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Italian pronunciation | ||
Tags: Pronunciation | Italian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| snig Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5891 days ago 71 posts - 79 votes  Studies: Italian | Message 1 of 14 04 June 2013 at 5:49pm | IP Logged | ||
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I have decided that I now want to start to learn Italian.
Italian seems to get labeled as "easy" both to learn and pronounce, I finding it not so easy to pronounce, and I'm not just referring to the trilled R. I guess what I'm looking for is a little reassurance, is Italian difficult to pronounce correctly or do I just need to give it a little more time. (any tips on rolling my Rs would also be welcomed, I've tried watching Youtube vids for the correct method but no success yet) Edited by snig on 04 June 2013 at 6:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mikonai Diglot Senior Member United States weirdnamewriting.bloRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4930 days ago 178 posts - 281 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Swahili, German | Message 2 of 14 04 June 2013 at 6:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Italian is "easy" to pronounce in that it is pretty consistent in its sounds and
emphasis. There are a few tricky bits to watch out for: Trilled R: I'm afraid I can't help much with this one: I just had to practice and practice until I got it right (my brothers making fun of me by rolling Rs at me all day helped). The gist of the sound is this: there's a "ridge" of sorts behind your teeth. Rest the tip of your tongue on that, lightly. That's where your tongue is supposed to "flap" when you make the sound. Now, I've found I can't actually start trilling from that point, so my tongue has to make sort of a "running start" at it. Start exhaling, then move your tongue into position. It's sort of like learning to whistle, though: you just have to play with it until you get it. CI and CE vs. CHI and CHE: These are kind of the opposite of what you might expect: the H in Italian keeps a set of sounds that otherwise make a "CH" sound from doing it. Similar to GI and GE vs. GHI and GHE, where in the first two G make a "J" sound like in "general". GLI: This may have been the bane of my existence, as far as pronunciation goes. I've heard this described in two ways: either as the "lli" sequence in "miLLIon" or as starting with an "L" sound and releasing it with the middle/old Englishy word "ye". The million example is more accurate, but it's very difficult to isolate that sound, since there are so few words in English with that sequence. Linguistically speaking, it's a palatal lateral approximant (or glide). That means that the main part of your tongue (maybe more toward the back of it) is up against the hard part of the roof of your mouth (not that ridge we were talking about earlier, but farther back than that). To actually make the sound, it starts there and then moves away from the palate and back into "neutral position". Wherever's comfortable. It takes some practice too. That was probably too much information. Bottom line is, although Italian may have one of the "easiest" pronunciation systems, and it's definitely a sight better than English, learning any new method of pronunciation, especially the first new method, is not an easy task. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4666 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 3 of 14 04 June 2013 at 10:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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"ci" vs "chi" and "gi" vs "ghi" aren't hard though, it's just that the writing may not
correspond to your expectations. You can find plenty of example words at forvo. For example: http://it.forvo.com/word/sciogliere/#it http://it.forvo.com/word/glielo/#it http://it.forvo.com/word/aglio/#it You don't need to go nuts with the trilling, although it probably helps if you exaggerate it to start with and then back it off a shade: http://it.forvo.com/word/rompere/#it If you have a short text you're having trouble with, you can probably get it read out to you at Rhinospike. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Sarnek Diglot Senior Member Italy Joined 4216 days ago 308 posts - 414 votes Speaks: Italian*, English Studies: German, Swedish | Message 4 of 14 04 June 2013 at 11:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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All languages are difficult to pronounce at first because the muscles of your face aren't
used to make such sounds... Once you train them (that is, with time and PATIENCE), you'll it'll get fun and easier :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| snig Groupie United Kingdom Joined 5891 days ago 71 posts - 79 votes Studies: Italian | Message 5 of 14 04 June 2013 at 11:20pm | IP Logged | ||
Good point, I never thought of that. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| vogue Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4255 days ago 109 posts - 181 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish Studies: Ukrainian | Message 6 of 14 05 June 2013 at 1:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Just my two cents, I've always thought my accent is pretty bad as I struggle with 'r's (as I've mentioned on the
forum), but since then I've been told a few times my accent is good. I attribute this less to the 'r,' as I know at least one Italian who can't even roll his 'r's, and more to the 'rhythm' of the language which is very unique for English (and in my opinion, Spanish, speakers). I think the best way to fix this is by listening, and then listening some more, and then shadowing. Also there's something to be said about open vowels, which tend to be tricky for English speakers (particularly Americans), but they affect the flow of words. As an aside; I heard a man speaking today whose voice was like a song - it was literally that lyrical - and I wanted to demand he talk to me more. Italian is just pretty. Edited by vogue on 05 June 2013 at 1:26am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4666 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 7 of 14 05 June 2013 at 9:02am | IP Logged | ||
For a while Giulio Tremonti used to be on TV quite a bit. His pronunciation of "erre" always seemed a bit distinctive to me. He's certainly not the only one, but for me at least, he's the Italian (verbal) equivalent of Jonathan "W"oss. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| garyb Triglot Senior Member ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5208 days ago 1468 posts - 2413 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, French Studies: Spanish | Message 8 of 14 05 June 2013 at 10:34am | IP Logged | ||
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I agree that while Italian pronunciation is in theory quite consistent and simple, it isn't exactly easy. The rolled R took me a lot of work and I still sometimes mess it up. And for an English speaker, it takes a big conscious effort at first to stop yourself from reducing unstressed vowels (e.g., making sure you pronounce "basta" as "bas-ta" not "bas-tuh"); also, not much of an issue for me as I'm Scottish, but English and American people need to watch out not to "dipthongise" simple vowels (e.g., the "e" in "dice", which an American might pronounce like "dicei").
The accent also isn't easy, it takes a lot of attentive listening and practice to get it right. I find that you need to control your breath in a certain way so that there's more air pushed from the diaphragm on stressed words and syllables - it's almost like singing. All that said, I would say that the bare minimum level of pronunciation for being understood is quite low in Italian, especially compared to, say, French: you can have a bad accent and get a lot of sounds wrong yet still be understood. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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