This is forbidden!

There is a huge difference between /b/ /d/ and /g/ in English and in Spanish, let’s watch that Nacho Libre flick one more time...




What’s wrong with the Mexican monk’s consonants? Does he sound English or Spanish? We all know he sounds Spanish, but can you tell me why?

Those Spanish consonants are tricky, each of them has two variants, a "strong" one and a "weak" one. The strong one is pretty similar to the English consonant, but only occurs after a pause or after "m" or "n". In all other cases (in most cases actually), in Spanish we use a weaker form.

Listen to the monk again...

This is forbidden!

To say /b/ in English, we put our lips together; the monk doesn’t, he just closes the mouth a bit, but there is no total closure as in English.

The same for /d/. In English, we would touch the roof of the mouth with the tip of the tongue. He does lift the tongue, but there is no contact with the roof of the mouth (alveolar ridge, for the ones who have been reading this bog for any amount of time).

These sounds do not exist in English, and very few English speakers notice them. It’s awfully common to hear them produce those so very strong consonants where they should use the weak variants. Think about it the other way round, why do Spanish Speakers produce such lousy consonants in words with /b/ /d/ and /g/? A word I always hear is about with that weak /b/, and it sounds horrible!

If you teach English, pay attention to your students´ sounds, are they doing it properly, or are they using those weak consonants instead?


Today is the International Translation Day. Next week, as a celebration, I will post some research I’ve been doing on Spanish Dictionaries. I hope it will prove useful for those of you who are planning on buying one any time soon. My regards and salutations to all translators out there.