Pronunciation of s / z in Spanish.

Question

In learning Spanish one is taught that the letter S always has the same sound as S in the English words 'same' and 'sound' while Z too may be pronounced thus OR like 'TH' in English 'theatre' / 'theater (voiced).

However, in English S (on its own) may be pronounced as one of at least three distinct sounds:

1. S as in Sound (unvoiced sibilant)
2. Z as in roSe (voiced sibilant)
3. ZH as in pleaSure (voiced palatal)

I'm pretty sure Spanish S is never pronounced like 3 (although I've heard LL be pronounced thus).

However, is Spanish S ever pronounced like 2, e.g. is it 'miSmo' or 'miZmo' ?

What about the Spanish Z in 'zoológico' ? Is is 'Soológico' or 'Zoológico' ?

If Spanish S is always S (unvoiced sibilant) and never Z (voiced sibilant), can native Spanish-speakers readily pronounce Z (voiced sibilant), and if so, how should it be expressed in written form ?

Finally, is Z ever pronounced like TH in English 'the' (unvoiced) ?

Answer 1

In Spain, the sounds of the S, Z and C are:

Sa, se, si, so, su -> like the word Sound

Za, zo, zu, ce, ci -> the more similar sound in english is "th": theatre

Ze,zi: do not exist in Spanish

Ca, co, cu: sound like in English

That´s in Spain. In South America and in Andalucia (Spain) the people use to pronounce Za, zo, zu, ce, ci, like the S in sound. But in theory this is not correct (speaking language used to be more flexible than writing)

Gracias. It's a little odd that the voiced sibilant Z sound doesn't exist in Spanish at all as it does in all other European languages that I've encountered. Does its pronounciation cause difficulty for native speakers ? - Faldaesque, Nov 7, 2014

falda ,we don't have it in Swedish, we find the Englsish word ' is' very difficult to say! - annierats, Nov 7, 2014

Interesting. I've never looked at the Swedish sound system. Does it exist in Norwegian & Danish ? - Faldaesque, Nov 7, 2014