In part one of this blog we looked at the vowels, a e i o u and the consonants c, g and h. Now I want to continue with some combined letter sounds, and double consonants but firstly I’d just like to clarify that all examples of English words given as a guide to correct Italian pronunciation are to be read with a standard English pronunciation as it is not possible to take into account regional variations in accent. Furthermore, as I wrote in reply to a comment on ‘La Pronuncia, part one’, there is no real substitute for listening to Italian being spoken by a native speaker, so please take every opportunity to do so. Learning to listen is a very important language acquisition skill.
So lets have a look at the combined letter sounds:
gn the letters gn are pronounced rather like ni in the English word Onion: e.g. giugno, bagno, bisogna
gli sounds similar to lli in the English word million: e.g. moglie, figlio, bottiglia
ci and gi have already been covered in part one of this blog
sc before an i or an e sounds like sh in sheep: e.g. sci, uscita, scelta
in front of a, o, u, or h however they sound like sk in skin: e.g. scarpa, scuola, scopa, scherzo
Now the double consonants:
Double consonants in Italian are more deliberately pronounced than single consonants. The vowel that comes before the double consonant is usually shortened. birra, bello, mamma, anno, faccia and occhi are just a few examples. As a simple rule of thumb you can say that the double consonant takes twice as long to pronounce, although this is not always easy as in the following examples: mappa, cappello, sabbia and gatto. In these cases it is necessary to insert a slight hesitation or pause between the vowel and the double consonant.
There are two more letters, which I’d like to explain.
The first is z which in Italian has two variations both different from the English z.
The z as in the Italian words zebra, zio and zappa sounds like a combination of the English letters d and z = dz.
The z in words containing –zione, such as stazione and colazione, and most words with double z e.g. pazzo or tazza have a softer sound, rather like a combination of the English letters t and z =tz.
Last but by no means least is that tricky little r.
r in Italian is quite difficult for English speakers although the Scots find it easier. The Italian r is rolled or ‘trilled’ by letting your tongue flutter at the front of your mouth.
So I’ll end by rolling my Italian r’s with the words grazie e arrivederci.
