Don't pronounce these Spanish sounds too weakly!

[@Sandalwoodrk]

13:28 Honestly, we should keep in mind that people get things wrong about their own language. After all, you don't normally think deeply about your native language, and so when pressed with a question, you might just make something up that feels right As someone who studied english and likes helping L2 learners online. I often see native english speakers also trying to help and giving some wildly and interestingly wrong answers that clearly just felt right in the moment to them. And to an L2 learner, it's very difficult to tell the difference when it's coming from a native So be wary even when learning from natives

[@tenminutespanish]

Great comment.

[@tompeled6193]

They're not mistakes. They're just natural language evolution.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@tompeled6193 I don't believe that that was what Sandalwood was referring to. Native speaker give incorrect answers to questions. They intuitively know how to speak their native language, but this doesn't endow them with a conscious understanding of how they do it. So, when they go to formulate an explanation or a rule, they give an inaccurate explanation or rule, one that doesn't correspond to how they actually speak.

[@t.c.bramblett617]

@@tompeled6193 This refers to a different process. When actively learning a language other than a natively learned one, people have trouble internalizing the rules of pronunciation. This is down largely to lack of understanding about the mechanics of phonetics on both the learner's AND the teacher's parts. This is normal, as it is a kind of esoteric area of study, and it takes a depth of understanding to grasp the performance of foreign sounds that the majority of native speakers just don't have.You are talking about diachronic linguistics, but these videos are about pragmatic descriptive linguistics in the present.

[@kingjimmycraftofcalderonia2017]

Excellent video, my man. I think this video is a perfect example of a second language Spanish speaker, or any language a person wants to learn; not only learn phonology of the target language, but also the phonology of their native language-in this case, English-as well. This way, this would help people learn what phonological sounds they should pronounce in that target language, avoid pronouncing a sound in their native language that is foreign to their target language, and to compare both of them together. As a native English speaker, I was totally unaware of the difference between y in “yes” and in “royal,” which I realized after watching this video and tried pronouncing “royal” the the y as in “yes.” Sounds strange to me, and I am sure I am not the only one who just learned this. I find it fascinating because English natives-along with natives of other languages-are simply not always aware of their pronunciation and even mistakenly make similarities in a language that should be different or differences that should be similar. It is all about intuition, intuition of one language is different than intuition of another (with some similarities, of course. Intuition could be conscious, such as trying to figure out why the tv won’t turn on; or unconscious, like speaking casually. So learning a foreign language also includes learning the intuition of that language, and also making it unconscious-since it is because when native speak, they think about the ideas they want to say and the outcome of the action to themselves and to those listening, not on constantly think about word order and pronunciation. As a result, it is essential to practice pronunciation to the point that you would pronounce them unconsciously, and still practice beyond this point.

[@joshadams8761]

Duolingo teaches y/ll the same way you recommend.

[@tenminutespanish]

Makes me feel good!

[@robin7048]

Thank you so much for creating these videos! They are incredibly helpful. I’ve been trying for a while to find proper breakdowns of Spanish phonetics to better my pronunciation and majority videos/channels that come up never dig this deep.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you! I'm very happy you are enjoying my channel.

[@TheBluePhone]

I’m agree with the video as a native Spanish speaker (from the southern of Mexico), the most difficult thing of Spanish in my opinion is the number of dialects that exists, also there are some words that in some countries (or regions in some cases) means something and in other means another thing, and obviously the pronunciation in a lot of cases changes. Another thing that i’d like to comment, is about of those pronunciations mistakes, it happens when everybody learns a new language, for example, for us the native Spanish speakers we found difficult some sounds of English, but that is another topic. Good luck learning this language, I hope my reader that you can complete your objective.

[@ilarimakiranta]

Very nice video! One thing that annoys me is that these videos are primarely made for Americans since my native language isn’t English. But as said I’m very grateful for this! Soy de Finlandia y estudio español! 🇫🇮🇪🇸

[@tenminutespanish]

Thanks for the kind words. I didn't necessarily make these videos for Americans, but I can only talk about what I know. And my native dialect is Western American English.

[@pickedupapencil]

I wonder if the feeling of not wanting to feel like you're mocking Spanish people by adopting their accent plays a role in English speakers producing these sounds too weakly.

[@tenminutespanish]

That is a very interesting idea.

[@Boss_Scaggz]

"I don't have a bad accent, I just don't want to mock you." I'll have to remember that one!

[@JorgeGarcia-lw7vc]

This is an excellent, excellent, video, muy chingón. Even in northern Mexico, the y/ll sound although pronounced typically in normal speech like English yellow, is pronounced harder in emphatic speech, like Czech d'. Plus in northern Mexico, the j/ge sound is never like English h--although you will hear the H sound in some 2nd/3rd generation US Spanish speakers either due to Caribbean backgrounds or English influence or both. . . . . My advice is that if you are going to be interacting with northern Mexico or along the border, the English "yellow" y/ll will be best, but the harder mid y will also be ok and not roll any heads, especially with so many people from the south living in northern Mexico. You may run the risk of sounding a little emphatic, but not a big deal. However, the English "House" j/ge will not do, and at best, you'll sound Caribbean, foreign or to some, 2nd, 3rd generation Mexican-American. It's interesting that the northern Mexican y and j pairs are not both at the respective extremes of the native speaker spectrum--the y is, but the j is not--so keep the respective placements in mind if you want to adjust to a particular local variety of Spanish. . . .. At least, a word of comfort, is that at least all types of Spanish y and j sounds carry the same meaning, so you'll still be understood, unlike Arabic where every type of X-type sound has a separate letter and can change meaning. . . . In any case, if you don't know where you'll end up in the Spanish Speaking world the advice in this video is a really good starting point, and you can adjust it from there later on. Thanks for the great videos.

[@tenminutespanish]

Very insightful and informative comments. Thank you.

[@RUT812]

What about in the Yucatán peninsula-Cancun and Playa del Carmen!

[@walterwheeler1035]

First of all, thanks for clarifying these sounds. As I am spending a month in Chile with my in-laws, I have noticed how badly I mispronounced some of these for a long time Secondly, I am now noticing variations of the same words and what appears to me like an english “j” sound. I am not familiar enough with IPA to pick the right one, so I hope these examples are distinct enough. 1. I notice “yo” sometimes said “jo”, especially in short and/or surprised manner. 2. Está lleno (like the [j] from your chart) vs “está jeno” 3. Calle vs caje I thought it was a joke or maybe an attempt to imitate Argentinians because sometimes certain family visits from across the border. But, I notice it outside of my family and in this central Chilean region. Given all this, have you heard of such a pronunciation? If so, could you make a video one day to clarify it? If it is too regionally specific, don’t worry about it. Thanks again as you have helped me become much more intelligible amongst everyone I have talked to here since last time.

[@legalizemolly2771]

You could also make the double L sound more authentic by slightly pronouncing the L and adding the strong Y sound. Then from there remove the L sound until you get a very authentic Y sound

[@someacolyte5626]

The middle-of-the-spectrum sound for ll and y that you recommend is perhaps the sound that I find hardest to do in Spanish. I try my best to approximate it, but it seems stronger than your pronunciation. With regards to the j, g, and (sometimes) x sound, I tend to do it stronger like a Spaniard since I'm going for a neutral Spain accent due to the fact that I plan of spending alot of time there.

[@tenminutespanish]

My middle-of-spectrum ll/y is only one of many small variations in that range. If yours is a little stronger, cool. It's probably not an issue. And the stronger uvular fricative is also cool. Good job!

[@amandahernandez8708]

I love your videos!! I’m so thankful for your channel!!

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you. I'm very happy you like my videos.

[@FemmedeStone]

Thanks so much for including Uruguayan pronunciation. Much appreciated and often over looked

[@anonymoushominus]

Excellent video. Even though I know Spanish pretty well these two pronunciations are still hard for me

[@driksarkar6675]

In dialects where is [h] that have s-aspiration (which I think is most dialects that do either, due to the features both starting in southern Spain), is merged with coda as a single /h/ phoneme? For example, how does the of "reloj" compare to the of "retos" in such dialects?

[@trubiso]

as a native speaker with this kind of dialect, i'd say it is the same sound, and even the same sound as coda , , , producing the aspirated h (for me personally it also makes the next consonant, if any, aspirated)

[@brauljo]

In at least some parts of Peru, "y" and "ll" are both pronounced as [j]. And in at least some parts of Peru and Spain, the "j", "ge", and "gi" are pronounced very gutturally. Only the [χ] pronunciation of "genio" at 10:34 gets it right.

[@Giu172]

I am not a native speaker, but I learned Spanish in Central Spain and there’s a clear difference there between “y” and “ll” pronunciations.

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you for this contribution. It's true that about 10% of Spanish dialects distinguish between y and ll.

[@nedisonn]

It's funny that in Uruguay which in theory uses only the sh, it actually varies from personal and regional preferences. I've been there many times and I hear people saying these sounds in 3 ways, depends on the word, the person and where they are from 😛 these being the "normal" Spanish ll and y, and sh. and zh 😮 And even a dzh sound sometimes.

[@tenminutespanish]

That is very interesting. Thanks for contributing.

[@mjs7485]

Wow this video answered my question and then answered a bunch of other questions I didn't know I needed to ask. Great content, in at 4k subs

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you! I'm really glad you found this helpful.

[@Jchan700]

Is it possible if you made a video about dialects that retain the distinction between LL and Y? Thank you!

[@tenminutespanish]

I discuss that in the beginning of my video on ll/y. Here's a link: kzbin.info/www/bejne/rWPNmmycnt-Sh7c

[@CloudTsuchiya]

"Yay! I don't have to learn a new sound!" is literally me lol

[@tenminutespanish]

Lol! Well, sadly there are precious few Spanish sounds that are exactly the same as their English counterpart. None of them have the exact same distribution of allophones. Not one. The closest ones I can think of are /f/ and /n/. /s/ is fairly close.

[@CloudTsuchiya]

@@tenminutespanish My native is Turkish, so while there have been some easy and difficult aspects to learning it, learning Spanish has been fun for me at least. I just need to work more on pronunciation. As you said, understanding and using some of the sounds can be challenging. Have you encountered any particularly challenging Spanish sounds? How did you overcome them?

[@tenminutespanish]

@@CloudTsuchiya They're all different and challenging. It is risky to believe that any of them are easy. The risk is that if you consider a sound easy you won't recognize how it differs from the equivalent sound in your native language and make the changes necessary to pronounce it correctly in Spanish. The way to improve is 1) study the sounds of Spanish in detail. 2) practice

[@TheCheeseEmperor]

I don’t know if you will see this but would you recommend learning one specific dialect over just general Spanish?

[@tenminutespanish]

For most students, I recommend a standard variety, either standard Latin American or standard European (Spain) depending on where you plan to use your Spanish.

[@cabarete2003]

I lived in an area of Santo Domingo called Villa Mella. i thought I pronounced it correctly, but had a hard time when people couldn't understand me. Essentially, I was pronouncing Via Mea. Taught me to learn how to pronounce it correctly.

[@tenminutespanish]

Very cool! (I visited Santo Domingo when I lived in the DR, but I lived in Santiago.)

[@cabarete2003]

@@tenminutespanish I lived there for a while too in Los Cerros de Gurabo. Right behind what is now the Supermercado Nacional (I thought it was called something else then). There is a McDonald's out front. I went to the PUCMM for a semester.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@cabarete2003 Los Cerros de Gurabo is very near where I lived. I lived in a little apartment in Villa Olga. What year were you at the PUCMM? I was there in 1999.

[@cabarete2003]

@@tenminutespanish ya I was there from Jan-April that year. I thought it was 98, but it had to be 99.

[@tenminutespanish]

@@cabarete2003 We were practically neighbors!

[@LobyDobster]

Always really interesting videos. Do you know of any videos like these for other languages, like French?

[@tenminutespanish]

Thank you! Sorry, I'm not aware of any channels like mine for other languages.

[@davidmartin2706]

What about the original pronunciation of LL, which is like the LL in the English word "million" Do any Spanish dialects still have this? I know in the Philippines, they still pronounce Spanish words like that

[@tenminutespanish]

About 10% of Spanish dialects distinguish between ll and y, pronouncing ll like you describe (more or less). I talk about this in a dedicated video on ll/y you can find on this channel.

[@larrytruelove8659]

I had a Mexican waitress in Dallas pronounce “bien” as BEAN.

[@raymoshav-bloodbought]

I actually pronounce royal as “ro.yal” as I come from the south, I also call the letter r, “aara/aarruh”.

[@thebelizeaneh]

I have gotten into the habit of pronouncing ll like a English J sound if at the beginning of a word and the English y sound if in the middle of a word. llegar I use the J sound as in Jet and pollo I use the Y sound as in yet.

[@Uulfinn]

Are there any dialects that pronounce ll and y different? Other romance languages pronounce them different and old spanish did, which is why they are spelled different.

[@tenminutespanish]

Yes, about 10% of dialects pronounce ll like elye. I discuss this in my video on ll/y that you can find in my Core Phonetics playlist

[@SpodgeDanish]

I can hear the difference between the English style h and the Mexican [x]. But only just barely. I wish I knew how to practice it

[@kennethschwartz898]

Dan, please help me with the "e". I have heard it as an "eh" and also as an "ay". For example esposa (soft e) de (hard e). Are both acceptable. Thank you

[@tenminutespanish]

There is no situation in which Spanish /e/ is pronounced like English long ā such as in the word "day". This is a misunderstanding lots of English speakers have. We mis-hear it, because we have the long ā sound in English. Spanish has two /e/ sounds: open /e/ and closed /e/. They are only subtly different. And there are no reliable rules for when to produce them. Different dialects do ot differently, different speakers of the same dialect do it differently. And the same speaker may pronounce closed /e/ in a word one time and open /e/ in the same word some other time. Consequently, most authors teach that Spanish only has one /e/ sound. I know native English speakers who believe that /e/ is sometimes the long ā, and they pronounce "cabeza" like "cabāza" or "cabeiza". This is a big mistake.

[@kennethschwartz898]

thank you. can you give me an example of an open and closed (e).

[@tenminutespanish]

@@kennethschwartz898 There aren't fixed rules. I can't just say "this word has an open /e/ and this word has a closed /e/". It depends on the dialect and the speaker.

[@jmcgoo]

where is the anterior part of the dome of the palate? where is the dorsum?

[@tenminutespanish]

The dorsum of the tongue is the top surface; the part that is covered in taste buds. The dome of the palate is the curved dome shaped part of the roof of the mouth. The anterior part of the dome of the palate is the front part.

[@snek7970]

10:00 Why do you pronounce the "g" letter the same way as "j" letter? Isn't it a completely different sound [ɣ]?

[@tenminutespanish]

@@snek7970 Good question! Spanish before or is the same phoneme as ; that is /x/.

[@snek7970]

@@tenminutespanish Thank you!

[@JordannGeorge]

12:58 i can't make the sound on the bottom towards the far right without a bit of saliva on the back of my tongue. is that the case for you or do you do something different? or do you know of a video that might be good instruction on how to pronounce that sound?

[@tenminutespanish]

The sound is not made by gurgling saliva, but by trilling the uvula, which is the dangly thing that hangs down in the back of the throat. All I can recommend is that you search for "uvular trill" and see what you find.

[@JordannGeorge]

@@tenminutespanish ok, thanks. that makes more sense and i think i can do that. i just thought it was wrong initially.

[@someonerandom704]

Does uvular jota sound equally wrong? I *really* love making uvular sounds

[@tenminutespanish]

Depends on the dialect you're trying to sound like. As I say in this video, j/ge/gi are pronounced as a uvular fricative in north central Spain. If that's the kind of Spanish you're trying to sound like, then cool. In Latin America, it's too strong and sounds a little strange.

[@dgoins6]

I get corrected by native speakers in the US over para llevar. In Veracruz México it sounds like sha bar or cha bar, depending on who I'm speaking with. In the US, Spanish speakers say ya bar.

[@DxDaxon]

I pronounce the "ll" and "y" like /ɟʝ/, or basically ʝ, but harder

[@thebelizeaneh]

So should stop say yo in Spanish like the why sound and start using jo as in Jet. ??

[@tenminutespanish]

Neither. The correct Spanish sound is not exactly like any English sound. You should use the sound I suggest in this video.

[@leierkreuz1529]

Pronouncing y as ll it's sounds weird for me. They're two different sounds in my dialect, "calló" and "cayó" are pronounced different.

[@tenminutespanish]

Interesting! That's true in about 10% of Spanish dialects. Where are you from?

[@leierkreuz1529]

@@tenminutespanish I'm from Aragón, Spain. But it's true that in younger generations have a lot of influence from Central Spain standard dialect, but they still pronounce ll in some words, like lluvia or llave.

[@mahamaysam]

7:08 and gy.

[@asheekss]

How can I get you to analyze my pronunciation?

[@tenminutespanish]

I currently have a backlog of recordings that people have submitted. I'll send out a request for more recordings in about 6 months.

[@alexsantana3588]

I object ... you said it's incorrect to pronounce it like an English H. Yet that is how natives from the Carribean speak proper Spanish. Show some respect!

[@tenminutespanish]

You have misunderstood what said. In the Caribbean they pronounce it like English h, but only when English speakers pronounce h most strongly. We English speakers usually pronounce h more weakly, often nearly completely silently. There is no dialect of Spanish that pronounces it like the weak versions of English h. So, if you as an English speaker simply believe that in the Caribbean they pronounce j just like English h, you'll pronounce it just like English including all the weak versions. Which means you'll pronounce it too weakly in most positions.

[@alexsantana3588]

@@tenminutespanish Ah ok ... thanks for the clarification. So it would be considered correct Spanish to pronounce it as a more aggressive English H, you would say?

[@tenminutespanish]

@@alexsantana3588 Yes.