Welcome to Vol. 4 of the Spanish Online Newsletter! Weekly Spanish lessons with audio links, as well as travel phrases and more. New this week are worksheets to help practice as you learn. I hope you enjoy this week's lesson - if so please support our efforts by recommending our website to a friend or consider buying the book and CD-rom that these excerpts are taken from. (learning through songs does make it all more fun!) ¡Muchas Gracias!

Lesson of the Week: Spanish Pronunciation part 1

From the La Bamba Grammar Chapter

Natural Stress

Do Spanish words seem hard to pronounce? Don’t worry, there are a few keys that can help you master Spanish pronunciation. Natural stress helps you identify the part of the word you naturally emphasize a little more. Look at the following English words:

ACcents are not COMplicated
SPAnish is EAsy

In Spanish,the most common endings for words are S, N, or vowels (a,e,i,o,u)—and the natural stress is on the second to last syllable. Listen to how strange these words sound if you pronounce them wrong:

Click to hear an mp3 of these words being sung

Even when a word has many syllables, the natural stress for words ending in S, N,or a VOWEL is still on the second to last. For words ending in a consonant besides N or S, the natural stress is on the last syllable. Look at the following examples:

Listen to an mp3 of these words

La Bamba Sound Puzzle

Worksheet/Activity: Pronunciation

Quiz: Pronunciation

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Travel Phrases of the Week: Tastes, preferences, needs

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Travel Spot of the Week

La Paz, Bolivia

Bolivia is one of the most interesting countries in South America - an exotic mix of indigenous and Spanish culture, dramatic scenery, ancient ruins amidst jungles and mountains, and much more. During an 8 week trek around South America, Bolivia was one of my favorite spots. Click above to find more pictures.

© Spanish Online, 2002 Weekly Newsletter Volume 4, 11/15/02