Hola,
I have decided to give the Spanish course a whirl, and in Challenge 1, I am hearing (for example) “ablar” and “boya”, but the written vocab has “hablar” and “voya”. I know I shouldn’t be peeking at the written words (slaps wrist) but am I hearing right, despite the spellings? I want to be usre I can trust my ears before getting too far along with the course!
Stu
Hi Stu,
This is Gaby, the male voice in SSiS. I see that you have spotted a pronunciation point that English speakers sometimes notice when listening to Spanish speakers from Latin-America ( like myself!). We don’t really make a difference when pronouncing “V” and “B”, so you will hear words like “voy” “bueno” “viva” “ballena”, all pronounced with the same soft B sound. While this is not the case in (most) of Spain, it is indeed very common in Latin-American. Somehow we are born with a smaller set of sounds!
As for “hablar”, you don’t pronounce the “h” in Spanish at the beginning of a word, or between vowels. ( hablar, hamaca, albahaca, zanahoria).
Let me know if you have other questions. I’ll be happy to help!
Best,
Gaby
Many thanks for the swift response Gaby, much appreciated. I am glad my ears were not letting me down!
Cheers,
Stu