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Old January 13, 2015, 03:56 PM
valhalla valhalla is offline
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Hola Rusty!

Gracias por la respuesta! I agree with you 100% and am very aware of the importance of listening and the difference between carefully enunciated words in a learning/ teaching environment and the real world. I'm learning 7 languages at the same time right now so I am painfully aware of what you are saying. But....when I am learning something for the first time I do need to know how it is pronounced in the carefully enunciated way to start. Otherwise I'd end up spelling things like "wouldof" for would have etc. For me anyway, I like to have a visual of the spelling of the words. I need to know the precise, enunciated pronunciation first. Then I can speed it up and get the real world sound after.

I had a Spanish girlfriend at one time and listening to her and her family talking was extremely difficult.... But I knew that if I were familiar with the words that I would eventually be able to pick them out and understand. In each language I'm learning, I write the words or phrases out phonetically after listening over and over and scrutinizing how it is pronounced. Occasionally there are things that are hard to hear like the other night with Que hay de nuevo..which I heard at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-HjTVjfMNM
(at time marker 4:07)

I think I was hearing (phonetically) [Kay i din wavo] The "de" run together with "nuevo" could sound like [din wavo] If you get a chance listen to it and let me know if you hear the same thing. It definitely does not sound like what you wrote out for me. That's another problem I see in all the languages I'm learning, where you get conflicting pronunciations and meanings. You should hear some of the Russian and Swedish language.. It's not easy... I sincerely thank you again for your response and help. Please let me know what you think.

Valhalla




Quote:
Originally Posted by Rusty View Post
What's new?
What is there that's new?

Que = keh
hay = aye
de = theh
nuevo = noo eh voh

kehaye thehnwehvo

(The Spanish 'v' and 'b' are both said like the American English 'b', but without touching your lips together.)

Just as we English speakers blend/run words together, so do Spanish speakers.
Being able to tell what is being said at full throttle is an important exercise all learners of the language must totally engage in. Make sure you listen to lots of Spanish as it is spoken by a native and do your utmost to exactly imitate what you're hearing.

If you were learning American English and slowly pronounced every word in "Do you want to go with me or not?" you would certainly be understood, but your question would sound stilted. However, if a native speaker rattled it off as "Ju wanna go 'ith me 'r not?" you, as a learner, would have to pick up on the fact that a native speaker doesn't take the time to say all the individual words and letters that make up the question.
Gracias Glenn! This seems like a good site so far!

Last edited by Rusty; January 13, 2015 at 04:40 PM. Reason: merged back-to-back posts
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