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Spanish pronunciation: the "d" sound | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| fai Newbie United States Joined 5903 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 1 of 11 03 January 2009 at 5:28pm | IP Logged |
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I switched from French to Spanish for a number of reasons.
I've started with Pimsleur I and am making good progress. I also have Pronounce it Perfectly in Spanish as a guide. I'm a little confused about the pronunciation of "d". According to the pronunciation guide, "d" at the end of a word or before or after "r" or in between vowels is pronounced like the English "th". I'm listening carefully to the Pimsleur recording and it doesn't sound like the words "usted" and "perdon" are pronounced this way. So could someone please tell me if usted is actually meant to sound like "usteth" or "usted (with the d sound made by briefly touching the tongue to the back of the top teeth)"? Or is there some kind of regional difference that accounts for the different sounds? Thanks in advance 1 person has voted this message useful | |
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6902 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 2 of 11 03 January 2009 at 6:09pm | IP Logged |
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The mistake of that language guide is to mention the English "th" for comparison without further qualification, since as it happens there are at least two different pronunciations for "th" in English, compare "th" in "thing" and "that".
But other than that they are right. D is pronunced similar to "th" in "that" in those positions, only it is not so clearly articulated as "th" in English, almost like a very soft and brief "d" with a bit of "th" in it, and it can be easy to miss if your ear is not that well tuned to Spanish yet. Yes, the word "usted" ends in a soft "th" sound (the "th" of "that") as described, where the tip of your tongue briefly touches the back of the upper teeth. And no, there aren't any big regional differences on this issue, except that the sound can vary in intensity a little. The natives of Madrid come to mind here, who are known for pronouncing it almost as "Madriz", and it is even seen jokingly written that way sometimes. You need not worry too much about this sound if you find it difficult. It is just a small detail and you will always be understood with a normal d-sound too. But if you are aiming for a native accent, or to get close to one, this is one of those little things that would give you away. Good luck, and lots of fun and success with your Spanish! Edited by Hencke on 03 January 2009 at 6:23pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fai Newbie United States Joined 5903 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 11 03 January 2009 at 11:17pm | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the replies. My mistake, I should have been clearer. The guide did specify "th" as in "the" which is the same as "th" in that.
Vai, I'm a little nervous about doing Pimsleur without some sort of written material to guide me. I pay close attention to the audio but sometimes I get a few words wrong due to similar sounding sounds ("um" vs "un" for example). We'll see. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| fai Newbie United States Joined 5903 days ago 5 posts - 5 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 11 04 January 2009 at 10:57am | IP Logged |
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It's usually quite clear but ,I guess in an effort to make the speech as realistic as possible, words are sometimes pronounced differently (to reflect different regions). That's when I get confused and start wondering if I've pronounced the other words correctly. What's really funny is that I had picked Pimsleur over FSI as my start program because I was concerned about audio quality. I still plan to work with the FSI in addition to Assimil but will be using additional sources (teleseries, audiobooks, real people (smile) ).
Thanks for the positive advice. By the way, I would be telling my boyfriend...there are females on this site too. Edited by fai on 04 January 2009 at 1:19pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5873 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 7 of 11 05 January 2009 at 2:39pm | IP Logged |
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It's funny that you mention the audio quality, though. What frustrated me a lot about Pimsleur Spanish in particular was how the actors had perfect pronunciation, even trilling their r's beautifully following a word ending in s. Now, that isn't a bad thing at all, it was just frustrating for me to hear this beautiful pronunciation and then have to listen to my own mediocre attempt at repeating it :P But in any case, I think that is a good decision on your part, I ended up doing the first two levels of Pimsleur Spanish and so far my background knowledge from Pimsleur has made the journey through Platiquemos much more enjoyable.
Btw, there are queer folks on this site as well, so how is one to know? ;-) EDIT: I just read through this thread again, and I think what I said might be exactly what you were talking about, but I'm not sure anymore. Sorry! Edited by Crush on 05 January 2009 at 2:41pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| ChiaBrain Bilingual Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5816 days ago 402 posts - 512 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish* Studies: Portuguese, Italian, French Studies: German | Message 8 of 11 05 January 2009 at 4:42pm | IP Logged |
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Latin-American Spanish does not pronounce it as such, more like an English "d".
In fact we sometimes poke fun at the Spanish (light-heartedly not mean) by saying "MadriTH" with an exaggerated "TH" at the end. That said I think proper Castillian Spanish makes you look more educated. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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