# Villarreal (pronunciation)



## Mozzerfan99

Hi,
How is _Villarreal_ (as in the football team) actually pronounced?
I would have thought it was with the _ll _as a _y_ but I read something that implied, seeing as it was of Galician origin, it is pronounced like an English double l...
So how would a regular Spaniard pronounce it?
Thanks.


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## chamyto

Vi as in _big._
lla as in ~_yup._
rreal as in~ _realise._

Villarreal


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## Mozzerfan99

Ok thanks
Is 'real' not usually pronounced like ray-al rather than ree-al? Why not in this case?


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## Mozzerfan99

And what do you mean by '~yup'?
Thanks


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## BryanCr7Know

You can use a translator and try to pronounce the word with your own tongue, can't you?


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## chamyto

Mozzerfan99 said:


> Ok thanks
> Is 'real' not usually pronounced like ray-al rather than ree-al? Why not in this case?



It's not /i:/ . It's more or less /e/ plus /a:/ , but short a, not long.



BryanCr7Know said:


> You can use a translator and try to pronounce the word with your own tongue, can't you?



I disagree. Here we pronounced Manchester united in the same way an English-person would do.


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## Mozzerfan99

Ok thanks.
And translators aren't that reliable, especially when it is not a word per se as it is a team name...


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## chamyto

Mozzerfan99 said:


> And what do you mean by '~*y*up'?
> Thanks



The sound of "lla" is somehow similar to the sound of "y" in this context.


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## nelliot53

I would propose "*vi-ja-re-al*" as an alternative pronunciation in English.


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## gato radioso

Mozzerfan99 said:


> Hi,
> How is _Villarreal_ (as in the football team) actually pronounced?
> I would have thought it was with the _ll _as a _y_ but I read something that implied, seeing as it was of Galician origin, it is pronounced like an English double l...
> So how would a regular Spaniard pronounce it?
> Thanks.


Note that as this is a  valencian name, you may find two spellings:
Villarreal : Spanish
Vila-real: Valencian: as there is only a "l" you can pronunce it as in English.


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## jilar

Mozzerfan99 said:


> Ok thanks.
> And translators aren't that reliable, especially when it is not a word per se as it is a team name...


En este caso puedes buscar:
Villa

y luego 
Real.

Pues son palabras que existen independientemente y son las que forman el nombre completo de ese equipo. Sólo deberás unir ambos sonidos (villa + real).

Las vocales del español son fáciles de pronunciar. Básicamente la a siempre es a (el mayor parecido es con la U en inglés en palabras como BUT, PUB), la e siempre es e, y así sucesivamente hasta completar el resto: i, o, u.
Observa este gráfico.

Ahí tienes la propuesta AFI en dirae.es
Villa /ˈbi.ʝa/ villa - Diccionario Dirae.
Real /re.ˈal/ real - Diccionario Dirae.


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## Milton Sand

Hello,

Not that others are wrong, but in my region we are more traditional: /bi.lya.rre.'al/. The _elle_ sound is like “-lli-” in “million”. I'm writing it as /ly/ but consider it a single articulation.

The sounds or our _elle _("ll") are described in this post I found long ago: #10 (pronunciation - ll)

Be aware that our _uve_ ("v") does not sound like an English /v/, but like a /b/; and both Spanish _v _and _b_ also sound like a soft /ß/ between vowels and other cases. Making the Spanish _uve_ sound like an English /v/ is pedantic, stilted or, at least, ridiculous, being in Spain as in _América_:

El equipo del Villarreal → /el e.'ki.po del bi.lya.rre.'al/.
Mi querido Villarreal → /mi ke.'ri.do ßi.lya.rre.'al/.

Regards,


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## gato radioso

I didn´t know that in Colombia you pronounce "v" as a "b" too.
I thought that only we Spaniards usually do so, to the dismay of some picky erudites.


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## Ekhy

gato radioso said:


> I didn´t know that in Colombia you pronounce "v" as a "b" too.
> I thought that only we Spaniards usually do so, to the dismay of some picky erudites.



It seems that _b_ and _v_ have always been pronounced the same way:



> *3.* *No existe en español diferencia alguna en la pronunciación de las letras b y v. Las dos representan hoy el sonido bilabial sonoro /b/. La ortografía española mantuvo por tradición ambas letras, que en latín representaban sonidos distintos.* En el español medieval hay abundantes muestras de confusión entre una y otra grafía, prueba de su confluencia progresiva en la representación indistinta del mismo sonido, confluencia que era ya general en el siglo xvi. La pronunciación de la v como labiodental no ha existido nunca en español, y solo se da de forma espontánea en hablantes valencianos o mallorquines y en los de algunas zonas del sur de Cataluña, cuando hablan castellano, por influencia de su lengua regional. También se da espontáneamente en algunos puntos de América por influjo de las lenguas amerindias. En el resto de los casos, * es un error que cometen algunas personas por un equivocado prurito de corrección, basado en recomendaciones del pasado*, pues aunque la Academia reconoció ya desde el Diccionario de Autoridades (1726-1739) que «los españoles no hacemos distinción en la pronunciación de estas dos letras», varias ediciones de la Ortografía y de la Gramática académicas de los siglos xviii, xix y principios del xx describieron, e incluso recomendaron, la pronunciación de la v como labiodental. Se creyó entonces conveniente distinguirla de la b, como ocurría en varias de las grandes lenguas europeas, entre ellas el francés y el inglés, de tan notable influjo en esas épocas; pero ya desde la Gramática de 1911 la Academia dejó de recomendar explícitamente esta distinción. En resumen, la pronunciación correcta de la letra v en español es idéntica a la de la b, por lo que no existe oralmente ninguna diferencia en nuestro idioma entre palabras como baca y vaca, bello y vello, acerbo y acervo.
> 
> Diccionario panhispánico de dudas ©2005
> Real Academia Española


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## gato radioso

Ok, but not long ago, some people made a distinction, although the sound was quite softer than the "v" in other languages like French, Portuguese or English . Maybe it was a case of what´s called in Spanish ultracorrección (_ultra-correction _may be a term). I even remember a friend of mine, who had been living in the States for 15/20 years, saying when he returned from the US _"¿Qué ha pasado, nadie dice ya la "v" ni en la radio ni en la TV?"_


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## Milton Sand

Hi again,
Neither my mother nor my father, even my aunts and uncles have pronounced the Gallic "v" sound; and my grandparents never did, as far as I remember. Neither will you hear it in old movies and songs from Spain or any other Hispanic nation between México and Argentina. Julio Iglesias, José Alfredo Jiménez and Carlos Gardel used to make no v-b distinction. (And, except for Gardel, they would pronounce a nice palatal "ll" vs. a strong "y"). Currently, the vice of the Gallic "v" is typical of  too many entertainers and snobist announcers who seem desperately wishing to sound gringo; and they are a very small percentage of the population.

I must point out that not everybody here would say today /bi.lya.rre.'al/; some (as my sister does) say  /bi.ya.rre.'al/ and some others would even say /bi.ja.rre.'al/.


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## gato radioso

Just an anecdote.
Try to listen a song called "_La hiedra_" by Paloma San Basilio, a singer who was quite famous in the 80´s. It´s one of the few examples of a strong "v" pronunciation. It sounded a bit strange for me even at that time.


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## Masood

In simple terms: _Bee-ya-ray-al_

Bee...as in the insect
ya...as in yak
ray...as in the man's name
al.....as in the man's name

Hoping (fingers crossed) to get a ticket for the second leg at Anfield.

Cheers


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## Agró

Masood said:


> ray...as in the man's name


Afraid not.
It should be an 'R' followed by just an 'E' (as the 'e' in _bed_).
In Ray there's a diphthong /ei/; in Villa-RE-al, there is not.

My usage would be:
/bi.*ʎ*a.re.'al/


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## Milton Sand

Masood said:


> ray...as in the man's name


I agree with Agró: it's more like the "e" in "get, bed, red, fest", just not very open. In fast, careless speech it might sound like the "i" in "bit, rid, fit".
Spanish-speakers make fun of _anglos_ pronouncing our "e" like their "ay".


Agró said:


> My usage would be: /bi.*ʎ*a.re.'al/


¡Eres de los míos! 

Yes, a lambda is what is used to represent that palatalized "y" sound in «million» /'mi.ʎon/. Yet, we must be clear about the strong rolled R.


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## Masood

Agró said:


> Afraid not.
> It should be an 'R' followed by just an 'E' (as the 'e' in _bed_).
> In Ray there's a diphthong /ei/; in Villa-RE-al, there is not.
> 
> My usage would be:
> /bi.*ʎ*a.re.'al/


I agree 100%.
My attempt was just a simple approximation.
Cheers


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## MGKuni

Si pones en Google Translator "villarreal", seleccionas español, et voilà!: Google Translate


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## BryanCr7Know

MGKuni said:


> Si pones en Google Translator "villarreal", seleccionas español, et voilà!: Google Translate


Dice que eso no le sirve y se va por el camino más largo y difícil...
Es cuestión de práctica, no tiene mucha ciencia, y ya le han brindado diferentes formas.


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## MGKuni

Antes de mandarlo lo he escuchado y la chica lo pronuncia con cierta parsimonia, pero bastante bien. Le podía dar clases a la de mi GPS


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## Milton Sand

Mozzerfan99 said:


> Ok thanks.
> And translators aren't that reliable, especially when it is not a word per se as it is a team name...


Not in Spanish: pronunciation is very regular, and you'll be understood even if you don't say it with complete accuracy. For instance, “Villarreal” will sound different in Colombia's different regions: 
Caribbeans say /bi.*y*a.rre.'al/ (like Shakira), 
Paisa people would say /bi.*j*a.rre.'al/ (like Juanes), 
and Llaneros vocalize it as /bi.*ʎ*a.rre.'al/ like some Spaniards; 
while people from Buenos Aires, Argentina, articulate /bi.*zh*a.rre.'al/, 

... yet all of us understand each other pretty clearly. 

Try the sound icon in the WR Dictionary's entries: villa and real.

Pay attention to our ending "L" sound. I think in Spanish it's a bit different... More liquid perhaps?


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## jilar

Dropbox - Pronunciar-Villarreal.m4a
Las dos primeras separando villa / real, y la última uniéndolo todo "villarreal"

Espero que te guste mi voz


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## BryanCr7Know

jilar said:


> Dropbox - Pronunciar-Villarreal.m4a
> Las dos primeras separando villa / real, y la última uniéndolo todo "villarreal"
> 
> Espero que te guste mi voz


Sirve.


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## anita mazzon

chamyto said:


> rreal as in~ _realise_


We don't pronounce realise in this way, the 'a' is only a shadow and serves just to elongate the 'e'. It's pronounced the same as 'reel'. The only time we would pronounce the 'a' is if we are pronouncing it with excessive emphasis and elongation, as if to a person incapable of understanding.


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## chamyto

Bear in mind that "~" means that the pronunciation is not exactly. I have looked up the dictionary and the "a" sound is similar to a schwa in realise. Indeed, that "a" in Villarreal should be ,more or less, the sound of "a" as in can, but never the sound as in fun, but, blood, etc.


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