How to pronounce Spanish "LL?"

Alex   Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:50 am GMT
I am learning Spanish on my own with a computer software program that has speech recognition. So the people on that program often pronounce "ll" such as from pollo like poh-joh. I have tried pronouncing it like poh-yoh too, and the program says I pronounce both ways like a native.

Which is correct?
Kess   Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:28 pm GMT
LL is like Y in Yes
boz   Tue Jul 07, 2009 12:56 pm GMT
LL is like 'sh' in 'fresh'
antoine   Tue Jul 07, 2009 2:49 pm GMT
Depends on where you are. In Argentina/Uruguay they say it like boz, in most parts of Spain they say it like your computer program, in Southern Spain and most parts of America they say it like Kess.

My understanding is that the "j"/"sh" pronunciation distinguishes "ll", a consonant, from "y" and "i" the vowels. But is "ll" even a letter anymore?
boz   Tue Jul 07, 2009 4:14 pm GMT
I'm not sure what you mean but the "sh" pronunciation is not limited to LL : people from Uruguay are lo Uruguasho.
TrueSpeaker   Tue Jul 07, 2009 5:55 pm GMT
<<LL is like Y in Yes>>
Wrong
<<LL is like 'sh' in 'fresh'>>
Wrong

Both Spanish LL and Y sound the same, but the thing is that the Spanish Y is not like English's, it sounds more like an English J.
jamon iberico   Tue Jul 07, 2009 8:50 pm GMT
standard spanish LL is nothing like Y and stop mixing those letters. Even if some Spaniards say that, mostly it's not true because he can't hear himself pronouncing it, but other can...and i assure you that most of them do make a difference. I'm from Valencia and my LL is something between Y sound and LH in portuguese.
I must say that i don't speak catalan/valencia, so it's not that influence.
Suka   Tue Jul 07, 2009 10:38 pm GMT
Anywhere between English Y J SH CH ZH.
Beathag   Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:26 am GMT
I was taught in Spanish class that the "LL" is a "y" pronunciation.
But, I live in Texas and so my understanding is of Mexican Spanish.
My in-laws are Puerto Rican and they say it the same though.
JGreco   Wed Jul 08, 2009 12:43 am GMT
It depends on the region you are from or where you are going.

Rio Platense, Uruguayan, Bolivian- like the "Sh" sound in english, but also can have the "s sound of leisure" (I believe that is how they pronounce it in Mendoza, Argentina.

Caribbean (Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Panama, Coastal Colombia and Venezuela)- Can either sound like a English Y, an English J, or the "s" in leisure depending on the context (the word "calle" is always a "y" sound, but the word "lluvia" can very widely between the three main pronunciations.

Spain and the rest of the known Castellano speaking regions (with the exception of Chile and El Salvador which can very as much as the Caribbean accent)- is always the English Y sound.

Spain does have some enclaves of "LL" sounding like a "LY" sound, but that pronunciation is becoming increasingly obsolete.
Guesto   Thu Jul 09, 2009 5:40 am GMT
<<I was taught in Spanish class that the "LL" is a "y" pronunciation.
But, I live in Texas and so my understanding is of Mexican Spanish.
My in-laws are Puerto Rican and they say it the same though.>>

Sorry but no, if you pronounce both Spanish Y and LL as an English Y, you will sound gringo, they're both pronounced more like an English J.
Oreiro   Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:21 am GMT
Palma deh Mayorca
and not Palma deh Majorca

closer to MAYOR than to MAJOR
Alex   Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:37 am GMT
Okay, I have continued with the program and constantly hear the English J for the Spanish LL. I can't help but pronounce it this way because of the program, but I don't want to sound weird if I speak to people from Latin American countries who use the Y sound.
mugre   Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:48 am GMT
you wont sound weird regardless of which one you use. any weirdness caused by your pronunciation of LL/Y will be drowned out by the general weirdness of your foreign accent. for example, not being able to pronounce RR correctly will sound weirder than saying LL like an English J
mugre   Thu Jul 09, 2009 7:50 am GMT
in any case, i recommend you choose a softish sound inbetween English J and English Y. don't go for any of the extremes, like the argentine CH/SH, unless you're going to argentina specifically