Difference between 'tilde' and 'con acento'?

Question

Hello,

Well, basically, I am learning Spanish in England and when we're spelling a word out, e.g. 'alegría' we would say ah - eleh - eh - heh - ereh - ee con accento - ah. But I've noticed on SpanishDict that if people are correcting someone else's spelling/syntax, they might say a l e g r i with a tilde a for example. I don't know? Is this because there is a lot of Mexican Spanish here because many people are are from the USA? I thought that a tilde was like 'ñ', that wavy signal over the n in España for example. Can someone explain please!!! Thank you

Con acento. No double letters in Spanish except R and L. - Goyo, Dec 20, 2009

Answer 1

Difference between "acento" and "tilde".

The "acento" is the biggest intensity which we pronounce a syllable with inside a word. We have to differentiate them from "la tilde" which is a graphic sign that we only place in some words.

• "Cena" has an "acento" that falls on the first syllable "ce" but it does not have "tilde".

• "ámbar" has an "acento" that falls on the first syllable "ám" and also, it has "tilde" because it is a "llana" syllable and it finishes with "r".

Answer 2

You're correct about the English definition of the tilde - it's the wavy mark ~

But in Spanish this word is used to refer to the written accent ´ as well as the mark above ñ ~

Answer 3

Issabela is correct. I asked this same question recently and was told that in English we differentiate between a tilde and accent mark, but in Spanish they do not. In Spanish both the squiggly mark above the n and the accent mark are called "tildes."

Answer 4

I can't improve upon Issabela's answer, as usual. But I can point out that she is from Europe, and not affected so much by Mexican Spanish.