How to Pronounce Words with a Written Accent in Spanish:

¡Hola! It’s Brenda Romaniello here today ¿Cómo estás? Welcome to Hola Tuesday, your weekly Spanish lesson!!
How is your week so far? I started mine on a high note! Yesterday I went with some amigos to a bar in Surry Hills that shows movies on Mondays. They play old classics like the movie I went to watch last night: Good Will Hunting with Robin Williams and Matt Damon. Did you know Matt Damon is fluent in Spanish? He’s married to an Argentinean and speaks Spanish, that’s quite impressive!

Anyways, the movie in Spanish is called differently in different countries:
• In Spain (España), it’s called ‘El indomable Will Hunting’, which means ‘the untamable Will Hunting’.
• In Mexico (México), it’s called ‘Mente indomable’ which means ‘an untamable mind’.
• In the rest of Latin America (Latinoamérica), it’s called ‘En busca del destino’ which means ‘searching for destiny’.

Have you noticed how we write Mexico and Latin America in Spanish? It’s México and Latinoamérica. Have you noticed they’re spelled with a written accent? A very common question our students make is: Why do some words have a written accent in Spanish? And, how do we pronounce word in Spanish that have a written accent? That’s exactly what we’re learning today in our Spanish lesson of the week.

Before we get to the actual lesson I don’t want you to miss on Today’s special. If you’re looking to improve your speaking, listening and writing skills in Spanish, be sure to take advance of today’s special offer: Click here to check our Spanish Pronunciation Course.

Most words in Spanish are naturally accentuated in the second last syllable. When the stress of the word goes in another syllable, it’s usually indicated with that written accent. Rules of accentuation are a bit more complicated than this, but just to keep it simple, I’ll explain how it works and how you have to pronounce it. Are you ready? ¡Vamos!

Now I would love to hear from you. Do you find it hard to use the written accent in Spanish? Do you understand it better now? Let us know in the comments down below.

That’s all for today! Remember to sign up to your Hola Spanish FREE lesson here. I’ll see you next week on your Hola Tuesday lesson! ¡Adiós! ¡Hasta la próxima clase!