How to pronounce the LL letter.

Guest   Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:00 pm GMT
Hi,

I need your help. I can't pronounce the Spanish LL letter. I'm aware
that many folks there simply pronounce it like Y when it acts as a consonat, but I think that the old Castilian way is somewhat more classy and prestigious. I downloaded audio samples and tried hard to immitate this sound, but it was useless. I need the help of those who can reproduce this phoneme so I can tune my Spanish.
Guest   Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:28 pm GMT
Hi Guest! You can listen to Valencian, Portuguese, or Italian audio samples, the LL sound you meant is represented by LL, LH, and GLI in those languages respectively.
Guest   Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:32 pm GMT
I listened to Spanish audio samples where the speakers pronounce the LL letter the same way, that is , like GLI in Italian, but I don't know how to reproduce this sound. Can you? If so tell my how .
Gast   Tue Nov 13, 2007 7:48 pm GMT
The nearest sound is LY.

I'd describe it as having the middle of your tongue against the middle of the palatine.

If it's too hard just try to repeat LYI many times and you'll get it.

Good luck!
Guest   Tue Nov 13, 2007 8:20 pm GMT
Italian gli is harder and a bit different from classical Castillian LL because in Standard Italian it's always pronounced as a double consonant. Therefore I think portuguese Lh is the right counterpart
Guest   Tue Nov 13, 2007 9:33 pm GMT
How do the Italians pronounce double consonats? Simply holding the pronunciation of the normal consonant a longer lapse of time? When I do so with L I think that I pronounce the Spanish LL properly but It sounds a bit artificial since I have to make too much stress on this sound. I think that native people pronounce it more quickly.
Rodrigo   Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:04 pm GMT
A good example of the Ll sound is the popular video of the King telling Chávez to shut up, the King does not have yeísmo and there's a video where his por qué no te callas is repeated over and over.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cZFinVFubQ
Guest   Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:06 pm GMT
Haha, good. Thank you for this royal example.
Guest   Wed Nov 14, 2007 11:11 pm GMT
It seems to me that he says: ¿ Por qué no te caias?.
K. T.   Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:15 am GMT
Wow! I missed this. The descendant of the Sun King telling someone
"Why don't you shut up?" Very, very interesting.
Guest   Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:21 am GMT
What do you mean with Sun King? I don't get it. He is descendant of European kings and queens.
Guest   Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:23 am GMT
Ok, I got it. You meant Louis XVI.
K. T.   Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:29 am GMT
It's a good example of how to make the "ll" sound.
Guest   Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:33 am GMT
Can you? I 'm still unable pronounce the damn LL. And I don't find it a good example. It sounds as "por que no te CAIAS". Replacing LL by LI or I is the fake way to pronounce the letter LL.
Guest   Thu Nov 15, 2007 1:38 am GMT
<It sounds as "por que no te CAIAS". >

Еrm, because that's how it's supposed to sound.