Italian Pronounciation

Italian pronuncitation is actually much easier than English when you become accustomed to it. Except for triple vowels, double consonants and rolled r’s there are not a lot of things to trip up an English speaker. The language is very phonetic, and very much “what you see is what you get.”
Letters and dipthongs always sound the same, unlike English. You have no silent p’s, h’s, e’s etc. Every letter is pronounced, which also makes learning the spelling much easier as well.

If you remember the “I Love Lucy” episode where they have a grammar teacher come to teach them and remember Ricky’s vowel pronunciation in Spanish you have a guide for your Italian. Also the pronunciation is quick and crisp, the only time Italian vowels are ever drawn out is when a person is exaggerating a word.

• a is pronounced like the a in father
• e is pronounced like the e in scent or the ai in fair
• i is pronounced like the ea in mean
• o is pronounced like the o in go or also in cost
• u is pronounced like the u in ruby

The consonants involve a little more difficulty but have much less variation than they do in English. The only word of warning is on double consonants, both letters are pronounced, this is difficult at first but after some practice, reading out loud is good for this, it will become second nature.

• The consonants b, f, m, n, and v are pronounced the same as in English.
• A c before a, o, u and before consonants has a sound similar to the English k; before e and i a sound similar to the English ch as in church; chi sounds like key
• The d is somewhat stronger than it is in English, with the tongue near the tip of the upper teeth similar to Dad
• The g before a, o, and u and before consonants has a sound like the g in good; before e and i like the g in general
• Gli is like ll in million but with a little more openness on the sides of the tongue. Gn is like the ny in canyon, try this with the work gnocchi
• H is silent, always
• The p is as in English, but without the breathiness that is sometimes heard in English
• The qu is always pronounced like the English qu in quest and the spelling rule is the same as well
• The r is different from the English r; it is pronounced with the tongue trilling directly behind the teeth and gums, the dreaded “rolled” r, like a growling tiger
• An initial S before vowels and as part of a dipthong with c, f, p, q, s, or t is pronounced like the s in sun. This is a very common sound because an s can indicate the negative, cortese vs. scortese for courteous vs. discourteous
• An s before voiced consonants (b, d, g, l, m, n, r, v) is pronounced like the s in rose, has more of a z type sound
• The t is approximately the same as in English, but is faster and has no breathiness as in pat
• The z can be similar ds in beds, or stronger as in ts in pits.

Pronunciation varies more over a shorter distance in Italy than one might be aware of and is also extremely dialactical, people will say they speak English, Italian and Sicilian for instance. The northern pronunciations and dialect are gradually taking over, but if you are especially in a smaller town in the south you will notice a lot of variance in both pronunciation and vocabulary.

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