Shipibo Foundations · Module 1: Beginnings · Lesson 2 of 6
The sounds of Shipibo
By the end you can hear and say the five sounds that English and Spanish get wrong.
Bekanwe! Welcome — come in! — Báwa is with you for Module 1.
By the end you can hear and say the five sounds that English and Spanish get wrong.
Bekanwe! Welcome — come in! — Báwa is with you for Module 1.
Shipibo is written with the Spanish alphabet, but it has only four vowels where Spanish has five. Two letters had to take sounds of their own — and those two are where every outsider goes wrong.
E is not “eh.” It is made in the middle of the mouth, lips relaxed — the sound in the second syllable of English roses. Nete is nearer NUH-tuh. Kené is nearer kuh-NUH.
O is not “oh.” It is the vowel in book or put — short and rounded, never the long oh of go. Jakón is ha-KOON.
The other two are easy. I is the ee of see. A is the a of father.
Two consonants need a moment. J is a breathy English h. R buzzes — curl the tongue back and let it vibrate, closer to a soft d than a Spanish r.
And the pair that matters most: sh is the ordinary English sh, but x is made with the tongue curled further back — deeper, fuller. Fluent ears separate them instantly: -shaman means excellence, xaman means deep. Two different words.
Read each one. The next screen hides the meaning so you can test yourself.
Say it before you flip. Be honest — "again" brings it back.
Tap a Shipibo word, then its meaning.
Báwa approves — Jakonshaman!
You can now hear and say the five sounds that English and Spanish get wrong.