The Letter X

The X is usually pronounced in a similar way to English (a "ks" sound) in words like taxi although because of the Spanish tendency to soften consonants when spoken at speed the X sometimes comes over as more of an "s" sound, that is, the "k" part lightens or can even disappear.

There are a few words with X which tend to throw learners of Spanish into confusion and one of these is "connexión" which is the correct spelling of the word meaning "connection". Most non-Spanish people would probably expect it to be spelt "conección" and therefore end up putting a "th" sound into it somewhere, but this is incorrect. The pronunciation is "coneksion" - in other words, a standard X sound. The same thing happens with the word "complexión". This word has the additional status of being a "false friend" or "estranged cousin" as it does not mean "complexion" as in quality of skin. "Complexión" means build, as in the shape and size of someone's body. The correct way of describing a person who is of "medium-build" is "de complexión normal". You also hear phrases like "de complexión fuerte" (well, or strongly built) "de complexión delgada" (slim built) and so on. Whenever you hear a description of a suspect criminal or escaped prisoner on the news, there is always a reference to his "complexión".

X is a common letter in the official language of the Valencian region called Valenciano. In this language the X makes the English "sh" sound - a sound incidentally that does not exist in Castilian Spanish. The commonest example is the name of the bank "Caixa" which is pronounced like "kysha". You can also see it in place names like the Valencian version of Elche, which is Elx, pronounced "elsh". Some people get confused when they see two versions of the same name on a road sign, such as Elche/Elx and Jijona/Xixona. The explanation is that during Franco's time only the Castilian version was acceptable, and was the version that appeared on maps and signs, whereas now the regional name has come into its own. We end up with a situation not dissimilar to the Welsh dual language signs.

Another interesting point to note about the X is that the symbol that represents "times" or "by" in Maths, and is "por" in Spanish. Therefore in measurements, "2 by 2" or "2 x 2" is said: "2 por 2". This is very useful when you are buying floor tiling and the like. From this use of X it has come to represent the word "por" in texting language, so that "por favor" would be written in texting as "xfa". Confusing, I know.