Speak Catalan clearly: free pronunciation test
Find out how clear your Catalan pronunciation is. Take the free Catalan pronunciation test, get a score for every word you say, and learn the sounds Catalan learners find hardest, from the neutral vowel to ll, ny and the ela geminada.
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The hardest Catalan sounds for learners
The neutral vowel
In Central Catalan, unstressed a and e are both said as a short, relaxed 'uh' sound /ə/: mare sounds like 'ma-ruh' and casa like 'ca-zuh'. Unstressed o turns into u, so portar sounds like 'pur-ta'. Only the stressed syllable keeps its full vowel, so finding the stress is the first step.
Open and closed e and o
Stressed e and o each have an open and a closed sound. Open e and o are said with the mouth wider, closed e and o with it more closed. Written accents help: è and ò are open (cafè, què, això), é and ó are closed (també, cançó). Some pairs differ only in this: dona (woman) has an open o, dóna (gives) a closed one.
Ll and ny
Ll is one sound, like the lli in 'million' said as a single consonant: Guillem, llentilles, Lleida. Ny is the same idea for n, close to the ni in 'onion' or Spanish ñ: companya, Catalunya, any. Don't split them into l + y or n + y.