Spanish Route episode EIGHT your guided tour to  Spanish.





Good morning, good afternoon or good evening. Welcome to SpanishRoute. The program, the podcast, to learn Spanish the easy and fun way.



My name is Sergio and I speak from Spain. This is the eighth program, your eighth stage on your way to Spanish.



Today we will talk about the the Spanish alphabet and focus on the letters be (B / b), UVE (V / v) and uve doble (W / w). Their different names, their pronunciation and words with different meanings and are spelled differently but pronounced the same.



But first, as always, I want to remind you that on my website, spanishroute.com you can follow the written transcription of this audio. 



And if you want to improve your speech I can help you practice your Spanish with Skype conversation sessions. Remember SpanishRoute.com



And now. Let's start with the class.



Before focusing on the pronunciation of the letters be (B / b) and EUV (V / v) I'm going to pronounce the complete Spanish alphabet. In later programs we will focus on the pronunciation of other letters that can submit questions for students of Spanish. As the C/c and Z/z, the G/g and J/j, or the I/i and Y/y.



The alphabet in Spanish



The alphabet (alfabeto y abecedario: these two words are synonymous) is currently made according to the official grammar of the Spanish language by 27 letters. 5 vowels and 22 consonants. 5 digraphs are also recognized: they are sequences of two letters representing one sound.



This is how the alphabet sounds in Spanish:



A / a, B / b, C / c, D / d, E / E, F / f, G / g, H / h, I / i, J / j, K / k, L / L, M / m, N / n n / N, O / o, P / P, Q / q, R, r, s / s, T / T, U / u, v / v, w / w, X / x, Y / y, Z / z



The five vowels appear in this alphabet are: A / A, E / e, I / i, O / o, u / u



The five digraphs are: the letters c + h, the double L (ll), double R (rr), the letter q + vowel u, and letter g + vowel u . We also discuss these digraphs on these programs.



And today we will talk about the letters be (be), vee (uve), double vee (uve doble) in Spanish.



The letters be (B/b)  and uve (V/v) in Spanish: Names and pronunciation



Letters be and vee may pose a little difficulty for those starting to study Spanish.



The letter be (B / b)  is the second letter of the Spanish alphabet and has its origin in the letter of the Greek alphabet beta. In America it is also known as be alta o be larga (high be, or be long).



Vee letter (V / V) is the twenty - third letter of the Spanish alphabet and has its origin in the letter Upsilon Greek alphabet. From which also derive the vowel u and the letter (Y/y), also known as "i griega" (Greek i). Other names for V are: uve baja, uve corta o uve chica. "Chica" in this case is synonymous with small. Not to be confused with the guy or female person young age (girl).



Although both letters can be used different names the current rules of the Spanish language recommended to always use the names "be" and "uve".



The letters B and V currently represent the same phoneme in Spanish. The bilabial sound / b /



The stocks of two different letters for the same phonemes is due to the Latin origin of language. Since, at the beginning and until the Middle Ages these two letters did represent different phonemes. But little by little these differences were lost.



Sometimes you can hear a Spanish speaker pronounce vee with labial dental / f / phoneme. Instead of "viento" (wind) you can hear "/ f / iento. 



But this is due to pronunciation or regional accent of Spanish. The right thing at present is to pronounce the sound / b / bilabial phoneme: Viento (Wind).



The phoneme / b /. In words that are written to (B/b) as words that are written with V/ve you may have a different intensity or loudness depending on the position of the phoneme in the phrase or word.



For example: usually a sound / b / stronger when the phoneme is the beginning of a word or after the letters "m" and "n".



Hombre, bien, viento, vaso, invierno, bote (Man, Good, wind, glass, winter, boat).



The phoneme / b / is usually pronounced weaker when positioned between vowels or consonants after they are neither " m" and " n" .



Debil, suave, cerveza, caveza (weak, soft, beer, head).



Do you notice the difference? Do not worry. Nor it is very important this differentiation.



Homophones words with B/b and V/v in Spanish.



In Spanish there are words with the same pronunciation but different meaning and writing. With letters B/b and V/v there many. For example:



Baca / Vaca (roof rack / caw)



Baca with B: site on top of the cars where luggage is placed.



Vaca with V: horned animal that produces milk. Female bull.



Barón, Varón (Baron / male).



Baron with B:  a peerage.



Varón with V:  person male.



Bello / Vello (Beautiful / hair)



Bello con B: synonymous with beautifu



Vello with V: synonymous with hair.



Rebelar / Revelar (to rebel / to reveal)



Rebelar whith B: sublevar or disobey (to rebel).



Revelar with V : discovering something hidden (secret, for example) or make visible the image of a photographic film.



Botar / Votar (throw / vote)



Botar whith B: throw, throw or cast out.



Vote with V: means making a vote or approval by vote.



To write these words that are pronounced the same must differentiate by context. If you want to practice reading and writing of such words in Spanish I propose a written test that you can find on my website accompanying the entry of this chapter in the podcast. Also you can find in the section Quiz the web.



The double vee (W / w) in Spanish.



Double vee is the name of the twenty - fourth letter of the Spanish alphabet. In Latin America, this letter you may also call:  doble uve, ve doble, doble ve y doble u. But the Royal Academy of the Spanish language proposed uve doble, as a unique name for this letter.



In Spanish the double vee (W / w) is very rare. Only it appears in words of foreign origin. Mainly German, English and Oriental languages. It can be pronounced in several different ways.



You can pronounce the double Vee as the vowel U. In words like: Twist, Newton.



But the most common is to pronounce it as consonant plus the vowel u- forming -gu when forming diphthong with another vowel.



Wifi, web, HAWAII, Waterpolo, taiwan.



In proper names and their derivatives of Visigoth and German origin the double vee is pronounced as a / b /



wagner, wolfram, Wenceslao, vagneriano.



Some foreign words originally had the double vee letter (W / w), eventually his writing was adapted to the Spanish phonetics.



So, the word váter (toilet), with vee, which means toilet or bathroom, originates from the English word water (agua in Spanish).



Váter in Spanish is written with v:  Váter.



Vatio: Is the power unit with symbol double vee uppercase (W). It is written with vee in Spanish and derives from the English word Watt: Vatio.



the word whiskey, the distilled beverage of Scottish origin,  at present it is written with g and u with dieresis (gü) (Umlaut sign). The spelling: Güisqui: G-Ü-I-S-Q-U-I



Dieresis or umlaut sign is two horizontal points on a vowel to indicate that it must be pronounced... because sometimes in Spanish, there are silent vowels after certain consonants. As the case of u after the letter g. In this case, the word güisqui has a umlaut in u to indicate that it must be pronounced.



In the next program we will talk in depth about the umlaut in Spanish and the pronunciation of the letters G / g and J / j.



Up to here the program today. Remember that on my website, www.SpanishRoute.com, you can find the transcription and English translation of this class. And you can make your questions and suggestions.



And if you want to practice your pronunciation book a session via Skype me.



Thank you very much for listening, for subscribing, by positive and "likes" ratings and see you in the next program. Next stage of your guided route to Spanish.



Goodbye!Book your free session







Spanish Route episodio OCHO  tu ruta guiada al español.



Buenos días, buenas tardes o buenas noches. Bienvenido o bienvenida a SpanishRoute el programa, el podcast, para aprender español de la manera más fácil y divertida.



Yo me llamo Sergio y te hablo desde España. Este es el Octavo programa, tu octava etapa en tu camino al español.



Hoy vamos a hablar del alfabeto o abecedario del español y nos centraremos en las letras be(B/b), uve ( V/v) y uve doble (W/w). De sus diferentes nombres, su pronunciación, y de palabras con un significado diferente y que se escriben diferente pero se pronuncian igual.



Pero antes, como siempre, quiero recordarte que en mi página web spanishroute.com puedes seguir la transcripción escrita de este audio.



Y si quieres mejorar tu pronunciación puedo ayudarte a practicar tu español con sesiones de conversación por Skype. Recuerda SpanishRoute.com



Y ahora sí. Empecemos con la clase.



Antes de centrarnos en la pronunciación de las letras be (B/b) y uve (V/v) voy a pronunciar el abecedario o alfabeto de español completo. En programas posteriores nos centraremos en la pronunciación de otras letras que pueden presentar dudas para los estudiantes de español. Como la ce (C/c) y la ceta (Z/z), la ge (G/g) y la jota (J/j) o la i (I/i) (o i latina) y la ye (Y/y) (o y griega).



El alfabeto en español



El alfabeto o abecedario (estas dos palabras son sinónimas) está formado en la actualidad según la gramática oficial de la lengua española por 27 letras. 5 vocales y 22 consonantes. También se reconocen 5 dígrafos: que son secuencias de dos letras que representan un solo sonido.



Así suena el abecedario en español:



A/a, B/b, C/c, D/d, E/e, F/f, G/g, H/h, I/i, J/j, K/k, L/l, M/m, N/n Ñ/ñ, O/o, P/p, Q/q, R,r, S/s, T/t, U/u, V/v, W/w, X/x, Y/y, Z/z



Las cinco vocales que aparecen en este alfabeto son: A/a, E/e, I/i, O/o, U/u



Los cinco dígrafos son: las letras c+h,