronounced as a soft V, in for example "por favor". When I hear "Buen viaje" viaje has quite a distinct "B" sound.
Are there any guiding principles that can be followed or is it my hearing?

Thanks in advance

Torretay

[Info]

The rule is b and v are pronounced the same. Both are "b" It is bilabial i.e. pronounced with both lips. V at the beginning of a word is always pronounced as a "B" as in "boy". So that's the rule but in practice people pronounce V as V in different instances. The use of v as v sound in spanish comes kind of naturally to you. Incidentally you hear as many people saying por fabor as por favor. Watch people's lips next time

Bee

[Mike E]

There are many web-site news-letters - but this one - along with Jane C's I subscribe to:

http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishpron ... panish.htm

and the particular:

http://spanish.about.com/od/spanishpron ... on/a/b.htm

with an audio lesson too

[teleless]

How long have the Spanish been saying please. I thought they "demanded".Well they do in the cafes/bars that we go in.

[Torretay]

My thanks to Bee, Mike E and Donkey OT for your replies which I have fouund helpful

Torretay

[Montesinos]

the problem always stems from the different accents in the different parts of Spain. For example, people in northern Spain, Galicia, Asturias, Cantabria etc tend to (in general terms) pronounce the words a little "harsher" than those from Andalucia, Murcia, Valencia etc.
This makes the pronounciation of letters like "V" sound different in each region.

[Menina]

I find this guide quite accurate in general terms
http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish/Pronunciation
And yes, there are differences according to region and also country (ie Spanish speaking countries in Latin America); however, this is normal in the case of any language.

[jnartes]

Hi there Guys.
If you read this you will not ever have any more problems with b and V

In pronunciation and speaking, There is no rule, v and b are similar to us, they make no diference, even thou we some times use it as v or as a b, we do not realize if we are using a b or a v sound.

what is true is tha when we want to enphasize a word and there is a b or a v, we usually are going to make it as a b, Even thou we have done that exact word at first as a v because it sounds stronger and clearer for us. And it settles that there is a b or a v in the word. I think there is where you guys get confused.

In grammar and writing is important to know when to use them. You need to know one of our most common language mistakes in grammar is not to know wether a word is written with a b or a v...

so every time you hear one of this two sounds it could be both of them and if you feel more confortable using b and v it will not make any diference to us. Nobody is going to realize you are using both. But if you just want to chose one of them and use it all the time it is ok for us. I repeat, we are not going to realize. In Argentina, for example, becouse of their accent, they use always the v sound. If you ask this to a Spanish maybe he wouldn't know, becouse it is the same to us...

What is the most weird thing is that this only hapens in Spanish. in all the other romanic languages, Italian, Portughese, French and Romanian they make a difence, and as well in all the other countryes around Europe. Notice that when you speak with a Spanish lad and he speaks a little of English sometimes he puts B where you put v and viceversa... or their b and v they both sound the same...

Sorry I have written so much, but it looks to me that this is very confusing for you all and you give to it too much importance. What is important to know, actually,is that this is not important. What you really need to know is how to say and reed the 5 vowels. This is the most important thing in Spanish, is very easy to learn and it is where we all, Spaniards and English speakers, found most difficult to get an understanding...

I hope you find this information usefull...

Spanish Teacher.

[Beachbabe]

Para mí ... Voy a Valencia..(boy a Balencia)...(ci..being pronounced as 'thee')

BB

[Beachbabe]

Mañana si lo desea!

BB

[Astra99]

Going on from this discussion, how does one pronounce "Torrevieja" I tend to say Torre-bee-eh-ha with the b flattened so it is between an English B and V (and the R is rolled).

I have heard the pronounciation "Torre-vee-eck-a". I am sure this is an "anglicised" version used when speaking in English, or to English speakers. I feel this is wrong, as it implies that anglicised pronunciations are acceptable, when, to Spanish ears they grate, in the same way as hearing English "I" pronounced as "EE" grates on English ears!

PS. The hotel at Punta Prima, Torrejovens, is called Torry Ovens by some people I know!

[harry]

should Villa be pronouced B-ya?

[essexboywivwhitesocks]

should Villa be pronouced B-ya?

yes