Spanish Alphabet

[guapo]

Is there an official Spanish equivalent of the phonetic alphabet used to spell out words in English (a=alpha, b=bravo, c=charlie, etc.)? I was searching around on wikipedia and they have a page on the NATO phonetic alphabet (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NATO_phonetic_alphabet) and there is an external link (http://www.bckelk.uklinux.net/phon.full.html) to a page that contains several Spanish variations. For example:

Alicante Bilbao Ca'diz Dinamarca Espana Francia Girona Huelva Italia Jae'n Kilo Lugo LLamar Madrid Navarra Oviedo Portugal Queso Roma EreDoble Sevilla Toledo U'nico Valencia UveDoble equis Yugoslavia Zaragoza

How do people spell names out on the telephone in Spain?

[Ben]

They usually use town names on the phone - 'S' de Sevilla, 'C' de Caceres, 'P' de Pamplona..... that may not be the official way though....

[Marbella]

A good quiz question is - how many letters are there in the Spanish alphabet?

I've googled it and can't get a straight answer.

[Ben]

... one of the letters is made up of 2 letters!

[ValenciaSon]

28, I count 2 letters made up of 2 letters.

[Marina]

I would say 27:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.

But when you are a child they teach it inserting "ch" after "c" and "ll" after "l".


Note that usually there is no need to spell in Spanish as most of the words are written in the same way they sound. If any doubts usually use city names to spell them as Ben said.

[Brian]

¿y erre "rr"?

[ValenciaSon]

I was told "W" wasn't part of the spanish alphabet. Has that changed?

[ValenciaSon]

There are 30 letters in the spanish alphabet. There's the same 26 as in the english alphabet plus the following: ch, ll, ñ, rr. http://www.elearnspanishlanguage.com/pronunciation/alphabet.html

[Marbella]

I think this debate shows what I meant. I guess the Real Academia would have the final say but I can't find anything on their website.

Wikipedia agrees with Marina (and Mrs Marbella), 27 including the ñ.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_alphabet

[guapo]

Wikipedia agrees with Marina (and Mrs Marbella), 27 including the ñ.
and with my Collins dictionary which says

In 1994 the Real Academia España and the Spanish American language academies jointly decided to stop treating CH and LL as separate letters in Spanish
The reason I asked the question in the first place is that I always run into problems when I make a reservation over the telephone and end up having to spell my English name. So I guess I should look up the Spanish cities that spell out my name.

[Edith]

I would say 27:
a, b, c, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z.

But when you are a child they teach it inserting and "ch" after "ll" after "l".


Note that usually there is no need to spell in Spanish as most of the words are written in the same way they sound. If any doubts usually use city names to spell them as Ben said.

Spanish spelling is a piece of cake if you are Dutch or German, especially because most vowels are written in the same way. We read 'manchego' and we don't need an explanation to know how it's pronounced.

[richardksa]

I have been wanting to ask this for some time, but it did not seem worth a new thread. In the English language posting we all use LOL, IMHO etc etc. Are there Spanish equivalents apart from the ubiquitous "jejeje"? That could be replaced with "MR" (muchas risas) for example. Anyone have any ideas?

[guapo]

I have been wanting to ask this for some time, but it did not seem worth a new thread. In the English language posting we all use LOL, IMHO etc etc. Are there Spanish equivalents apart from the ubiquitous "jejeje"? That could be replaced with "MR" (muchas risas) for example. Anyone have any ideas?

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the explanation behind "jejeje"? I get this a lot in IM conversations with my Spanish colleagues and have often wondered about it?

[Marina]

¿y erre "rr"? There are 30 letters in the spanish alphabet. There's the same 26 as in the english alphabet plus the following: ch, ll, ñ, rr. I was told "W" wasn't part of the spanish alphabet. Has that changed?

I wouldn't add to the alphabet those letters that are made of two other letters:
"ch", "ll", "rr". They have different sounds but they are not a new letter.

Except "w" that even if is a "double v" is not written "vv", so it is a new letter and clearly exists in spanish.

See what Real Academia de la Lengua Española (RAE) (http://www.rae.es/) say about letter "w":
1. f. (http://www.notesfromspain.com/forums/) Vigésima sexta letra del abecedario español, y vigésima tercera del orden latino internacional, usada en voces de procedencia extranjera. En las lenguas en las que existe como fonema, su articulación es ora de u semiconsonante, como en inglés, ora fricativa labiodental y sonora, como en alemán. En español se pronuncia como b en nombres propios de personajes godos, p. ej., en Walia, Witerico, Wamba; en nombres propios o derivados procedentes del alemán, p. ej., en Wagner, Westfalia, wagneriano, y en algunos casos más. En vocablos de procedencia inglesa conserva a veces la pronunciación de u semiconsonante; p. ej., en Washington, washingtoniano. Su nombre es uve doble, ve doble o doble ve.

Which leads me to ---> I WAS WRONG

If I check the "z" in RAE: (http://www.rae.es/)
f. (http://www.notesfromspain.com/forums/) Vigésima novena letra del abecedario español, y vigésima sexta del orden latino internacional, que, en la mayor parte de España, representa un fonema consonántico fricativo, interdental y sordo, distinto del correspondiente a la s; en casi toda Andalucía, así como en Canarias, Hispanoamérica, etc., se articula como una s. Su nombre es zeta o zeda.
SO THERE YOU ARE, ACCORDING TO THE REAL ACADEMIA DE LA LENGUA THE SPANISH ALPHABET IS 29 LETTERS. INCLUDING "CH".

If I check "ch" in RAE (http://www.rae.es/):
Dígrafo que, por representar un solo sonido consonántico de articulación africada, palatal y sorda, como en mucho o noche, es considerado desde 1803 cuarta letra del abecedario español. Su nombre es che.

[Brian]

Bravo to Marina who has given us the definitive answer! :clap:

[Alan]

How do you sound "ñ"? Are there any words which start with it?

[Brian]

How do you sound "ñ"? Are there any words which start with it?

It's pronounced "en-yay"

My Spanish/English dictionary only contains a handful of words starting with ñ:

ñame - yam
ñoñeria - insipidness
ñoño/a - fussy

[Ben]

How do you sound "ñ"? Are there any words which start with it?

ñot that I ñow of ;)
Do you mean how do you say the letter on its own?

[timmer]

Excuse my ignorance, but what is the explanation behind "jejeje"? I get this a lot in IM conversations with my Spanish colleagues and have often wondered about it?


I believe 'jejeje' is the equivelant of 'hehehe' (laughing or a chuckle)

[Jimmy]

All it takes is to have a teenage Peruvian exchange student in the house using MSN to communicate with her sister !!!! Forget it....it's a whole new language - I'm struggling trying to fit normal phrases in my head.

xq = por que
100to = siento
toy = estoy
ta = esta
tmb = también
k = qu (they use a few english sounds to represent words in spanish - example: ekivoco = equivoco)

Alright - get ready for an excerpt - I've modified it slightly to protect the names of the innocent (they like to believe they are anyway)...and I've modified some parts that I didn't understand (so I didn't know if it was bad or not) - Anyway, the example is not for the message - it's for the syntax, colloquialisms, and teenagerisims (of Peru at least).

ta mare “chica 1” yo tb t tenia q decir algo q ya me olvide! y eso q mis lucs no c apagaron! xq nos pasa lo mismo ta mare!!!....weno...para comenzar t tngo q decir esto “blah blah blah” ! jajaa...y lo dl alcohol jaja tu seras la supre! jajaja x lo menos yo no duermo con sonaja… jajaja aunq para la prox ya t h dico no interrumpas! jjaja primera vez q habia encontraba oscuridad en un lugar jaja y me tocan la puerta! ta mare jaja mentira ta dificil! jaja pero para la prox con el PROX ...no el mismo xsiaca!.....ni sikiera c si ha pisado suelo!....q roche :S....ahhhhhh ya me acorde lo q t iba decir!era una correcion (si es q yo no me ekivoco)...tenias puestos los aretes no x pi ... ese dia conocimos a lenguita loca mas conocido como pirañita desquiciado lo siento la hora me afecto....quise decir chico 1! el ultimo recuerdo q tngo d el es su piercing uhmmmm jaja y la pelea con aj...oie kiero sus mails!

I've also left in "ta mare" - didn't know if I should, but in this form i don't think it will offend (unless this is common in the spanish world - SORRY BEN AND MARINA if it is) - But a big clue for those who don't know - Frase numero uno en el Podcast no. 13 de Notes in Spanish :eek:

Enjoy - and this one was relatively easy - if they want to write so you don't understand - then just move on....jajaja jejeje !!! :D

[ValenciaSon]

npn: no pasa nada
=mente: igualmente
salu2: saludos
wenas: buenas

[Ben]

Excellent stuff! No idea what 'ta mare' is though?!

[Jimmy]

Ok - I'll cough it up...

ta = 'ta = **ta = P*ta = *uta

mare = ma're = madre

It sounds like Ta'máre when they say it (hard to write the pronunciation).

[Ben]

Ahhhh.... now I get it!

[simonb]

Ah this is "gr8" .... Now I can feel really old in two different languages!

[intrepida1981]

In the English language posting we all use LOL, IMHO etc etc. Are there Spanish equivalents apart from the ubiquitous "jejeje"?

As a Spanish-speaker, English speaking posting almost make me crazy sometimes :hammer: because of the great amount of abbreviations used… I’ve eventually managed to find the meaning of some of them like OMG --> Oh My God, but others still remain in the shadow:

IMHO
btw
KAD
Ppl - People? :confused:

Can someone tell me their meanings please?

I’ll :computer: if i find out anymore

As for your question I think in the case of lol we use only jaajaj or jejjee etc.

Thanks in advance!

[timmer]

As a Spanish-speaker, English speaking posting almost make me crazy sometimes :hammer: because of the great amount of abbreviations used… I’ve eventually managed to find the meaning of some of them like OMG --> Oh My God, but others still remain in the shadow:

IMHO
btw
KAD
Ppl - People? :confused:

Can someone tell me their meanings please?

I’ll :computer: if i find out anymore

As for your question I think in the case of lol we use only jaajaj or jejjee etc.

Thanks in advance!

IMHO = In My Humble Opinion
btw = By The Way
KAD = ? (I haven't heard this one before. maybe KBD?)
ppl = people

if you are looking for others, you can search for 'internet chat abbreviations'.

http://www.netlingo.com/emailsh.cfm has a lot of abbreviations, but I think there are only a few on that long list that are used frequently.

P.S. "Thanks in Advance" = tia
:)

[Alan]

A lot are made up on the spot and make sense in context. If they're too hard to understand, they don't survive. Concentrate on the basic ones first. Although, I don't even think that's important :)

[greytop]

Reminds me of the little autograph books we had for our friends to write or draw in when I was half a century younger.
One entry I remember went something like:
2YUR
2YUB
ICUR
2Y4me

You need to read it starting "two Ys U R..."

How does all this rubbish stay in one brain!!! Not much wonder I have trouble fitting espñol in.