Do any Spanish words exist that aren't pronounced as expected from their spelling?

Question

English is a language that does not have a consistent system for the pronunciation of words with similar spellings (*e.g.* compare *rough* with *through*), this can lead to a situation where it is not always obvious how an unfamiliar word is pronounced. Spanish, conversely, has a very consistent system for pronunciation of words, in that one can read an unfamiliar word and be confident in how it is pronounced.I ask if there exists any Spanish words that are not pronounced in a way that would be expected from its spelling. I have not encountered any examples in my study of Spanish. If no words like this exist, why is this the case? Did the Real Academia Española (RAE) eliminate all such examples that possibly existed in the past?

Answer 1

Spanish is very consistent in the pronunciation of its letters, unlike the many variations found in English. There are slight phonetic differences encountered in advanced study of Spanish (such as the difference between [b and β, d and ð, g and ɣ]) but in general Spanish, the letters <g> and <c> have some variations to be aware of.

<g> when spelled before <a, o, u> produces a hard "g" sound.

ie: gambas ['gam.bas]

gordo ['gor.do]

gusto ['gus.to]

<g> when spelled before <e, i> produces a soft sound, like "h"

ie: gemir [xe.'mir]

girar [xi.'rar]

To make <g> sound hard in front of <e, i> a <u> is placed in between the letters.

ie: juguemos [xu.'ge.mos]

águila ['a.gi.la]

If a <u> following a <g> has diaeresis (two dots) over it, it slides to make a "w" sounds.

ie: lingüística [lin.'gwis.ti.ka]

<c> follows the same rules as <g>. When spelled before <a, o, u> it makes a hard "k" sound.

ie: cargar ['kar.gar]

constante [kons.'tan.te]

cubrir [ku.brir]

<c> when spelled before <e, i> makes a soft "s" sound.

ie: cerca ['ser.ka]

ciclo ['si.klo]

I hope that makes sense!

Answer 2

For the most part, all words are pronounced exactly the way that they are written, always paying close attention to written accents. However, any and all H's are silent, and thus not pronounced when written! I hope this helps!