While Italian is considered an easy language for English speakers to learn, most learners face pronunciation challenges at some point, in part because English has many Italian loanwords whose pronunciation has changed to suit English rhythm.
In order to speak confidently and be understood in Italian, it is best to clear your vocabulary of these pronunciation mistakes, at least when you speak Italian! (When you speak English, keep using the English version – otherwise you may be accused of sounding pretentious!)
Here are ten Italian words that you may have mispronounced at some point during your language learning journey. Did the pronunciation of these words surprise you? Let us know in the comments section below!
Bruschetta is a classic example of an Italian word that is often mispronounced by English speakers. In English, we tend to pronounce “Bruchetta“ Pronounce the “sh” sound in Italian, Abandon actually pronunciation Skye.
A less serious mistake is the pronunciation of double “tt”, which English speakers say as a single “t” or “d” depending on their origin. In Italian, the double “tt” is pronounced very clearly.
listen to the correct pronunciation Bruschetta the following:
if Bruschetta is our number one criminal, pistachio Followed by!
In English we use spelling pistachio and pronounce ‘ch‘ as a ‘boo‘, while in Italian, ‘cch‘pronounced like hard’K‘.
listen to the correct pronunciation pistachio the following:
some english speakers pronounce calcium band with ‘ee‘pronounced at the end of a word, similar to’ee‘ exist”been“, while others do not use ‘e‘completely, pronounced’Area‘ like the English word “Area“. Unfortunately, nothing sounds right to Italian ears!
correct pronunciation calcium band It’s “cal-tso-neh” in Italian, as shown in the audio clip below.
A deadly giveaway for someone who has never learned Italian or is just starting out is their pronunciation’Thank you‘, meaning is ‘Thank you‘. Many people do not pronounce the word -final ‘e‘, turning the word into something that sounds a bit like ‘grat-zi’.
In Italian vowels are almost always pronounced individually, so you need to make sure to give equal weight to the ‘A generation‘ (sounds a bit like ‘y’ in this particular word) and ‘e‘. Listen to the audio clip below!
This is another well-known expression for Italian beginners and non-Italian speakers.Since Spanish is more popular in the United States, many North Americans believe that Please (meaning is ‘Please‘) is pronounced the same way as Spanish’Please‘.
As you can hear from the audio file below, ‘Every‘ pronounced as ‘e‘ and ‘favor‘end with a clear pronunciation’e‘.
Forgivable mistakes learners make when trying to pronounce Gnocchi Assuming the first letter of the word gn Pronounced like ‘n‘, when in reality, it’s a completely different nasal.pronounce gnfirst put your tongue behind your teeth like you do a ‘n‘, then slowly slide it back into the palate while making a nasal sound.
Another sound that is causing problems is ‘â—‹‘ Some learners pronounce it similar to the ‘o’ in English ‘poke’. It’s actually closer to the ‘aw’ in ‘paw’.
I can’t count how many times I’ve heard non-Italian people say hello in Italian Good morning as good day. I think we can safely assume French greetings Hellovery famous among English speakers, is the culprit for this mispronunciation.
In all fairness, the English pronunciation of the word Italian vegetable soup not bad. The important thing to remember is the word -final ‘e‘pronounced like, um, a’e‘, not like’ee‘ exist ‘been‘.
9. Capri Island
Because in English we have the word ‘cropped pants‘ (or simply ‘cropped pants‘), it is natural to assume that the island Capri Pronounce it the same way. The fact is that in Italian the emphasis is on the first syllable’about‘instead of the last syllable’exist‘. Listen to the audio file below!
10. Espresso
Although many English speakers do pronounce Strong coffee More or less Italian, some people tend to pronounce the “s” as an “x”, making it sound more like express. This is fine in English, but if you want to sound Italian it doesn’t fly.
Can you think of any other words that English speakers mispronounced in Italian? Let us know in the comments section below!
