Italian For Beginners : Italian Pronunciation www.italianlessonsnyc.com HD

Italian is a phonetic language. We have five vowels: a-e-I-o-u and the five vowels are always pronounced the same way (so make sure you memorize the basic sound a e i o u). When we form diphthongs in Italian the vowels maintain the same basic sound, so all you have to do is combine the basic sounds of the vowels. For example, the word AEREO contains the diphthongs ae and eo and you need to pronounce both vowels in each diphthong. The Italian alphabet is shorter than its English counterpart A B C D E F G H I L M N O P Q R S T U V Z We are missing the J K Y W. ca co co hard sound ce ci soft sound che chi hard sound (like keratin) ga go go hard sound ge gi soft sound (think gelato) other rules of pronunciation are: gn gnocchi gli aglio (deep l sound, you won"t hear the g) sci and sce scienze pesce schi and sche (hard sound, like Skee and Skah) To learn more visit my website www.italianlessonsnyc.com