The Words Which Can’t Be Learned (Part I)

When I first started my Spanish lessons I knew that some words would stick in my head easier than others. What I didn’t know it that some would seem impossible either to learn or to pronounce correctly. The most frustrating of these situations is when you know what the word is but just can’t pronounce it the way you want to.
Each person who takes Spanish courses will find that they come across different pronunciation issues and here are 3 of those which sometimes make me feel bad.

Orégano

As a Scot I don’t have the same problems which a lot of gringos do with the letters “a” and “o” at the end of Spanish words. We tend to cut these off pretty quickly anyway so the word doesn’t end in a long drawn out “ooo” as it does when some North Americans get a hold of it. The Scots “naw”, for example, sounds very similar to the Spanish “no” so when I started to learn Spanish I just imagined that I am speaking to a fellow Jock and I was fine. The problem with this word isn’t the number of vowels in it either; it is the position of the accent. The simplest way to remember it is that you say it the same way North Americans do, not the British way. I still can’t seem to ever get it right though.