The Spanish language is a very phonetic language. The pronunciation of the vowels is always the same. You no longer have to worry about long a’s or short e’s and a whole bunch of other vowel’s pronunciation. In addition, the pronunciation of Spanish words is further aided through the use of orthographical accents known as “tildes“. Only the five vowels, (e.g., a, e, i, o, u are emphasized with tildes). The use of orthographical accents are very useful to know which syllable should be emphasized when you pronounce a word.
The five vowels of the Spanish language are accentuated the following way:
- á (carácter)
- é (logré)
- í (leístes)
- ó (apoteósico)
- ú (único)
There are no such orthographical accents in the English language, making it more difficult to know how to pronounce a word. Below are a couple of pictures with Spanish words using the tilde. Since they are written in white with a red background, I decided to call this blog post, “Spanish Spelling in Red.” Take a look.
Snapshot of three glass containers using Spanish words with orthographical accents, (e.g., té, azúcar and café). Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
A closer view of the glass containers with Spanish words using the tildes or orthographical accents. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
