Spanish Alphabets
The Spanish alphabet has 27 significant letters and a few sounds that have taken the count up to 30. Spanish is the language closest to English. For one who knows English very well, learning Spanish can be comparatively easy. However, for a complete novice in Spanish language learning, remembering all the letters of the Spanish alphabet at once can be a bit difficult. What is good is that unlike in English, where vowels sound differently in different words, every vowel has an altogether different sound in Spanish. There can be no confusion as to how a vowel will make a specific word sound.
There are ways in which one can start learning Spanish letters so as to be able to remember them, and understand their sounds clearly and quickly. Let us take a look at those ways:
1. Study a few letters at a time
Climbing a mountain, too, starts with just a small step. Then why stress yourself with too much study at a time? Start with a little portion, and proceed slowly, learning a few letters of the Spanish alphabet at a time. What needs to be achieved while learning anything is perfection in what or however much one has learnt. Haven’t you heard of the saying, “Give me quality, not just quantity”?
2. Use mnemonic devices to learn letter shapes
A mnemonic is also known as a memory aid. It is a tool that helps you remember an idea or phrase with a pattern of letters, numbers, or relatable associations. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imagery as specific tools to encode any given information in a way that allows for efficient storage and retrieval.
A mnemonic device, also known as a memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval in the human memory. Mnemonic devices include special rhymes and poems, acronyms, images, songs, outlines, and other tools.
3. Transliterate
Write words or phrases or even complete sentences of your first language using the Spanish alphabet, that is, using letters of the target language. This will help you practice Spanish letters more often, even if you do not know many of Spanish words or your Spanish vocabulary is very limited.
4. If there’s an alphabet song in the Spanish language, listen to it, learn it by heart, and keep singing it whenever you find time
Alphabet song is really an excellent way to remember the alphabet of any language. The way children learn to speak their first language quickly with the help of nursery rhymes, an alphabet of a new language can be remembered very well when learned as a song, and repeated in a particular tune.
5. Learn to repeat the alphabet yourself
Repeating anything over a period of time makes one perfect at it. Alphabet learning is no different. When one practices speaking an alphabet, and then repeats it over a couple of times, one gets its sound clearly.
6. Write the learnt letters down
Write the learnt letters down without watching them in a book. Maybe you will make a few mistakes initially, but later, you will gradually achieve perfection in it.
7. Use an online learning app
Use an online learning app that has language learning lessons from its very basics. Literally, a character or a letter is taught stroke-by-stroke; one can watch the videos, and repeat the letters and copy them.
8. Take online Spanish learning sessions
To augment your learning or to get the best results in the return of your efforts, try an online Spanish learning course. An online Spanish course can be taken from the comfort of any place, any corner, and at a time of one’s convenience. One does not need to travel anywhere for learning even the basics of Spanish, basics even as simple as Spanish letters or alphabets. During the online learning via audio-visual mode, an instructor teaches how to speak a Spanish letter or syllable with the help of slow movement of mouth. Similarly, they give easy tips to remember the letters and their sounds and show how to write those letters perfectly slowly and effectively.
