The next few comparisons of the Portuguese and Spanish alphabets range from H to L.

The first of these “H” is pronounced completely differently in each of these languages with the Spanish pronunciation being the closest to English. Spanish “H” therefore is pronounced “ah-cheh” using the same “ch” sound as the English pronunciation of the final “ch” sound in the letter “H”. Meanwhile, in Portuguese, the pronunciation is much harder, this letter being pronounced as “ah-gah” with a hard “g”.

“I” is pronounced exactly the same way in both languages, namely as “ee” but the next difference lies in the next letter of the alphabet. A similarity is to be found in the final syllable of this pronunciation although the sound of the first syllable in Portuguese is closer to that of the English pronunciation of this word. Spanish pronounces “J” with the guttural “ch” (like the Scottish “loch”) in the first syllable and is expressed as “jota”, therefore, “chawtah”. The Portuguese is “like the English “J” as in the name Jake but softer like the French Jean, and is therefore pronounced “zhawtah”.

The letter “K” is pronounced only one way in Spanish but has 2 pronunciations is Portuguese. The former is pronounced “ka” similarly to the English “k” sound whereas the latter is pronounced either exactly the same way as “ka” or very often as “kappa”.

Finally, and to the Anglophone’s relief, “L” is pronounced in Portuguese as it would be in English, simply as “el”. The Spanish pronunciation is similar to other pronunciations of the Spanish alphabet, namely by adding an “eh” to the end. Spanish “L” is then pronounced “eleh”.

Translations2u specialises in English to Spanish translation and guarantees to provide the right Spanish to English translator for your projects. We are equally competent in the translation of  Portuguese to English and English to Portuguese texts and will have a Portuguese translator suited to your requirements.