Material Detail

The Pronunciation Guide shows (in written and oral form) how to pronounce Spanish vowels and consonants as well as sounds with particular stress or intonation. Diphthongs, linking rules and stresses are also reviewed. The user simply clicks on the character he or she would like to study. Upon choosing a particular character, a short description of how to pronounce the character is given in English followed by an oral exercise (mostly in Spanish). Once the oral portion begins, a narrator gives instructions on listening to the native pronunciation of an assortment of words. For example, when choosing the Spanish ?u,? two native speakers take turns pronouncing words such as ?tu,? ?rubio,? ?anuncio,? ?mucho,? etc. The words appear in written form simultaneously with the native pronunciations out loud. Different examples are given in an effort to provide as much coverage as possible. There is time between each pronunciation for the student to repeat. The site also provides examples of how NOT to pronounce certain sounds. i.e., how a native English speaker with a heavy accent would do it. The site is dialectical in that native speakers from different countries are used. When this occurs, the country of origin of the speaker is listed in the text. The examples also include English definitions or synonyms so that learners know what the Spanish vocabulary means in English. There is plenty of repetition of the sounds for practice and the assortment of dialects makes for good coverage dialectically. Linguists likely would prefer greater attention focused on the rules of pronunciation (instead of short descriptions), how sounds are produced, or even why certain dialectical differences exist. However, the site was not designed for advanced learners and is instead an excellent tool for beginning and intermediate students. For advanced students with deficiencies in pronunciation, the site would be good review for them as well. Some users may need to download Shockwave, but otherwise no technical difficulties were evident in this portion of the site. Sound quality is excellent.

Disciplines:

• Humanities  / World Languages  / Spanish  / Language