LL pronunciation? Does it have a English j sound with it?
I have heard 2 of my Spanish teachers pronounce llueve as jyueve like adding a j to the beginning and combining it with the y sound is this normal or only from 1 dialect. Also if it is normal are there rules for it?
9 Answers
Va a llover. like this: Ba a yober?
As has already been suggested, the letters "b" and "v" are indistinguishable in Spanish so that words like barón and varón or basto and vasto end up being homophones. Because of this, you will find that improper b/v substitutions are one of the most common spelling errors found amongst native Spanish speakers.
That being said, in Spanish there do exist two distinct sounds (allophones) for the /b/ phoneme, but these have nothing to do with which letter is used. Instead, it is positioning of the letter in the word which determines which particular allophone is used.
If the letter ('b' or 'v') appears after a pause (such as at the beginning of the word that starts a sentence) or after a nasal consonant ('m' or 'n') then it is pronounced as a plosive, very similar to an English 'b,' only probably not quite as strong. The phonetic symbol (IPA) in this case would be [b]. This means that the following words would all be pronounced with a plosive [b]:
?Va
?Enviado
?Ambos
?Basta
Any other time, the letter is pronounced much softer, almost like a 'b' or a 'v' but with the lips never quite closing completely. The phonetic symbol in this case would be [??].
?Lavar
?Labios
?Llover
?Habla
The only reason that I mention this is that in your sentence above (Va a llover), the first 'v' in the word "va" would be pronounced as a plosive [b]; whereas, the second one in the word "llover would be pronounced as [??].
If you are interested, here is a link to a site which provides audio examples of these two sounds. To get them, simply click on the tab labeled "lugar" and then click on the tab labeled "labial." Then, click on the sound that you are interested in hearing and you will be provided with four separate examples articulated by a native speaker: Las sonidas del español
You might also find the following resource (written in Spanish) useful. While I would recommend reading the entire article (which would provide a good exercise in and of itself), you might also skip ahead to section 4.3.3 where the author contrasts the phonetic differences between the phrases "un vaso" and "este vaso." Here is the link: Fonemas y alófonos de español
Hi fuego
This topic has actually been discussed several times on the forum. In fact just yesterday, the following thread was opened (discusses dialectic variations): how is ll pronounced in Spanish. And here is a thread that was opened nearly two years ago by one of our Spanish speaking friends from Chile (includes link to audio): How to pronounce ll and y
If you are interested in more discussions on this topic, I would suggest searching for previous threads using search terms such as "ll sound," "pronounce ll" or "ll pronunciation." You might also try doing a google search of the term "zheísmo."
There is some variation in the Spanish pronunciation, but the English "j" sound has a slight d sound at the beginning, like "dj". The Spanish "ll" sound doesn't have that, and is followed by a "y" sound, like "jy". (This is for coastal Ecuador.)
Native speakers never make a real "v" sound with their teeth touching their lips--students learning English have a terrible time with that sound.
I don't mean to hijack this thread, but you are saying that I SHOULD be saying:
Va a llover. like this: Ba a yober?
Unless, like you are saying, you want to be extremely clear with the spelling?
The b/v pronunciation question was clarifed for me when I realized that the reason the letters are called "b larga" (b) and "b corta" (v) is because they ARE pronounced the same! So if you're saying your name for someone and want to be very clear, you might say, "Me llamo Valdo, con b corta."
To your comment:
Some people pronounce EVERY "V" exactly like the letter "B".
"Va a llover" sounds like "Ba a yober".
I'm trying to pronounce V's like V's, B's like B's, and LL's like Y's.
Right! in Spanish LL sounds like Y. Example: LLave (key),LLeno (full),LLegar (arrive).
I was thinking more about this last night.
If you say, Está lloviendo, it is easy to pronounce the LL as a Y sound.
But if you say something like, ¿Dónde están mis llaves?, it is a little harder.
Going from the S sound in mis to the LL sound makes you want to put a little bit of a CH or J sound in llaves, especially when talking fast.
Along with this site, I am also using Rosetta Stone. They try to immerse you into as many different ways that you would hear things pronounced as possible.
Take the word for rain... lluvia.
I hear throughout the lessons it pronounced like:
yuvia - pure y sound
juvia - more of a j sound added
chuvia - combination of the y and j sound.
Also like the word for street... calle. I hear all three variations.
Personally, I am pronouncing all LL's as the Y sound in "yes".
Now ask about the B versus V sound! 
