Hola, mi gente.

Today we’re going to have our first Spanish podcast. I’m really excited to be talking to you guys so let me tell you a little bit about myself.

I was born in Bebedouro, in the state of São Paulo, in Brazil. I started studying Spanish when I was 16, now I’m 34, and I’ve been in love with this beautiful language ever since.

OK, so let’s start, empecemos. One of the hardest things in learning a foreign language is mastering its pronunciation. The golden tip is to listen, listen, and listen some more to Spanish and start recognizing the sounds and practice them.

The sound of initial R and the double R present some difficulty for English speakers because you have to trill your tongue and this doesn’t happen in English.

So let’s listen to some common words in Spanish.

Initial R

reloj (watch) – ropa (clothes) – rojo (red) – razón (reason) – rosa (rose) – raro (rare) – romper (to break) – roto (broken)

Double R

perro (dog) – cerro (hill) – zorro (fox) – aburrido (bored) – arriba (up) – carrera (career) – correr (to run) – cerrar (to close) – carretera (highway)

Listen to the diference of the single R and the double R in these words.

pero – perro
cero – cerro
caro – carro

Now let’s finish this podcast with a tonguetwister. Try saying it faster each time.

Parra tenía una perra.
Guerra tenía una parra.
La perra de Parra subió a la parra de Guerra.
Guerra pegó con la porra a la perra de Parra.

Nos vemos prontito.