how do we pronounce"j" and "d" in spanish?

Question

how do we pronounce j in spanish? do we alaways pronounce d like "the" in spanish? for exemple how do we pronounce "maleducada" and "desordenada" and "joven"?

If you are English from the British Isles it might help you to pronounce the spanish ´j´ if you have heard a Scots person say their word´loch´ as in Loch Lomond. It always helped me when I was learning pronunciation - MaureenPeters, Aug 2, 2010

Answer 1

If your mother tongue is English, I think pronouncing "j" could be a bit of a trouble for you as, as far as I can think, the English language doesn't have sounds like this. But anyway, the closest sound I can think of is that of the letter "h" in "hospital" but a bit stronger.

About "d", yes, it's pronounced like "th" in "there", "these" but a bit softer.

If you have doubts about the pronounciation of the words, SpanishDict has a great tool: When you go to the dictionary and you look up a word, except for its written explanation you can also hear it's pronounciation. This will be a "live" and accurate example of what you are looking for.

Answer 2

The nearest British equivalent to the Spanish "j" sound is as spoken in the Scottish word "loch" where the "ch" is almost at the back of the throat. Not like the English "lock" where the "ck" is hard at the back of the mouth.

do you mean kh or h? - imen, Aug 3, 2010