easier to remember how to spell words correctly since vivir (to live) would be pronounced with a stronger v sound and beber (to drink) would be pronounced with a harder b sound. This pronunciation error is helpful with spelling, but until your b's and v's sound like some mixture of both sounds, you'll have an English accent. One helpful point about the similarity of b and v in Spanish is that sometimes it will be easy to recognize a word that is similar to English if you imagine the word with a b instead of a v, or vice versa. For example, the verb gobernar means “to govern.”
When looking up Spanish words in a Spanish dictionary, keep a few points in mind:
- Remember that ll and rr are considered separate letters, so the Spanish side of some dictionaries will list words beginning with ll after the words beginning with a single l and words beginning with rr after words beginning with a single r.
- The letter ch will be found in the ch section of most dictionaries at the end of the c section.
- Another place where the dictionary listings may confuse you is when a word has the Spanish letter ñ. The little squiggle on the n is called a tilde, and it creates an entirely new letter that will follow the n's in the dictionary. For example, you will find that the word mañana is listed after manzana. The ñ is pronounced like the ny combo in “canyon” or the ni combo in “onion.”