Unidad 1: Los sonidos del español
Introduction
Objectives
- Learn the vowels in Spanish.
- Learn the alphabet and all the sounds in Spanish (including some regional differences).
- Learn how to form consonant and vowel groups and how to pronounce them.
- Learn about similarities and differences between Spanish and English sounds and cognates (words that look and mean the same as words you already know).
¡Comprendamos el idioma español!
Language consists of a series of sounds (phonemes) and a series of symbols to represent these (written language). Some languages, such as Spanish, are phonetic—you write, speak and read with the same sounds—while others, like English, are not. However, there are similarities between Spanish and English. While both languages share many of the same vowels and consonants, they are not pronounced in the same way. Learning the sounds of the Spanish alphabet will flow into our goal for all language learners, which is to develop a functional use of the new language in four key areas: writing, reading, listening and speaking.
