The "a" sound in Spanish always stays the same, no matter which other letters you surround it with. Imagine the English word "far", and you are very close to the actual Spanish pronounciation (you will never find the "a" from the English word "late" in Spanish).

	description (pirate):
	description (landlubber):
	a (letter "a"):
	árbol (tree)
	agua (water)
	tabla (board, plank)
	plata (silver)