1.1 Welcome to Spanish — The Alphabet & Its Sounds

Spanish is the world's third most-spoken language (after Chinese and English) — an official language of the United Nations, the European Union and the African Union, spoken across more than 20 countries. Learning it opens doors in tourism, hospitality, healthcare, aviation and international organizations.

Good news for English speakers: about 30–40% of Spanish words and letters look like their English cousins. English has 26 letters; Spanish has about 29 — the same letters you already know, plus a few special ones. As with English, the real work is the sounds, not the letters.

Spanish adds four sounds English doesn't have: CH (pronounced 'che', as in 'cheese'), LL ('elle', a 'y' sound as in 'yes'), Ñ ('eñe', an 'ny' sound as in 'canyon'), and RR ('doble ere', a strong, rolled R). The Ñ is simply an N with a tilde (~) on top.