a little lesson in Italian

Thursday, July 12, 2012

My dad speaks Spanish fluently, and I took 3 years of it in high school...so I grew up pronouncing any language that wasn't English the way I would pronounce Spanish..  When I went to Italy, I was pronouncing things so completely wrong.  It was very sad.

Well, happy news!  I learned a thing or two when I was abroad. (amazing.)  Here's a little lesson in pronouncing things the correct way!

c or cc: ch sound  fettuccine fet-tuh-chee-nee.  Cipro cheap-row
ch: k sound Michele mi-kay-lay
sc: sh sound. uscita (which means exit)  oo-shee-tuh
gn: ñ sound.  lasagna luh-zah-nyuh.  spagna spah-nyuh

other tricky words:

gnocchi: nyoh-key
cinque: cheen-kway

and one of my favorite words:
gelato!  jell-ah-toe

1 comment:

Sharon said...

About the Italian c:

With c, you have to look at what follows it. If it is -ci or -ce, you say it like an English "ch" (ciao, cielo, Gucci, centrale, Cenerentola, bocce, luce).

If it is -ca or -co then it is the "k" sound (vacanza, Lucca, parco, collega). More potentially confusing is that the Italian "ch" is pronounced like an English "k" (chiaro). And ask me how to say "psicologo" sometime.

You can hear both c sounds in the Italian for chocolate: cioccolato = "cho-ko-lah-to." But you already knew that one, didn't you? ; )






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