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]

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by laepelba

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

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by 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]

Originally Posted by 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/

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

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

there is a mix of write and pronunciation pattern.

I did not read it, but let me assure you that there two sounds, at least to me, to the letter G.

Trust me.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by laepelba

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...

The article also gives a useful link which describes the second and third g sounds as velar fricatives. It seems to me that the difference between the two will be small compared with regional variations, so I would be inclined to assume just two g sounds, hard and soft, strong and weak, whatever. It's difficult enough differentiating between these two, let alone a third.

[pjt33]

The difference is that one is voiced and the other not, so my experiment with the tongue must have been related to the different vowels instead.

Ok, try putting your fingers on your larynx and saying the two sets of words.

[chileno]

And some of this is not even relevant to speaking the language. It is a pitfall for many people.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

I can only distinguish two sounds for "g" in Spanish.

Soft: "ga"-"gue"-"gui"-"go"-"gu" are similar to English sound in "gulf", "gale", "goal" (Unless there is a difference in English "g" sounds here, but I always hear the same one.)
"Gato", "goma", "gula", "guerra", "guiso", "agarrar", "egoísta", "cigüeña", are all included here.

Hard: "ge"-"gi" = "je"-"ji" are pronounced with the strong "h" that Hernán mentioned.

"Gigante" has both, hard and soft "g" sounds.


"G", when combined with "l" and "r", is always soft: "globo", "gracias", like "glam" or "gracious".

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by 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.

Originally Posted by laepelba

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......

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

I can only distinguish two sounds for "g" in Spanish.

Soft: "ga"-"gue"-"gui"-"go"-"gu" are similar to English sound in "gulf", "gale", "goal" (Unless there is a difference in English "g" sounds here, but I always hear the same one.)
"Gato", "goma", "gula", "guerra", "guiso", "agarrar", "egoísta", "cigüeña", are all included here.

Hard: "ge"-"gi" = "je"-"ji" are pronounced with the strong "h" that Hernán mentioned.

"Gigante" has both, hard and soft "g" sounds.


"G", when combined with "l" and "r", is always soft: "globo", "gracias", like "glam" or "gracious".

Thanks for the input, everyone. Again, I'll point out that when Perikles and I say "hard" and "soft", we are talking about the opposite sounds from some of you.....

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

"Hard" and "soft" categories in Spanish refer to how much "effort" in pronouncing them is needed. Many foreigners have a lot of trouble for pronouncing "j"-like sounds.

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

"Hard" and "soft" categories in Spanish refer to how much "effort" in pronouncing them is needed. Many foreigners have a lot of trouble for pronouncing "j"-like sounds.

OOOOOOHHHHH!!! NOW I get it. I couldn't understand how both of you smart people could get something like that wrong. When we say "hard" vs. "soft" sounds, we mean hard like a rock vs. soft like a pillow. "G" in "gato" is hard like a rock hitting the ground ... "g" in "ángel" is soft like dropping a pillow.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

OOOOOOHHHHH!!! NOW I get it. I couldn't understand how both of you smart people could get something like that wrong. When we say "hard" vs. "soft" sounds, we mean hard like a rock vs. soft like a pillow. "G" in "gato" is hard like a rock hitting the ground ... "g" in "ángel" is soft like dropping a pillow.

Have you heard a hispanic say "hot"?

I so, the sound you heard for the "H" was hard(strong) or soft?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

"Hard" and "soft" categories in Spanish refer to how much "effort" in pronouncing them is needed.

It would be easier to understand if you called then 'hard' and 'easy' rather than 'hard' and 'soft'. So the 'g' in gato is easy to pronounce, and is called 'soft' in Spanish. Is that right?

From an on-line source:

G can be pronounced hard as in the English words goose or game, or soft as in the English words “gem” or “giraffe”.

Amazing how much confusion can be produced over a simple differerence in terminology.