pronunciation of llama

Question

Is the exact pronunciation of "me llama" is mae jama, or me eeyama or what is it actually?

Welcom to the forum! - katydew, Jun 27, 2013

Answer 1

It depends on the dialect. In Buenos Aires, Uruguay and other regiones that speak what is called "porteño", LL and Y are pronounced as /sh/ (phonetic) --- / ? / (IPA).

In much of Latin America, they're pronounced, with varying degrees of emphasis, like an English J in the word John, similar to IPA / d?? /

In Spain, nearly everyone pronounces it close to the English Y in the world yellow, which in IPA is / j /, but it is not exactly the same. In IPA it is / ? /. I've noticed, however, that many English speakers can't differentiate those two sounds without a lot of practice and training.

I encourage you to read about leísmo, the merging of the sounds of the Y and the LL.

Answer 2

The way I see it:

Meh JAHmah

I hope majority of people prefer Meh JAHmah.. - ANS1, Jun 28, 2013

Me too. It's teh only way, for me, to start making sense, and then explain that it is a bit softer. You could also start by using EEahmah. ;) - chileno, Jul 3, 2013

Answer 3

This is regional. Some places use varying degrees of hardness of the 'j' sound all the way to the softness of the 'y'' sound.

So figure out where you are going and pronounce it like they do, but they are aware of the pronunciation differences between countries too and understand, as we do with the varying English accents and pronunciations.

I hope majority of people prefer Meh JAHmah.. - ANS1, Jun 28, 2013