Whether you’re about to start your journey to mastering medical Spanish or if you’ve already begun your mission to better serve your patients, this beginner’s guide to medical Spanish terms with pronunciation is an important step. Remember, perfect communication isn’t necessary, but you want to be understood!
Spanish is a largely phonetic language, which is great news for you as a learner. It means that once you’ve learned the sounds of the alphabet, you can pronounce almost any word just by looking at it. While it isn’t perfectly phonetic, for example, the letter ‘h’ is silent and ‘g’ has different sounds depending on the vowel that follows, you’ll find that what you see is largely what you get! This makes mastering pronunciation much simpler than in many other languages. So let’s get started! Make sure to watch the reels to learn more and hear the pronunciation tips from another Spanish learner who’s come a very long way!
The vowels in Spanish
Las vocales in Spanish are pan comido: easy as a piece of cake! Spanish vowels and vowel combinations are largely consistent. So when you see a vowel in Spanish, you must pronounce it. There are no hidden vowel sounds or multiple associated sounds, like in English. Did you know the letter A in English has six sounds!? No se preocupen, don’t worry, in Spanish, just one sound for each vowel. Check the chart below and try practicing these medical Spanish terms for Beginner students.
| A [pronounced Ah] | Accidente (accident) Ambulancia (ambulance) |
| E (pronounced Eh) | Examen (exam) Emegerencia (emergency) |
| I [pronounced Ee) | Infección (infection) Inyección (injection) |
| O [pronounced Oh] | Orina (urine) Oxígeno (oxygen) |
| U [pronounced (Oo) | Ultrasonido (ultrasound) Urgencia (urgency) |
Check the reel to hear the vowels and learn beginner’s medical Spanish terms with pronunciation!
Spanish Medical Terms: Pronouncing ‘G’
The Spanish G or Ge is a tricky consontant sound. The rule is similar to the C in both Spanish and English. In Spanish, the G has two sounds: let’s call one ‘soft’ and the other ‘hard’. The ‘hard’ G sound is similar to the English G sound in ‘Gasoline’ or ‘Go’. On the other hand, the G sound changes before the E and I in Spanish to form a softer sound almost like an ‘H’ in English. You might here dialect differences with a more gutteral sound, but overall this is the simplest way to manage the G sound for English speakers. When you see ‘Ge’ or ‘Gi’ say ‘Heh o ‘Hee’. Check the table below for the G sounds and pronunciations.
| Ga / Go / Gu [hard G like in English ‘Go’] | Gastroenterólogo/a (gastroenterologist) Guante (glove) |
| Ge / Gi [soft G like H in English] | Ginecólogo/a (gynocologist) Geriatra (geriatrician) |
Remember if the G comes before the R or L or any consonant for that matter, it keeps the same hard G sound.
Check the reel to see the pronunciation of more G words!
Additionally, by mastering the Spanish ‘Ge’ or ‘Gi’ sound you also learn the J sound too.
Beginner Spanish Medical Terms with J pronounciation
In Spanish the J or jota is just like the H sound for ‘Ge’ or ‘Gi’. The sound is identical, but can be combined with any vowel combination. See the chart below to practice!
| Ja [Hah] | Jabón (soap) |
| Je [Heh] | Jeringa (syringe) |
| Ji [Hee] | Jitomate (tomato in Mexico) |
| Jo [Hoh] | Joven (young) |
| Ju [Hoo] | Jugo (juice) |
The Spanish C: Beginner Spanish Medical Terms
The Spanish C works just like in English. There are two sounds for a single C or double CC and one sound for CH. Before the E and I, the Spanish C makes an S sound. Keep in mind in Spain, it’s more like a TH sound but this is a dialect difference. Throughout Latin America the most common prouniciation is in fact like an S. See the chart below for some examples.
| Ca / Co / Cu [hard C sound like in English] | Cardiología (cardiology) Colesterol (cholesterol) Cura (cure) |
| Ce / Ci [soft S sound like in English] | Cáncer (cancer) Cirujano/a (surgeon |
| Cc [S sound] | Accidente [accident] |
| Ch [same as in English) | Chico/a [guy / girl – ambiguous age] |
The Double L sound in Beginner Spanish Medical Terms
I bet you already know how to say “My name is…” in Spanish, right? Me llamo… So, you’re already familiar with this Spanish prounciation rule. The Ll in Spanish is not a separate letter of the alphabet but a common double letter combination. Usually, this sound is the same as the English Y sound, like Yo-yo. There are a couple dialect variations though! If you take Medical Spanish classes with us at CGI, you may encounter a teacher from Argentina; they pronounce the Ll like Sh in English. If you’ve ever travelled to Mexico, Central America, or Colombia, you may have even heard “Jo” for “Yo”. But the most common prounciation and the easiest to employ is the Y sound, Yo! Check the table below to practice beginner Spanish medical terms with pronounciation.
| Ll (Y sound in English, like Yo-yo) | Ampolla (blister) Pastilla (pill) Costilla (rib) Ella (she) Llamo (I call) |
Learn more ll beginner medical Spanish terms with the pronunciation in the reel!
Other Beginner Medical Terms with Prounciation
So far we’ve covered the major pronunciation tips for beginner Spanish speakers with medical terms. Now let’s look at a few simple letter pronunciation rules with beginner medical terms, including H, B/V, R, X, and QU.
| H [silent] | Hipertensión (hypertension) Alcoholismo (alcoholism) |
| B/V [more like a B than a V, the V sound in English doesn’t really exist in Spanish, defer to the B sound] | Bebé (baby) Bacteriólogo (bacteriologist) Vacuna (vaccine) Intravenosa (intrevenous) |
| Single R / middle of word [soft, similar to R in English] Double R / first letter of word [trill, rolled tongue] | Radiólogo/a (radiologist) Hemorragia (hemorrhage) Corazón (heart) |
| X [similar to English except proper nouns in the Americas, which sound like H] | México [X = H] Texas [X = H] Excelente |
| QU [K sound in English] | Quemadura (burn) Liquido (liquid) |
If you want to learn more pronunciation tips, check out this blog with two quick tricks to communicate more effecively.
