Darren New <dne### [at] sanrrcom> wrote:
> Hint: All spanish is pronounced just like it's spelled.

  Not letter-by-letter, though. Some combinations of letters are
pronounced differently than those letters alone would be. For example,
the 'u' in "gu" is pronounced differently than in 'gui' (where it, in
fact, is not pronounced at all). Moreover, the 'g' in "gu" is pronounced
differently from the 'g' in "gi".

  The letter 'l' is pronounced differently when it's doubled: "ll"
(although official Spanish grammar considers 'l' and 'll' two distinct
letters of the alphabet, to be precise).

  The letter 'c' is pronounced differently depending on the following
vocal. If the following letter is 'h', it forms its own distinct letter
of the alphabet, pronounced differently from either 'c' or 'h'.

  There's a difference in pronounciation of the letter 'd' when it's
followed by a vocal compared to when it's followed by 'r' and a vocal.

  The pronounciation of the letter 'x' varies according to which
(Spanish-speaking) country you are in. Maybe even inside the same country.

  IIRC, there are no words in Spanish which start with an 's' and with
the second letter being a consonant. If a Spanish-speaking person tries
to pronounce a foreign word like that, he will usually instinctively
pronounce an 'e' at the beginning of the word (ie. before the 's'), for
some reason (I never understood why).

-- 
                                                          - Warp

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