Tips Vocabulary Grammar

ITALIAN PHONETICS

What do I need to know?

Italian spelling is largely phonetic; that is, with only a few exceptions a single letter or cluster of letters represents the same sound, and each sound occurring in the language has only a single written representation.

  • Italian vowels
  • the sounds /k/, /ʧ/
  • the sounds /g/, /dʒ/
  • the sounds /r/, /l/
  • certain double consonants (/kk/, /gg/, /rr/, /ll/, //pp/, /bb/
  • the sounds /l/ and /ʎ/ (filo/figlio)
  • the sounds /n/ and /ɲ/ (nano/bagno)
  • the sounds /t/ and /d/
  • the sounds /sk/ and / ʃ/ (schiacciare/sciare)
  • the sounds /v/ and /b/
  • the sounds /f/ and /v/
  • accent within words: tonic stress and graphic accents in writing
  • intonation in questions, statements and exclamations

On site resources

Here’s a list of useful manuals you can ask the Language Centre advisors to study Phonetics:

  • Suoni, accento e intonazione
  • Giocare con la fonetica
  • The Phonetic Guide to Italian

Ear training

Beginning language learners can benefit from conversational shadowing.
Basically this means repeating a conversation word-for-word, even if you don’t know the meaning of the sentence.
This helps you get used to the rhythm and pattern of the language, as well as helping you to distinguish single words and phrases from longer chunks of spoken language.

For example, you can listen to an audio clip once and then shadow the conversation in short sections of 30 seconds, focusing on reproducing the words as accurately as possible. You’ll have to pay attention to rhythm, intonation and pacing.