Spanish pronounciation

[thecuz]

How does one generally pronounce the "c" sound when it is in the middle of a word such as "tocino"? Is it the english "s" sound like in tossing, or the "k" sound like in "taking" or the "ch" sound like in "touching"?

I have heard the resort chain Barcelo pronounced with both the "s" sound and the "ch" sound though the latter may be a Catalan pronounciation used in error or otherwise.

[Jacko]

Originally Posted by thecuz

How does one generally pronounce the "c" sound when it is in the middle of a word such as "tocino"? Is it the english "s" sound like in tossing, or the "k" sound like in "taking" or the "ch" sound like in "touching"?

I have heard the resort chain Barcelo pronounced with both the "s" sound and the "ch" sound though the latter may be a Catalan pronounciation used in error or otherwise.

like the "s" sound....except if you are in Madrid, then it has a "th" -like sound.

[sonofdob]

Barcelo...like "s" in english...pronounced "bar-suh-low" as in Barcelona...have a look here for Spanish help...sonofdob
http://www.ielanguages.com/spanish1.html

[Susie Q Roo]

Originally Posted by sonofdob

Barcelo...like "s" in english...pronounced "bar-suh-low" as in Barcelona...have a look here for Spanish help...sonofdob
http://www.ielanguages.com/spanish1.html

But the "e" in Spanish sounds like a long "a" in English... more like "bar-SAY-low," no?

[Sol]

The "c" with an "i" as in tocino is pronounced like the word "see" Toh-see-noh.
Barcelo is Bahr-seh-loh. The letter "e" is pronounced like the sound "eh."

[Jacko]

Originally Posted by Susie Q Roo

But the "e" in Spanish sounds like a long "a" in English... more like "bar-SAY-low," no?

¡Sí, guapa! ¡Eres una preciosa!

[Sol]

Originally Posted by sonofdob

Barcelo...like "s" in english...pronounced "bar-suh-low" as in Barcelona...have a look here for Spanish help...sonofdob
http://www.ielanguages.com/spanish1.html

Barcelo pronounced with a Spanish accent would be pronounced in the following way:
Bahr- theh-loh. The theh is calle a zeta (theh-tah). The majority of Spaniards use this pronunciation with the letters C and Z except for Spaniards who are from the region of Andalucia.

[thecuz]

Thanks!

That's got it well covered... with all the wisdom on this board how come we aren't all retired and living in Playa?

[JAH]

Well, almost covered. Everytime, I've seen the word written, it has an accent on the 0 - Barceló. And Sol is correct, this has an eh sound. Occasionally, the Spanish e can sound almost like the English long a, but not in this instance.

[Susangria]

thecuz-

In the word you mentioned, "c" receives the "s" sound because it precedes the "i" - this is the rule, regardless of where the "c" is located in the word. It's the case, as in most English cases, that c makes that s sound before e and i. Before a, o, and u, it would be a hard K sound. Any time you see "qu" before e or i, it's to preserve the K sound. (Que? = What?)

And, to make things even more fun, when you take a verb, like tocar ("to play an instrument"), and conjugate it to the command form, toc- has to have an -e ending. In that case, toque is the command form, the "qu" replacing the "c" to keep the hard K sound in place. Now you know how to tell someone to Play the guitar: Toque la guitara!

[Sol]

Originally Posted by Susangria

thecuz-

In the word you mentioned, "c" receives the "s" sound because it precedes the "i" - this is the rule, regardless of where the "c" is located in the word. It's the case, as in most English cases, that c makes that s sound before e and i. Before a, o, and u, it would be a hard K sound. Any time you see "qu" before e or i, it's to preserve the K sound. (Que? = What?)


And, to make things even more fun, when you take a verb, like tocar ("to play an instrument"), and conjugate it to the command form, toc- has to have an -e ending. In that case, toque is the command form, the "qu" replacing the "c" to keep the hard K sound in place. Now you know how to tell someone to Play the guitar: Toque la guitara!

The reason why "c" makes the s sound before e and i is because e and i are soft vowels; a, o, and u are hard vowels.

[sonofdob]

ha ha ha...this is what makes languages so interesting...just glad that we are not trying to figure out some inexplicably complicated language...like, um....English...ha ha ha...sonofdob.