Naranja ... what an awful word!

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InsanelyOne

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I've always thought the Spanish language is one of the easiest to speak. Not that I speak it well at all. What I mean is that is seems to me the words are almost always formed at the front of the mouth and they frequently follow a consonant vowel, consonant vowel pattern. The words literally fall out of the mouth. This to me also contributes to the sometimes incoherent speech (at least to my ear) of some Spanish speakers. Well that and the dropping of S's or the entire end of a word. But this brings me to a word I've always thought of as very un-Spanish sounding: naranja. This word just doesn't flow out of the mouth easily... at least for me. The 'n' sound followed by an 'h' just seems difficult to form. Some quick googling tells me that the word originates from the Sanskrit nagaruka or naranga. And now that I look at it, you can see that it appears to be the origin of the English word orange. I never made that connection before...DUH!

Anyway... just wondering if anyone else had examples of Spanish words they felt seemed un-Spanish like.
 
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CFA123

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muestra & nuestra were/are challenging to my english(american english) tongue
 
AlterEgo

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InsanelyOne said:
I've always thought the Spanish language is one of the easiest to speak. Not that I speak it well at all. What I mean is that is seems to me the words are almost always formed at the front of the mouth and they frequently follow a consonant vowel, consonant vowel pattern. The words literally fall out of the mouth. This to me also contributes to the sometimes incoherent speech (at least to my ear) of some Spanish speakers. Well that and the dropping of S's or the entire end of a word. But this brings me to a word I've always thought of as very un-Spanish sounding: naranja. This word just doesn't flow out of the mouth easily... at least for me. The 'n' sound followed by an 'h' just seems difficult to form. Some quick googling tells me that the word originates from the Sanskrit nagaruka or naranga. And now that I look at it, you can see that it appears to be the origin of the English word orange. I never made that connection before...DUH!

Anyway... just wondering if anyone else had examples of Spanish words they felt seemed un-Spanish like.
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I rarely use the word naranja unless I'm referring to the color orange. For the fruit, or juice, I usually use the Dominican "china" [cheena].

AE
 
Africaida

Africaida

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I hate all words that both have j or g and r cause my prununciation of these sounds sucks and you can't really hear the difference and they all sound like r.
I can say ingenieria to save my life !
 
Bronxboy

Bronxboy

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Being Puerto Rican, I dont like to say words with an "r" in the middle of the word. lol

I bet a few of you know what I mean.
 
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2dlight

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Bronxboy said:
Being Puerto Rican, I dont like to say words with an "r" in the middle of the word. lol

I bet a few of you know what I mean.
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My wife's Puerto Rican and although she never had the "r" challenge, my father-in-law is the worst I've experienced to this day! I always tell him to speak to me in English.
 
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Ezequiel

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InsanelyOne said:
I've always thought the Spanish language is one of the easiest to speak. Not that I speak it well at all. What I mean is that is seems to me the words are almost always formed at the front of the mouth and they frequently follow a consonant vowel, consonant vowel pattern. The words literally fall out of the mouth. This to me also contributes to the sometimes incoherent speech (at least to my ear) of some Spanish speakers. Well that and the dropping of S's or the entire end of a word. But this brings me to a word I've always thought of as very un-Spanish sounding: naranja. This word just doesn't flow out of the mouth easily... at least for me. The 'n' sound followed by an 'h' just seems difficult to form. Some quick googling tells me that the word originates from the Sanskrit nagaruka or naranga. And now that I look at it, you can see that it appears to be the origin of the English word orange. I never made that connection before...DUH!

Anyway... just wondering if anyone else had examples of Spanish words they felt seemed un-Spanish like.
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Sorry to say this, but your post doesn't make any sense at all! How can you say that the word Naranja has an un-Spanish sound?!?

The word "Naranja" is very phonetic and you won't find a word more phonetic than that. In your case, this word is very hard for you to pronounce, like anybody learning a foreign language there's always going to be words that are hard to pronounced in the new language.

When I was learning English, I'm still learning by the way, it was very hard for me to pronounce word like: "Literature" and "Shrewd", but I just keep practicing the pronunciation until I was abled to pronounce it without any problem. Now looking back I ask myself, how on Earth I couldn't pronounce those two words!

But I never thought that those words were Un-English or had a sound that was Un-English.
 
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Chip

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For me, multiplicar at times cause me problems. I also have been told my "r" at times is a little strong, almost like a double r.
 
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tjy

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There's a bit of Arabic influence on Spanish language. There was a significant Islamic presence in Spain from approximately 711-1492. Other word such as "almuerzo" and "almohada" are of similar origin.
 
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InsanelyOne

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Ezequiel said:
Sorry to say this, but your post doesn't make any sense at all! How can you say that the word Naranja has an un-Spanish sound?!?
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I thought my post made perfect sense. My point is that in my experience most spanish words flow easily out of the mouth. The word naranja contains a combination of consonant sounds, "n" followed by "h", that to me is difficult to form and sounds harsh.

The fact that you disagree with my assessment doesn't negate the validity of my point.
 
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Marianopolita

Former Spanish forum Mod 2010-2021
Dec 26, 2003
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I think your example is excellent regarding phonetics----

InsanelyOne said:
I thought my post made perfect sense. My point is that in my experience most spanish words flow easily out of the mouth. The word naranja contains a combination of consonant sounds, "n" followed by "h", that to me is difficult to form and sounds harsh.

The fact that you disagree with my assessment doesn't negate the validity of my point.
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I agreed with your first post and this one too. Naranja is not a phonetically friendly Spanish word and there are many with vowel combinations (for example, two strong vowels together like in aeropuerto ) that can be difficult to pronounce. In my opinion, naranja definitely sounds more foreign than of Latin origin (and I know it is of foreign origin). Some words are definitely like a trabalengua to pronounce (no pun intended). Some people can't say trabajar.


-MP.
 
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jrhartley

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oh ! isnt it phonetic ? how should I be saying the word , I think I must be saying it wrong which wouldnt be unusual
 
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