You may have noticed the accents which appear over some letters in Spanish words. Now, accents in some languages can be confusing, because they sometimes change the way the letter is pronounced. But a few things in Spain are nice and uncomplicated, and this is one of them!

When you see an accent over a letter (it is always over a vowel) - you simply accent that letter. Make it louder.

If there is no accent over a letter, then the normal accent is usually on the vowel before the end - as in AntOnio, or cervEza.

But when you see an accent, it changes Málaga into MAlaga, rather than MalAga.

Simple, innit…

Talking of accents, two expats had only been in Benalmadena for a couple of years, and were having a bit of a discussion about how Benalmadena should be pronounced. BenalmAdena? BenalmadEna? BenAlmadena?

They go into a restaurant, and decide to sort this once and for all, so as the waitress comes over to them, they say

“Before we order, could you please settle an argument for us? Would you please pronounce where we are…very slowly?”

The blonde waitress leaned over, flashed her clevage and said in a great Essex accent, “Burrr-gurrr Kinngg…”