# pronunciation - y & ll (es)



## tim fullbright

Hello,

Pronunciation of these 2 confuse me a lot, I have heard -y- pronunciated
as J or Y and -ll- as SH or Y.

I know it depends on the country but I have a feeling, even in the same
country they can be pronunciated differently if they are at the start
of a word or not. Am I correct?

Can I pronunciate them both as Y no matter where they are in a word? 
Will that be understandable to every spanish speaker?


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## diegodbs

tim fullbright said:
			
		

> Hello,
> 
> Pronunciation of these 2 confuse me a lot, I have heard -y- pronunciated
> as J or Y and -ll- as SH or Y.
> 
> I know it depends on the country but I have a feeling, even in the same
> country they can be pronunciated differently if they are at the start
> of a word or not. Am I correct?
> 
> Can I pronunciate them both as Y no matter where they are in a word?
> Will that be understandable to every spanish speaker?


 
Yes, you'll be understood.


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## Dudu678

The pronunciacion of LL/Y as SH is common in certain American countries such as Argentina.

In Spain, some speakes make a big difference between LL and Y, but in general you can pronounce them both as Y and you'll have no problems. Do it as you would pronounce J in English and nobody will have trouble understanding you.

From what I can tell, Mexicans pronounce LL as if it were a Y sound in English.


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## Tino_no

Para mí no existe diferencia entre esos dos sonidos, aunque no oirás lo mismo en Argentina.
Saludos


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## Summer_rose

Para mí tampoco existe diferencia entre el sonido de la "LL" y el de la "Y" .

Aunque, como dice Dudu678, algunas personas en España sí que las pronuncian de modo diferente, creo que es mucho más habitual que suenen igual.

En cualquier caso, entendemos sin problemas a los argentinos y los argentinos nos entienden también a nosotros, así que no te preocupes!

Saludos.


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## DaleC

tim fullbright said:
			
		

> Hello,
> 
> Pronunciation of these 2 confuse me a lot, I have heard -y- pronunciated
> as J or Y and -ll- as SH or Y. As 'sh'? Where?
> 
> I know it depends on the country but I have a feeling, even in the same
> country they can be pronunciated differently if they are at the start
> of a word or not. Am I correct?
> 
> Can I pronunciate them both as Y no matter where they are in a word?
> Will that be understandable to every spanish speaker?



'll' has merged with 'y' everywhere in the Americas except for parts of the Andes. One widely available map of this feature is published in the introductory section of the University of Chicago Spanish Dictionary. 

Meanwhile, the resulting single phoneme has widely changed to a sound resembling 'j'. It isn't really 'j' as in English, but close enough, I suppose. This 'j'-like pronuncation can occur anywhere that a 'y', 'hi', or 'll' are spelled at the *beginning *of a syllable, but of course not where the 'y' sound is spelled 'i' after any letter other than 'h'. 

Supposedly 'll' has not merged with 'y' anywhere in Spain. Yet I heard 'll' pronounced similar 'j' while I was in Barcelona (and that is not a feature of the local Catalan language).


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## ampurdan

Well, Barcelona is a big city, so there you can hear almost everything (there's lots of people coming from countries in South America and the Antilles). 

Anyway, Catalan does distinguish between 'll' and 'y' sounds and therefore, when speaking Spanish, we may pronounce "halla" and "haya" differently. 

Anyway, I think that in some southern parts of Spain pronounce "y" and "ll" prettu much as English "j" (without the occlusive sound "d" at the beginning), while in Buenos Aires, Argentina, it is closer to English "sh".


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## mhp

My problem with ll/y is the other extreme. Things that shouldn't sound like ll/y do! One of the hardest things for me to say is "caer" as in "él cae". It comes out as "el calle". I can hear myself saying it wrong, but my mouth refuses to sound two strong vowels in succession.


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## ampurdan

mhp said:
			
		

> My problem with ll/y is the other extreme. Things that shouldn't sound like ll/y do! One of the hardest things for me to say is "caer" as in "él cae". It comes out as "el calle". I can hear myself saying it wrong, but my mouth refuses to sound two strong vowels in succession.


 
Maybe you have to repeat over and over "ka eh" or simply "ah eh", first slow "ah... eh..." and there more quick untill you're ready to say it without the fricative palatal sound of "y".


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## fizzy_soda

Sorry to start up this thread again, but I was searching up _how to pronounce y and ll in Spanish_ and I came across this.  

In my Spanish phonetics class last week, we were learning the pronunciation of y/ll in Spanish. What got to me was the fact that I was learning something new! (I am a Spanish major, in my third year, and this is the first time this has been addressed...) 

In the class, my professor told us that y and ll are pronounced similar to the English j, but the strongness varies depending on the position of y/ll in a word. (i.e., the word "llamo" has a stronger j sound than that of y in "mayo") I was stunned because I have always pronunced y/ll as the English y. My fellow classmates, who aren't native speakers of Spanish, also were confused because they learned the same thing.

I am aware of the English j sound for y/ll because I heard it among Spanish speakers. However, I can't say I ever learned that in class. (I have taken classes with professors from so many Spanish-speaking countries, my current professores are from Galicia and Argentina, so it is not that I have been exposed to only one type of dialect.


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## mhp

From my experience, at least in Spain, ll/y does not sound anything like the j in English. This is probably not very relevant, but it’s something that happened to me last night and it kinda has to do with the pronunciation of ll/y. I was watching a movie from Spain called “Reinas” and there was this “Brazilian” woman in the movie. After the movie was over I made a comment to my friends that I had no idea that I can understand Portuguese so well. Well, as it turns out she was not Brazilian, but Argentinean


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## DaleC

fizzy_soda said:
			
		

> In the class, my professor told us that y and ll are pronounced similar to the English j, but the strongness varies depending on the position of y/ll in a word. (i.e., the word "llamo" has a stronger j sound than that of y in "mayo") I was stunned because I have always pronunced y/ll as the English y. My fellow classmates, who aren't native speakers of Spanish, also were confused because they learned the same thing.
> 
> I am aware of the English j sound for y/ll because I heard it among Spanish speakers. .


 
It's very common among Mexicans in California. I couldn't say precisely how prevalent (60/40, 50/50, 40/60), but it's prevalent. 

In Mexico, to judge from what I hear among the immigrants, the prevalence of both "J for Y" and "swallowing of S" are much greater than has been traditionally claimed for Mexico, although still not universal within that country.


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## Jellby

Well... one of the common problems for Spaniards (don't know about other countries) trying to learn English is the pronunciation of "j" and "y" in English... we tend to make both the same. The same thing happens with "b" and "v".

"j" and "y" are sounds of the same series, one of them stronger than the other, in Spanish this distinction is not usually important for the meaning, so both sounds tend to be merged and one or the other is used depending on the context, accent, stress... I guess the bottom rule is: it doesn't really matter how you pronounce "y" or "ll" in Spanish  I don't have the feeling I can tell foreigners (I mean non-Spanish speakers) by their pronunciation of "y" or "ll", but I usually can by their "p", "t" (which should be non-aspirated) and "r".


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## Outsider

fizzy_soda said:
			
		

> Sorry to start up this thread again, but I was searching up _how to pronounce y and ll in Spanish_ and I came across this.
> 
> In my Spanish phonetics class last week, we were learning the pronunciation of y/ll in Spanish. What got to me was the fact that I was learning something new! (I am a Spanish major, in my third year, and this is the first time this has been addressed...)
> 
> In the class, my professor told us that y and ll are pronounced similar to the English j, but the strongness varies depending on the position of y/ll in a word. (i.e., the word "llamo" has a stronger j sound than that of y in "mayo") I was stunned because I have always pronunced y/ll as the English y. My fellow classmates, who aren't native speakers of Spanish, also were confused because they learned the same thing.
> 
> I am aware of the English j sound for y/ll because I heard it among Spanish speakers. However, I can't say I ever learned that in class. (I have taken classes with professors from so many Spanish-speaking countries, my current professores are from Galicia and Argentina, so it is not that I have been exposed to only one type of dialect.


I have heard some Latin Americans pronounce _ll_ and _y_ as [zh], that is, the sound the letter _s_ has in words like _leisure_ and _pleasure_ (or very close to it): _yo_=[zho], _lleno_=[zheno]. Since the English _j_ is [dzh], I can see the resemblance. But the Spanish speakers who pronounce _y_ and _ll_ this way seem to be a minority within Latin America.

There is really no unique way to pronounce those letters throughout the Spanish-speaking world. It depends on the dialect. See this page.


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## ampurdan

In Spain, "ll" and "y" are normally pronounced the same way, but some people distinguishes them: "ll" sounds something like the Italian "gli" and "y" sounds like English "y". Anyway, most of people pronounce it like "y" and occasionally also, as English "pleasure", as Outsider has said (as Jellby has said, it's not a significant difference for most of people). I think that in some southern accents they pronounce them both with this "pleasure" sound. I can't speake on behalf of the Americas, but Argentineans usually exagerate this pronounciation, even though sometimes it sounds like English "sh".


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## SpiceMan

The important thing is to have a consistent pronunciation, since there are so many variants.

So stick to one pronunciation for ll always, and the same -or another- for y. Just don't mix them up when using two sounds.


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## oxazol

I'm from the south of Spain and there is not at all differences between the two. 
In the ancient spanish there was very clear difference and it's for this that in America they do two different sounds. But this difference has been lost with the time, so now you can say exactly in the same way in Spain. The difference between two sounds is very related with the Argentinians in Spain and usally we like the Argentinian "ll".


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## aleksk

How do you pronounce the "y" as in "yo" or "ll" as in "silla"? Is it subject to regional variation? Because for the personal pronoun "yo" for example, sometimes I hear something like "yo" (y as in yes) but more often something like "jo" (j as in jessica). However, I seem to hear different sounds on different occasions. 

I asked this question somewhere else and I basically got the answer "so what's the difference between the sounds in "yes" and "jessica"?!! I was surprised, but I guess Spanish speakers do not easily discriminate between these two sounds. Is that so? 

Could you tell me what's the correct pronounciation in Spanish?


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## emaestro

I learned Spanish in Mexico, and passed through the same frustration.

What you have described is exactly what I experienced too.  The fact is that ll and y are pronounced in a variety of ways depending on the country, the region and even the placement in a word and the emphasis a word is given in a sentence.  It seems to me that the more emphasis it recieves the more "J" it becomes.

I have heard the same person say yo with a J sound and with a y sound.  Also words like caballo, etc.  

Don't feel frustrated.  Just accept that they are doing it, but they don't realize what they are doing, because, like you say, they don't have a J sound and they don't hear it as such.

I hope this helps.


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## emaestro

You said:



> Could you tell me what's the correct pronounciation in Spanish?



If you can answer that, then we all will know!!!


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## mhp

aleksk said:


> How do you pronounce the "y" as in "yo" or "ll" as in "silla"? Is it subject to regional variation? Because for the personal pronoun "yo" for example, sometimes I hear something like "yo" (y as in yes) but more often something like "jo" (j as in jessica). However, I seem to hear different sounds on different occasions.
> 
> I asked this question somewhere else and I basically got the answer "so what's the difference between the sounds in "yes" and "jessica"?!! I was surprised, but I guess Spanish speakers do not easily discriminate between these two sounds. Is that so?
> 
> Could you tell me what's the correct pronounciation in Spanish?


See if this helps 
http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=85095


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## aleksk

mhp said:


> See if this helps
> http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=85095



Thanks. That was very helpful.


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## ernest_

Hello,
Originally this 'll' sound was a palatal lateral approximant (IPA: /λ/), though nowadays it has merged with 'y' in most parts of Spain. Ubiquitous misspellings such as 'halla' for 'haya' prove that there's no phonetic distinction between the two. That being said, there are many dialectal variations and everything. For example, bilingual Catalan speakers and people specifically trained on diction may still retain this /λ/ sound. All in all, it doesn't normally represent a problem the way you pronounce 'll', anyway.


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## Orden_De_Santiago

So, 'll' is prononced like English pleasure in barcelona or or kind o an 'l' 'pleasure' sound?


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## RacoonGirl

Sí, te entenderán.

Depende de dónde se hable el español, se pronuncia de una forma u otra. Aquí en España, los andaluces suelen pronunciar la "ll" como "sh", mientras que en Madrid pronunciamos "ll" y "y" igual  En algunos países de sudamérica también pronuncian la "ll" como "sh". Pero vamos, que con que lo pronuncies todo como "y" se entiende


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## Orden_De_Santiago

Gracías a todos a ayudarme...

¿Pues, 'll' es siempre un sonido? ¿No dos sonidos? ¿Por ejemplo siempre suena como: 'y', 'j', 'sh' en ingles y nunca como: 'ly', 'lj', 'lsh'? Estoy un poco confundido. Es que aunque nací en los estados unidos he vivido en España para un pocotin más de dos años y he visitado muchos lugares: Asturias, Cantabria, La Mancha, Madrid, Andalusía, y Murcía. He oído que el padre mío (soy un medio español) se murío cuando tenía dos años y justo ayer encuentre (lo siento que el accento para la letra 'e' no se funciona en este teclado) que no es la verdad. Mí padre se vive! 
Voy a encontrar mí tía del lado de mí padre en unos días y mí padre y un tío y mí abuela despues. Es que, lo se ahora por fin cual parte de España es mí padre pero nunca he vivido a Barcelona!
Quiero pronunciar la 'll' como ellos cuando los encuentro para la primera vez. ¿Alguien sabe como los Catalanes pronuncian castellano? ¿Especialmente la 'll'? ¿Y la palabra angel en castellano? ¿Es con una 'g' sauve como en partes de Andalusía, como en Catalan?

Mil gracías pa' la ayuda


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## Agró

Orden_De_Santiago said:


> Gracías a todos a ayudarme...
> 
> ¿Pues, 'll' es siempre un sonido? ¿No dos sonidos? ¿Por ejemplo siempre suena como: 'y', 'j', 'sh' en ingles y nunca como: 'ly', 'lj', 'lsh'? Estoy un poco confundido. Es que aunque nací en los estados unidos he vivido en España para un pocotin más de dos años y he visitado muchos lugares: Asturias, Cantabria, La Mancha, Madrid, Andalusía, y Murcía. He oído que el padre mío (soy un medio español) se murío cuando tenía dos años y justo ayer encuentre (lo siento que el accento para la letra 'e' no se funciona en este teclado) que no es la verdad. Mí padre se vive!
> Voy a encontrar mí tía del lado de mí padre en unos días y mí padre y un tío y mí abuela despues. Es que, lo se ahora por fin cual parte de España es mí padre pero nunca he vivido a Barcelona!
> Quiero pronunciar la 'll' como ellos cuando los encuentro para la primera vez. ¿Alguien sabe como los Catalanes pronuncian castellano? ¿Especialmente la 'll'? ¿Y la palabra angel en castellano? ¿Es con una 'g' sauve como en partes de Andalusía, como en Catalan?
> 
> Mil gracías pa' la ayuda


Si quieres pronunciar la 'll' como los catalanes debes pronunciar esto /ʎ/:
/kaste'ʎano/
Si el nombre es Àngel (catalán) debes pronunciar /'andʒəɫ/.
Si el nombre es Ángel (español) debes pronunciar /'anχel/


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## Ynez

Orden de Santiago, Cataluña es uno de los pocos sitios en los que puedes oír un sonido para ll y otro diferente para y. Si tengo que elegir uno de los sonidos que has puesto, te diría que la ll de los que hablan español con mucho acento catalán (que por eso distinguen entre ll e y) sería como *ly*. 

Pero es muy difícil entendernos sobre este asunto así, por escrito. Cuando vuelvas de Barcelona te pasas por aquí y nos intentas tú explicar cómo es esa ll. 

En cuanto al tema general, la inmensa mayoría de hispanohablantes pronunciamos ll/y exactamente igual.


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## estemero

Ynez said:


> En cuanto al tema general, la inmensa mayoría de hispanohablantes pronunciamos ll/y exactamente igual.



Estoy totalmente de acuerdo.

De todas formas, el español no es un idioma crítico desde el punto fonético como lo son otros como el inglés. En español hay sólo cinco vocales (oficialmente) y, como decimos aquí, se lee como se escribe. A lo mejor es muy osado lo que voy a decir, pero opino que habría que pronunciar muy mal las consonantes para que una persona no hispanohablante no se haga entender en español. Creo que ésa es también la razón que ha dado pie a tantos acentos y formas de hablar distintos.


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## Orden_De_Santiago

¡Ay Díos que tanta ayuda tan rápida!!  Eso es uno de los razones que echo de menos España!!  Tanta gente tan amable!!!  Gracías a todo para la ayuda!!!

@ Agró:
   Pues, he buscado sobre el internet (incluyendo wikipedia) para las instruciones por traducir los simbolos 'IPA' en castellano y nunca me ha encontrado.  ¿Como se pronuncia:

 /ʎ/   /kaste'ʎano/ /'andʒəɫ/   /'anχel/ ?

@ Ynez:
   ¿ 'ly' se pronuncia como en castellano?

@ estemero:
   ¡Pues, si solamente era la verdad para toda de España!  Mira, estuve en Oviedo a estudiar.  Mientras estuve a la Universitad de Milan y viviendo en Oviedo había mucha gente que me dije que estaba 'll' y 'y' mala porque no estaba pronunciandolas igual!  ¡Las profesoras tuven la culpa tambien!


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## Ynez

Castel-liano

Pero no te fíes mucho de mí, me resultaría imposible imitar exactamente una de eas ll catalanas tan características.


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## Agró

No creo que _castel-liano_ dé una idea precisa de cómo se pronuncia la -ll-. Si no conoces los símbolos fonéticos y su pronunciación tenemos un problema. Si sabes pronunciar italiano, te diré que -ll- en *castellano *se pronuncia (o debería pronunciarse) aproximadamente como -gli-, en _*gli ha*nno detto_.


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## Ynez

Agró said:


> No creo que _castel-liano_ dé una idea precisa de cómo se pronuncia la -ll-. Si no conoces los símbolos fonéticos y su pronunciación tenemos un problema. Si sabes pronunciar italiano, te diré que -ll- en *castellano *se pronuncia (o debería pronunciarse) aproximadamente como -gli-, en _*gli ha*nno detto_.



Yo estaba intentando explicar el sonido ll de los catalanes.

Ya dije que la mayoría de hispanohablantes pronunciamos y y ll igual, y la pronunciamos así (aunque puedo apreciar que el que pronuncia esas palabras no es de España):

http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/spanish/frameset.html

AFRICADAS--> dz

Hay un apartado, en LATERALES, donde aparece el símbolo fonético que tú estás poniendo, Agró, pero yo no conozco a nadie que pronuncie la ll como la pronuncia esa chica, ¿tú sí?


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## Agró

Ynez said:


> Yo estaba intentando explicar el sonido ll de los catalanes.
> 
> Ya dije que la mayoría de hispanohablantes pronunciamos y y ll igual, y la pronunciamos así (aunque puedo apreciar que el que pronuncia esas palabras no es de España):
> 
> http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/spanish/frameset.html
> 
> AFRICADAS--> dz
> 
> Hay un apartado, en LATERALES, donde aparece el símbolo fonético que tú estás poniendo, Agró, pero yo no conozco a nadie que pronuncie la ll como la pronuncia esa chica, ¿tú sí?


Pues yo mismo, sin ir más lejos. Lo sorprendente es que se esté perdiendo la distinción (para casos como *llave/ya ve*). Con ese enlace que has colocado ya no debería haber dudas sobre la realización de los sonidos. Ahora bien, en el caso que nos ocupa (la -ll-) el ejemplo es un poco confuso, habría sido mejor dar un ejemplo en contexto, no un sonido aislado. Saludos.


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## Orden_De_Santiago

¡Eso es! Es como 'gli' en italiano o es como 'azure','judge', 'ship' en ingles! Lo se la 'y' y la 'll' son diferentes, pero como, exactamente? Y Ahí está la frustación! 

Tengo un teoría, y si es la verdad, va a hacer las cosas más faciles. Pues, la yeismo está creciendo en popularidad, no? Y muchas de las habitantes de ámerica sur de los regiones que son dificil a accesar (montañas, muy lejos de las ciudades, etc.) hablan con la distinción.
Pues no, mí teoría está destruido!  Porque mucha gente de ámerica sur pronuncian 'll' diferente de 'y' pero pronuncia 'll' diferente en cualquier lugar! 

En en España es igual, no? Valladolid se pronuncia diferente que Oviedo que Malága que Murcía que Cataluña y tal?

Así que Inez y Agró teneís amigos que se pronuncian 'll' diferente de 'y' pero pronuncian 'll' diferente entre sus mismos, verdad?

Estoy nadando en un mar de confusión...


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## Ynez

Orden, I pronounce both "ayer" and "llorar" with the sound of "judge", "jam", "George". Agro pronounces "ll" like that girl in the table I showed you. We are both from Spain: he is more in the north, I am more in the south.


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## mhp

Ynez said:


> Orden, I pronounce both "ayer" and "llorar" with the sound of "judge", "jam", "George". Agro pronounces "ll" like that girl in the table I showed you. We are both from Spain: he is more in the north, I am more in the south.


    Just to be clear, the sound of /y/ in English in a word like *yacht *is nothing like the sound of /j/ in a word like *jot*. Same thing in *jam *and *yam*. I have seen far too many Spaniards that claim these words have a similar pronunciation in English. Do you agree that /y/ and /j/ in these English words are pronounced differently?


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## Ynez

mhp said:


> Just to be clear, the sound of /y/ in English in a word like *yacht *is nothing like the sound of /j/ in a word like *jot*. Same thing in *jam *and *yam*. I have seen far too many Spaniards that claim these words have a similar pronunciation in English. Do you agree that /y/ and /j/ in these English words are pronounced differently?



mhp, I understand what you mean, I once mentioned the same in a similar thread: when we start learning English (or some stubborn people may even insist on this to you, a native speaker  ), we often pronounce the English Y like the Spanish Y, then, instead of YES (we should pronounce it IES), we pronounce it LLES.

mhp,  in the dictionary above, look at the phonetic symbols of those words and you'll see the symbol for JOT and JAM is the same symbol in the words YUNQUE, LLAMA, INYECTAR, CÓNJUGE on that page I linked.


The phonetic symbol for the English Y in YES is funnily a _j_ (I say this sound is like the Spanish _i_ = [ies])

Orden, yo soy de una pequeña región al suroeste que se llama Extremadura. Aquí solo hablamos español, con nuestro acento.


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## Orden_De_Santiago

@ todo: lo siento tuve problemas con mi ordenador (sorry, i had computer problems)

@mhp: yeah, unfortunately alot of people are taught the wrong way.  I know many native spanish speakers that pronounce it: 'jes' for yes and 'New Jork' for New York.  Which is wierd 'cuz most spanish speakers I've met pronounce yo, 'yo' not 'jo'

@Ynez: so it's: 'junque', 'jama', 'injectar', and conjuge'?

   Y lo se donde está extremadura.  ¡He oido que hay muchos castillos en extremadura y a veces los pueblos parecen como son de los dias de los caballeros y reyes!  ¡Que maravillosa!  Es que lo se que hay muchas lenguages origines de españa.  Por ejemplo: bable/asturiano (Asturuias), argonese (Aragón), catalan (Cataluña), gallego-potugues (Galicia), leonese (Castilla y León), valencian (Valencia), Murcian (Murcia), cálo (la mayoria en el sur), navarese (Navarra), basque (Pais Vasco), y mucho más.  Solamente estaba pensando si que los acentos de España hoy en dia tienen influencia de las lenguages del pasado.  No intente molestarte


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## Ynez

Has mezclado lenguas y dialectos, Orden. En Murcia, por ejemplo, lo que tienen es su dialecto, que se es parecido al extremeño.

Sí, aquí en Extremadura cada uno tenemos un castillo.




Es broma  pero sí que hay muchos restos de castillos/fortalezas por toda esta zona.


¡Espero que te lo pases muy bien en Barcelona!


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## Dark Fairy

In Argentina we always pronounce the "LL"/"Y" like a "SH", for example:
lluvia, yo, llama, llora, yace, maya, muelle
It's very uncommon to find someone here that pronounces different from that.


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## Ynez

Yes, we can always recognize an Argentinian while speaking because of the y/ll


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## Orden_De_Santiago

Ynez,

      Gracias 

¡Y pues a todos, Feliz Naviad y Prospero Año Nuevo!  ¡Echo de menos las uvas!


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## Tacherie

Actually River Plate Spanish sounds like Italian, because of the great number of Italian immigrants and the use -I'm sure you heard about this before- Lunfardo. In time, Italian and Portuguese, some people say, are very similar. And we do share some words with our friends* the Brazilians and the use of vos/você.

Going back to the original question, I hope I'm not saying something someone said already (this is a really long thread), where I live LL and Y sound exactly the same. As an English "sh" or "dz", depending on social backgroung.

But in the rest of Argentna the sound of this two letters vary considerably, resembling more the sound of other Latin American countries.
I'm sorry but, apparently, there isn't a cut and dried rule... you'll have to pay attention to how the natives around you pronounce it.

Regards

*except when it comes to football


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## LagosF

If a word begins with "ll" I pronounce it as the English j'. I always pronounce the y' as the English  y'.

Llamar= jamar
Yo= Yo

However, I've had people give me blank stares when I pronounce these sounds like this. Not everyone understands them. I always thought they did! Then again it varies.


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## DWO

Hola! Bueno, acá en Argentina mismo, hay provincias en donde se pronuncia así y donde no. Hay tanta variedad que por ejemplo, en Santa Fe (acá al lado), lo pronuncian "sh", "shamar". En la misma Córdoba, hay gente que dice "iamar" (lo que acá "iamamo'" cordobé' bássico, ja!) y lo pronunciamos también como vos. El correcto Español debería ser "llamar" (liamar).
Cosas del idioma...


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