Italian!
Okay! I promised Ana I'd post this AGES ago. These are actual notes from my class which I have typed up. If I've made a typo, please let me know. I've been known to copy wrongly before.
Also, files of these are available, but without the added commentary.
Basics
The key thing to remember is that every single vowel (and in almost every case every letter) is pronounced when speaking Italian. The trick is stringing together the sounds with the proper emphasis. And remember to roll those R's!
eg.
Italiano = eee-tahl-eee-ah-no ends up sounding like eeetahlyahno.
L’alfabeto Italiano
a - ah g - gee o - oh u - ooo
b - bee h - acca p - pea v - voo
c - chee i - eee q - cuz - zeta
d - dee l - eller - erre
e - ehe m - emme s - esse
f - effe n - enne t - tea
Foreign Letters/Le Lettere Straniere
Sounds/I suoni
* the only other way I can think of to give pronounciation for "ghi" is the French pronounciation of "Guy", or "McGee" (as in Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee), minus the "Mc". Hope that helps.
gn:
Um, phonetically, I'd probably spell these as "nyuh", "nyoh", and "nyeh", respectively.
Hrm, tough ones. This is one of those ones that has a slight guttural sound at the beginning, but so slight that when you're actually speaking, it disappeares.
Here's phonetics for the words above, to give you an idea of how it would sound. (minus the first one. that's the hardest word to actually peg down in this language, as far as I'm concerned. The 'g' is almost silent, so it's almost a "lee" sound only with a roll of your tongue against the roof of your mouth on the 'l' and that's pretty much it? Or, going by how I chose to phoneticise the others, and putting the 'lee' and the tongue rolling together, it sorta sounds like "lyee".)
Also, files of these are available, but without the added commentary.
Basics
The key thing to remember is that every single vowel (and in almost every case every letter) is pronounced when speaking Italian. The trick is stringing together the sounds with the proper emphasis. And remember to roll those R's!
eg.
Italiano = eee-tahl-eee-ah-no ends up sounding like eeetahlyahno.
L’alfabeto Italiano
a - ah g - gee o - oh u - ooo
b - bee h - acca p - pea v - voo
c - chee i - eee q - cuz - zeta
d - dee l - eller - erre
e - ehe m - emme s - esse
f - effe n - enne t - tea
Foreign Letters/Le Lettere Straniere
- J - eelunga
- K - cappa
- W - doppia voo
- Y - eepsilon
Sounds/I suoni
- ci - chee - soft (suono dolce)
- chi - key - hard (suono duro)
- ch - ch’ehe - soft (suono dolce)
- che - k’ehe - hard (suono duro)
- gi, ge (gee, j-ehe) - dolce;
- ghi, ghe (g’ee, g’ehe) - duri
- go, ga, goo (go, gah, goo) - duri
* the only other way I can think of to give pronounciation for "ghi" is the French pronounciation of "Guy", or "McGee" (as in Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee), minus the "Mc". Hope that helps.
gn:
- gna - montagna, lasagna
- gno - gnocchi, signore
- gne - lasagne
Um, phonetically, I'd probably spell these as "nyuh", "nyoh", and "nyeh", respectively.
- gli - gli gnocchi
- glio - foglio
- glie - moglie (wife)
- glia - sfoglia (pastry)
Hrm, tough ones. This is one of those ones that has a slight guttural sound at the beginning, but so slight that when you're actually speaking, it disappeares.
Here's phonetics for the words above, to give you an idea of how it would sound. (minus the first one. that's the hardest word to actually peg down in this language, as far as I'm concerned. The 'g' is almost silent, so it's almost a "lee" sound only with a roll of your tongue against the roof of your mouth on the 'l' and that's pretty much it? Or, going by how I chose to phoneticise the others, and putting the 'lee' and the tongue rolling together, it sorta sounds like "lyee".)
- Foh'lyoh
- moh'lyeh
- sfoh'lyah
- giá - already (jah)
- gia - biologia (gee'ah)
- gio - giocatolo (joe)
- giu - Giuseppe (jew)
- sci - sciare (she)
- qui - here (quee)
- chi - who? (key)