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A little reflection daily about my language acquisition

Saturday 29 April 2017

226

For an English speaker learning Spanish, I’d recommend that they begin with hearing, not listening. Notice as many things with your ears as possible. 

Spanish is faster and more expressive in tone. The words are run together and the r’s are rolled. There’s a lisping ‘th’ sound. There are fewer vowels and no diphthongs. Consonants may be doubled, and there are interesting ‘ny’ and ‘ng’ blends. I can make out a Germanic ‘g’. Finally, the words tend to be longer, with more syllables, and they often end with a vowel. 


So, there’s all that to get used to at first.

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