Phonetically Speaking…

The Italian language is truly beautiful; it has few harsh sounds, guttural utterances, or speech that sounds like you are constantly clearing your throat. While one can hardly glean enough information about the language from a single web-site, there are a few basics that help with pronunciation.

The clue is knowing the pronunciation of the individual letters. Each letter, save a few, follow very simple rules. For example: the “E” is never silent. Think of the few Italian words you may know: pizza, spaghetti, Chianti, ricotta, casino, amore, che sera’ sera’. Even ‘architecture’ follows an Italian rule.

Here is a phonetic guide to the Italian alphabet:

A: ah (soft a, as in father)
B: bi (bee)
C: ci (chi--as in CHIhuahua)
D: di
E: e (as in cent) NOTE: the e is open or closed; pronounced softer at the end of a word, harder inside a word
F: effe (as in giraFFe)
G: gi (Giraffe)
H: acca
I: e (as in Easy)
L: elle (as in the name Ella)
M: emme (as in the name Emma)
N: enne (combination: ex: IN-A hole)
O: oh
P: pi (like the name: oPIe)
Q: qu (pronounced coo)
R: erre (as in ERA; the Italian ‘r’ rolls around; pop culture ex: “R-rr-ruffles have r-rr-ridges”)
S: esse (as in mESS-ah)
T: ti (tea)
U: u (as in ewe)
V: vu (vew)
Z: zeta (zEHta)

You may read through this and think: something’s missing; notibly, letters K, W, X, and Y. Such letters are not present in native Italian words; however, they can make an appearance as integrated foreign words.

On to some basic rules; please note, I do not cover ALL rules for Italian. Here are some American combinations, followed by the Italian equivalent:

PH: F telephone-telefono
AC: Z action--azione
X: S example-esempio
CT: TT doctor-dottore
TI: ZI decoration-decorazione

Some tips you already know, but never realized:

ZZ is pronounced with a hard T; piZZa. example: AreZZo (Ah-rhe-T-zo)--name of a Tuscan town. MeZZo (meh-T-zo)--half
The word architecture--notice the CH sounds like a K. example: Chi ’e? (Key eh?) Who is he? CHianti (key-ahn-tee)
The GH in spaGHetti sounds like a solid G (as in gave) example: Ghatto (Got-to)--cat

To cover all bases, I suggest purchasing an Italian combination book/tape (or CD). Certain rules I’ve omitted; you have to hear it before understanding. Some are not equivalent to English sounds; for instance, the gn in gnocchi (a type of pasta), or the gli in voglio (I want). Check out the foreign film section in the video store; I suggest La Vita E’ Bella (Life is Beautiful). Listening to the language along with subtitles can help, when supplemented with Italian tapes or classes.

Just remember to practice your letters out loud: using the phonetic alphabet above, sound out this phrase: Buona fortuna! (Good luck!)