0Reading Spanish is very easy because of many facts.
As you might know, the most ancient language known to the human kind is Sanskrit, and thus all other languages were formed.
Reading in Spanish is just like reading roman English (Typing Hindi using English alphabet) we speak what we write and write what we speak, but just keep in mind the pronunciation of few letters rest is all very easy.
A is pronounced like - Aa – Africa, Aaj Tak, Arm, Argon.
B – BAY -B – moB, BulB, Bus.
C - SAY and KAY (C with A/O/U - K and C with E/I is pronounced - S)
Curtain, banK, Kabir. Cell, Certain etc.
CH - CHAY - CH – CHunk, eaCH, Champak. (Cuchara, Muchacho)
D - DAY - द – THE, bagDAD, (David, dormir)
E - Eay – April, grEAt, brEAd, Enamor, Edge
F - Effay - PH – iF, Fur, Fun.
G - Gey - (G with A, O, U – Goal, juG, muG)
Khay - (G with E, I - kh – Khan, laKH)
H - Aachey - Is always silent, so we pronounce the next syllable) Hotel, Historia etc.
I - EE – Image, India, Eagle, Easy.
J - Khotah - kh or Ha – Khan, laKH and In European Spanish - H – Hug, Heard, Hard.
K - KAA - ka – Curtain, banK, Kabir.
L - Ele - L – baLL, Luck, Lamp.
LL - Ellye - Ly - LLamar, Llegar etc.
M - Emey - M – Mud, Margin, Merge.
N - Eney - N¨ – maN, Name, caNe.
ñ - Enye - ny - Mañana, Niño
O - O – hOme, cOmb, chrOme, Obama
P - Pay - P – maP, caP, Plum.
Q - Ku - K- Queen, Quilt, Question
R - Errey - R – Run, Rush, Ram.
S - Essay - S – Sohan, Son, Sun.
T - Te - T – Tamilnadu, Tehran.
U - OO – rOOm, cOOl, Oops, Uruguay
V - Ve - V – Venezuela, Victory, Venom
W - Doble Ve - V – Work, Warm, Wall
X - equis - X-Mas, Xylofone (This letter is pronounced like the ks in English socks)
Y - I griegah - (When Y comes with a vowel it shall be pronounced like य – mY, Yes, Ya but if it's alone or with a consonant it shall be pronounced like à¤? - Hoy, Muy etc.
Z - Zeta, Tseta, Theta - Zapato, Zoo (This letter is mostly pronounced like the English s, but can sound like the th in English thin in many parts of Spain)
Some additional rules to be kept in mind while reading Spanish:
When Q comes along with U and after that E/I then U will become silent - Quema, Queso, Quimica
Whosoever have ever read Sanskrit would know there is an individual conjugation of verbs for each subject, it happens with English as well, i.e. verb - to be (Is/are/am) is used as per the subject pronouns.
Likewise in Spanish, there are 6 groups of subject pronouns:
Yo - I (First Person Singular)
Tu - You (Familiar Third-person singular)
El/Ella/Usted - He/she/ You (Third Person Polite Singular)
Nosotros - We (First Person Plural)
Vosotros - You (Familiar Third person Plural)
Ellos, Ellas, Ustedes - They (Masculine), They (Feminine) You (Third person Polite Plural)
For each subject, there shall be a change in the conjugation of the verbs based on the tense, so just remove the stem of the verb (AR, ER, IR) and add the appropriate ending.
Now practice and happy reading in Spanish.
Author – Saurabh Baheti
