PRONUNCIATION

Spanish spelling has the pleasant characteristic of being more or less phonetic. This means that if you know how to pronounce the letters of a word, it's relatively easy to sound out the word itself.
Besides having a very small number of vowel sounds and a high predictablity of exactly what sound is represented by each letter, Spanish has a very clear set of rules about where a stress normally falls, and exceptions are noted with an "acute accent mark" ("´") over the vowel of the stressed syllable. Normally, words that end in a vowel or in "n" or "s" have the stress on the next-to-last syllable; all other words without an explicit accent mark are stressed on the final syllable. There are no "secondary stresses" within words.

VOWELS

a	like 'a' in "art": casa
e	like the first component of the diphthong 'ay' in "day" (este). Since Spanish also has a diphthong 'ay', as in rey (see "ei" below) you may consider to pronounce Spanish 'e' like the 'e' in "get"
i	like 'ee' in "see" or "deed"
o	like the first component of the diphthong 'ow' in "low". The vowel in "caught" will be equally understood, unless you pronounce it like "cot". Anyway, the full diphthong "ow" does not occur in Spanish, so you don't have to worry about pronouncing clipped enough
u	like 'oo' in "hoop"

DIPHTHONGS

ai, ay	like 'eye': baile
au	like 'ow' in 'cow': causa
ei, ey	like 'ay' in "say": reina, rey
eu	like 'yu' in "euro"
ia	like 'ya' in 'Kenya': piano
ie	like 'ye' in "yes": pie
io	like 'yo': dio
iu	like 'ew' in few: ciudad
oi, oy	like 'oy' in "boy": soy
ou	like 'ou' in "though" - Present only in foreign words: show
ua	like 'wa' in "wallet": cuatro
ue	like 'we' in "well": puedo
ui, uy	like 'wi' in "winter": ruido
ui	like 'ooy': cuido
uo	like "wa" in "water": averiguo

CONSONANTS

b	like 'b' in "bed": boca
c	when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'c' in "cell" (Latin America) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine; otherwise like 'k' in "kid": calle, doctor
ch	like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho
d	like 'd' in "dog": dedo
f	like 'f' in "fine": faro
g	when followed by 'e' or 'i', like 'ch' in "loch" (general = hai-nai-RAHL), otherwise like "g" in "go" (gato). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the "u" is silent (guitarra), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" (pedigüeño)
gu, gü	like 'Gu' in McGuire or 'w' in "wire" (agua, agüita)
h	silent: hora
j	like 'ch' in "loch": jabón
k	like 'c' in "cat": kilo
l	like 'l' in "love": lápiz
ll	like 'y' in "yield" (Latin America) or the 'ly' sound in "million" (Spain): lluvia
m	like 'm' in "mother": mano
n	like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche, ancla
ñ	like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón, piñata
p	like 'p' in "pig": perro
q	like 'q' in "quiche" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so
r, rr	Spanish has two "r" sounds which are very different form their counterparts in most languages, and certainly very different from the English. As a result most English speakers lisp their r's when they come to Spanish. However, if you use your native pronunciation it's unlikely that people understand cerro (hill) when youn meant cero (zero), and they may not understand you at all Single flap r (ere): Always written "r", and never occurs at the beginning of the word, this sound is created by putting the tip of the tongue up against where the front of the roof of the mouth meets the upper teeth, very similar to the action English speakers make to pronounce l or t. This is not widely taught but can be practiced by anyone. Particular care should be taken when r appears after a consonant, eg in the word otro (other). tr is a particular sound in English, which if you use in Spanish will be an incomprehensible list. One must separate the two sounds out, as in wha(t) (r) rubbish, clicking the r properly Rolled r (erre)  Written "r" at the beginning of the word, or after "l", "n", or "s" (ropa, enredo). Written "rr" between vowels (cerro). It's a multiply vibrating sound. Whereas all English can learn to tap out a single r it seems that many adult non-Spanish speakers simply do not have the ability to vibrate the tongue in the way needed to pronounce rr
s	like 'ss' in "hiss": sopa
t	like 't' in "top": tapa
v	like 'b' in "bed": vaca, pronounced BAH-kah
w	like 'w' in "weight" in English words, whisky (pronounced WEESS-kee). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words
x	like 'x' in "sex" (sexo). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word (xilófono). Like 'ch' in "loch" in the words México, mexicano, Oaxaca, and oaxaqueño
y	like 'y' in "yes": payaso. Like 'y' in "boy": hoy
z	like 's' in "supper" (Latin America), like 'th' in "thin" (Spain): zorro. See c above