Pronunciation of Spanish "g"

[laepelba]

I am reading an article about the pronunciation of the Spanish "g". I thought there were two ways ("soft" vs. "hard"). Like the difference between "gemela" and "gato".

The author of this article says that there are three distinctions:
- words like gato, goma, gula, guerra, and guiso...
- words like agarrar, egoísta, cigüeña and gigante...
- words like gemela, ángel or ingeniero...

I don't see the distinction between the first and the second. Is there a way to explain this to someone without getting into the technical IPA stuff? Are there comparable English sounds?

[Perikles]

Escrito originalmente por laepelba

Are there comparable English sounds?

There don't seem to be any exact English sounds. My grammar gives more or less the English 'g' sound for g before a, o and u, (gato, goma, gula) and like the Scottish loch or German acht for the 'g' before e and i (gemela, ángel). Others require sound characters which don't appear in English.

[pjt33]

(In private) try saying "guante" and "gante" (not a real word so far as I know) with a finger on your tongue. It needs to be fairly far back, because the sound is made with the tongue near the back of the roof of the mouth.

Escrito originalmente por laepelba

Are there comparable English sounds?

English accents vary so much that I'm not even going to try.

[irmamar]

Soft sound: ga, gue, gui, go, gu (u in gue / gui is not pronounced, unless you add a diaeresis):

gato, guerra, guisante, gorila, guapo.

Strong sound: ja, ge / je, gi / ji, jo, ju.

jamón, gente, jengibre, gitano, jinete, jofaina, julio.

There's no difference in pronuntiation between ge /je or gi / ji.



And Gante is in Belgium.

[Perikles]

Escrito originalmente por irmamar

Soft sound: ga, gue, gui, go, gu (u in gue / gui is not pronounced, unless you add a diaeresis):

gato, guerra, guisante, gorila, guapo.

Strong sound: ja, ge / je, gi / ji, jo, ju.

jamón, gente, jengibre, gitano, jinete, jofaina, julio.

Iramar: Are you sure about this ?(I mean obviously you know what the sounds are ) but the g in guapo is known (to me) as a hard g, and the g in gente is a soft one. I'm confused.

[laepelba]

Escrito originalmente por Perikles

Iramar: Are you sure about this ?(I mean obviously you know what the sounds are ) but the g in guapo is known (to me) as a hard g, and the g in gente is a soft one. I'm confused.

I agree. I think that the confusion here is with the words "hard" and "soft". I know how "guapo" should be pronounced, and how "gente" should be pronounced. It's the other sound that I haven't quite figured out yet..... The article I'm referring to says that for Spanish learners, it's important to learn that sound very early in the learning process, so as not to learn it wrong. Because so much of my learning is online, one of my big fears is that I'm learning mispronunciations......

[chileno]

Escrito originalmente por laepelba

I am reading an article about the pronunciation of the Spanish "g". I thought there were two ways ("soft" vs. "hard"). Like the difference between "gemela" and "gato".

The author of this article says that there are three distinctions:
- words like gato, goma, gula, guerra, and guiso...
- words like agarrar, egoísta, cigüeña and gigante...
- words like gemela, ángel or ingeniero...

I don't see the distinction between the first and the second. Is there a way to explain this to someone without getting into the technical IPA stuff? Are there comparable English sounds?

gato - similar to the G in get

gemelo - similar to a hard "H". Just try to imitate most any foreigner trying to say "hot"

G and J sound the same as in gemelo. try your phonetic here read this in English "hemelo" try a hard or strong "h".

[laepelba]

Escrito originalmente por laepelba

- words like agarrar, egoísta, cigüeña and gigante...

Escrito originalmente por chileno

gato - similar to the G in get

gemelo - similar to a hard "H". Just try to imitate most any foreigner trying to say "hot"

G and J sound the same as in gemelo. try your phonetic here read this in English "hemelo" try a hard or strong "h".

Agreed ... but how about the words in the second bullet in my list? Supposedly those are pronounced differently.... That's the one I'm having trouble with....

[chileno]

Escrito originalmente por laepelba

Agreed ... but how about the words in the second bullet in my list? Supposedly those are pronounced differently.... That's the one I'm having trouble with....

No, they are the same as in agarrar, egoísta, cigüeña and gigante...

or gato, goma, gula, guerra

[laepelba]

Escrito originalmente por chileno

No, they are the same as in agarrar, egoísta, cigüeña and gigante...

or gato, goma, gula, guerra

See, according to this article, they are not the same.... Hmmm... Take a look: http://tresculturasspanish.net/2009/...-g-in-spanish/