This section is designed to make you familiar with the sounds of Italian using our simplified phonetic transcription. You’ll find the pronunciation ,of the Italian letters and sounds explained below, together with their "imitated"equivalents. This system is used throughout the phrase book: simply read the pronunciation as if it were English, noting any special rules below.

Italian evolved from Latin, just as French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romanian What is known as standard italian today dates back to last century, when the great Italian novelist Alessandro Manzoni (1785-1873) gave Italy a nationa language by resolving that it should basically be Tuscan Italian with a heavy contribution from the italian used in the other regions of Italy. The languagl spoken and written in Tuscany had taken precedence over the regional form！from the twelfth century to Manzoni’s times because of the political, artistig and social prominence of Florence.

Letter Approximate pronunciation

c   1) before e and i, like

     ch in chip

   2) elsewhere, like c in cat

ch   like c in cat

g   1) before e and i, likej in jet

   2) elsewhere, like g in go

gh   like g in go

gl   like Ill in million

gn   like ni in onion

h   always silent

r    trilled like a Scottish r

S    1) generally like s in sit

   2) sometimes like z in zoo

sc   1) before e and i, like sh in sh

   2) elsewhere, like sk in skin

z/zz  1) generally like ts in hits

   2) sometimes like ds

     in roads

VOWELS

a   1) short, like a in cat

   2) long, like a in father

e   1) can always be pronounced

   like ay in way, but without

   moving tongue or lips

   2) in correct speech, it is

   sometimes pronounced like

   e in get or, when long, more

   like ai in hair

i    like ee in meet

o   can always be

   pronounced like o in go

      1. like oo in foot

 2. like w in well

Symbol Example

ch   cerco   chayrko

k    conto   konto

k   che   kay

j    valigia  valeeja

g   grande  .aranday

g   ghiaccio geeaeho

ly   gli   lyee

ny   bagno  banyo

    ha    ah

r    deriva  dehreeva

s   questo  kwayto

z   viso

           veezo

sh   uscita   oosheeta

sk   scarpa  skarpa

ts   grazie  gseeay

dz   romanzo romandzo

a   gatto   gatto

aa    casa    kaasa

ay   sera   sayra

eh   bello   behllo

ee   vini    veenee 

o   sole   solay

oo   fumo   foiomo

w   buono  bwono