Double L chicken

[Guy121212]

Hello,

I have a question about pronunciation. I've been learning Spanish for a year now and have always pronounced the "ll" as a "Y". I've just started a language course on CD and the teacher is saying it as differently.

Just suppose I wanted to say pollo, would people in Spain pronounce it
poy-yoh and other countries pronounce it pol-yoh?

[AlMadrid]

I think spanish "ll" is pronounced similar to english "j", definitely not as english "y". For example, "llovía" is quite similar to "job".

Originally Posted by Guy121212

Hello,

I have a question about pronunciation. I've been learning Spanish for a year now and have always pronounced the "ll" as a "Y". I've just started a language course on CD and the teacher is saying it as differently.

Just suppose I wanted to say pollo, would people in Spain pronounce it
poy-yoh and other countries pronounce it pol-yoh?

[tad]

Well that's interesting -I had heard that 'll' is mostly pronounced like 'y as in the english yacht in Spain -with only the purists saying the 'ly as in the English 'll' from million, and that it was south americans with the 'j' sound.

My Colombian friends make it sound like poyjo -and in argentina it's more like poysho.(with not much y)
But AlMadrid I guess you're from Madrid -you have a 'j' sound too?

[richardksa]

By Coincidence; Just got back from a diiner where Chilcken was served and it started a round of "the embarrassing time I said 'polla' and not 'pollo'" stories. Everyone pronounced it as a "y". Madrilleñas and Guiris alike. (As for instance - Madri-yay-nyas.)

[AlMadrid]

Originally Posted by tad

But AlMadrid I guess you're from Madrid -you have a 'j' sound too?

Yes, I was talking from the point of view of spanish spanish (...is that correct? ).

[omeyas]

Originally Posted by richardksa

Everyone pronounced it as a "y". Madrilleñas and Guiris alike. (As for instance - Madri-yay-nyas.)

And there's me thinking it was always "madrileños"

madrileño -ña (m,f) person from Madrid

[omeyas]

Originally Posted by AlMadrid

I think spanish "ll" is pronounced similar to english "j", definitely not as english "y". For example, "llovía" is quite similar to "job".

I must admit as well, I find those two quite different sounds, "ll" and "job".
Are you saying, it should be pronounced "jovía"?

[gastephen]

Originally Posted by Guy121212

Hello,

I have a question about pronunciation. I've been learning Spanish for a year now and have always pronounced the "ll" as a "Y". I've just started a language course on CD and the teacher is saying it as differently.

Just suppose I wanted to say pollo, would people in Spain pronounce it
poy-yoh and other countries pronounce it pol-yoh?

Pronouncing <ll> and <y> identically is known as yeísmo (as opposed to lleísmo). You can read much more about this here [link removed by Ben due to forum rules], where you can also listen to a sample sentence containing lots of these sounds spoken by native speakers from all over the Spanish speaking world.

Cheers, G.

[Juanjo]

Originally Posted by gastephen

Pronouncing <ll> and <y> identically is known as yeísmo (as opposed to lleísmo). You can read much more about this here [link removed by Ben due to forum rules], where you can also listen to a sample sentence containing lots of these sounds spoken by native speakers from all over the Spanish speaking world.

Originally Posted by gastephen

Cheers, G.

I empathise! Over the years it has beome difficult to capture the right pronunciation. [My first Spanish teacher was Argentinian so I started saying "Posho", the second was Mexican, the third was from Peru, the fourth was andaluz and so on.] So I end up mixing accents in the same sentence- confusing everybody, most of all myself!

Juanjo

[imc]

El yeísmo está muy extendido, ya prácticamente nadie distingue al pronunciar la "ll" y la "y". Y no se considera una incorrección.

[AlMadrid]

Yo diría que lo que está extendido (al menos en España) es el lleísmo y el yeísmo casi extinguido. En España no se pronuncia la y nunca (salvo excepciones), solo la ll.

Originally Posted by imc

El yeísmo está muy extendido, ya prácticamente nadie distingue al pronunciar la "ll" y la "y". Y no se considera una incorrección.

[imc]

Originally Posted by AlMadrid

Yo diría que lo que está extendido (al menos en España) es el lleísmo y el yeísmo casi extinguido. En España no se pronuncia la y nunca (salvo excepciones), solo la ll.

Eso será en Madrid

[Legazpi]

In Madrid I hear the same people pronounce "lleno" as "jeno" (with the "j" pronounced as in "job") while they will pronounce lluvia as "yuvia" (with the "y" pronounced as in yacht), pollo as "poyo", paella as "paeya", etc. I began to suspect that perhaps the pronunciation of "ll" depended on the letter that comes after it, or whether it was the first letter of the word, but now I'm just confused.

PS "Estoy lleno" is one of the most important phrases you can know if you ever get invited to a meal with a Spanish family

[richardksa]

I have an English acquaintance who's name is "Jez", short for Jeremy. The Spanish he meets invariably pronounce it "Heth". So, to correct them he asks, "What in English is the opposite of NO", and they reply happily "JEZ".

[Acosta]

Originally Posted by richardksa

By Coincidence; Just got back from a diiner where Chilcken was served and it started a round of "the embarrassing time I said 'polla' and not 'pollo'" stories. Everyone pronounced it as a "y". Madrilleñas and Guiris alike. (As for instance - Madri-yay-nyas.)

I have a funny story about somewhat similar. My friends mother is from spain but has lived in france for 30 years.

She served her special chicken (pollo) dish to someone from spain. And she wanted to say that the chicken was special ranch/farm chicken (organic). But she mixed up both the spanish and french words and it came out as....


Este plato es pollo enfarma (which sounds like enferma) jajaj


Si yo quiero el pollo enfermo.... ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh