Catalan pronunciation

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The Catalan alphabet is comprised of the following letters:

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

plus "ç" which is considered a variant of c, and therefore doesn't appear listed as a separate letter. L·L / l·l is not part of the official alphabet but it's a very particular Catalan character called "el·la geminada" - see its pronunciation below.

The standard pronunciation, based of the Central Catalan dialect is as it follows:

Consonants and digraphs

• b is [b] when located in the beginning of a word and [β] everywhere else
• c is [s] before e and i, and [k] everywhere else (and not aspirated)
• cc (as in accident) is [ks].
• ç is always [s]
• d is [d] when found at the beginning of a word and [ð] everywhere else
• f is [f] everywhere
• g is [g] when found at the beginning of a word and [ɣ] everywhere else, except when found before e or i, in which case is [ʒ]
• ig when this cluster is found at the end of a word it's realised as [tʃ] if the following word starts with an voiceless consonant, or [dʒ] if the following word stars with a vowel or a voiced consonant
• h is always silent
• j is [ʒ] everywhere. It may be pronounced as [dʒ] in some dialects.
• k is found mostly in foreign words, and it's simply [k]
• l is [l] or rather something closer to [ɫ] that is, a dark l in all positions
• ll is always [ʎ]
• l·l a double l - remember Catalan l resembles the English "dark l".
• m is [m] except when in front of f, in which case is [ɱ]
• n is usually [n], except when in front of g or c, in which case it's a nasal [ŋ]
• nyis like the Spanish ñ or French gn [ɲ]
• p is always [p] (remember, not aspirated!)
• q (never found alone) is always [k]
• r is [r] when found in the beginning of words, after n or s or or when doubled (rr) and [ɾ] between vowels and after the rest of consonats. When found at the end of a word, it can be either silent or [ɾ]. In infinitive endings, it's always silent.
• s is [s] in the beginning of words, after consonants or when doubled (ss) and [z] between vowels
• t is always [t]
• tg is like [dʒ] as in George
• tx is like [tʃ] change
• v can be either [b]/[β] or [v] (it depends on the dialect!)
• w is usually [w] as in water but it's only found in foreign words ;)
• x is [ʃ] in the beginning of words, and after i ("ix") - if found between vowels, it's either

[gz] or [ks].

• y is only found after n. Check ny.
• z is always [z] as in zebra

Vowels

• a when stressed it's [a], while when unstressed it's realised as a schwa [ə]
• e when stressed it's either [ɛ] or [e], while when unstressed it becomes a schwa [ə]
• i this vowel is always [i]
• o when stressed it can be [ɔ] or [o], and when unstressed it's like a [u]
• u is always [u]

Other

• The digraph ch, a vestige of older Catalan orthographies, is still found in some surnames: Bosch, Lluch, Folch, Llach, Cadafalch, and it's just pronounced as if the h wasn't there and it was just a single "c": [k].