h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey!

first of all : nice entry, it's a good thing to do! Maybe it will stop a number of people saying 'gnochee' in stead of 'nyoki' when they want to pronounce the word 'gnocchi'!

But I'm afraid I don't entirely agree on the pronounciation of the vocals... The 'a' should not be pronounced as in 'cat', in fact. I can't think of a word in English where you have the correct sound of this letter, actually. It's the same sound as it is in Dutch or in French or in Spanish. For example, think of the way the spanish people say 'hello' : 'ola'. This 'a' does not at all sound like the 'a' in 'cat'...
Also I don't agree with the pronounciation of the 'e' before a single consonant : as in 'day'. This is also not totally correct, it makes the sound much too long. If you pronounce 'ché' as 'kay', you add a sound at the end of the word.

Damn, this is so hard to explain in another language!

Please listen to native speakers, and you'll see I'm not joking! If you pronounce Italian with these vocals, you will sound exactly like an Englishman trying to talk Italian...

Anyway, I hope you're not annoyed with me picking on your entry like this...


h³

I think it is impossible to explain in English how to pronounce Italian. Firstly, English does not have the same vowel sounds, so there will be no exact equivalents. Secondly, English speakers do not all use the same vowel sounds. I've been told that the Italian is more like the a in Father than the a in cat, but where I come from, father and fawn start with the same sound while the a in cat really is the same as in Italian casa.

What I hoped to achieve in my entry was a compromise, where English-speaking people could produce something vaguely Italian rather than the mangling of words I have heard: chianti as tshigh-anty, lasagna as lah-sawn, salice as sah-leess and so on.

I've just realised that you don't go into the emphasis. I once heard someone - actually a wine dealer - talk about La Creeema Christi - instead of Láchrima Christi ... .. - can you hear the difference? Made me wince, it did.

If you used the technical 'schwa' term, that might be better. And perhaps a mention that unless there are any overruling accentuations marked, the natural stress should fall on the penultimate vowel.

Otherwise, a very good entry.

As far as I know, Italian pronunciation does not include the neutral vowel sound (schwa) even in unstressed vowels.

Oh - is that what that is supposed to be. No. Definitely not in Italian.

The wrong thing about the e vowel, is that it's definitely not 'ay'. That's how I've heard Americans trying to pronounce it. It's a much shorter vowel only with the e sound. So it would be something like the e in 'men'. For instance, you wouldn't say 'kay oray sono' when you want to say 'ke ore sono' (che ore sono), which means 'what time is it' (literally : 'how many hours are there').

So please change the entry with all the 'ay' pronounciations of 'e' to 'eh' or 'e' or anybody trying to pronounce Italian will sound like an American

And it's not totally true, that everybody in Italy can pronounce the rolling r. Or more correctly, not everybody can make more than one roll, which in fact should be adequate.

This said, I'm not at all anything closely to a native Italian speaker. I've had one year of Italian, and I'm not very good at it, but I'm pretty good when it comes to pronouncing the words even though I wouldn't sound like an italian.

The Italian 'e' is about half way between the e of men and the ay of mane. For English speakers it makes more sense to think of it as ay than as e, although neither is correct.

I might not be a native English speaker, but it's still more correct to pronounce it as eh than ay. It's not 2 vowel sounds, as ay is, so eh is more correct. Besides, you can never do it properly by just describing the sounds from an English alphabet, so the small subtle difference there is between an Italian e and the equivalent English eh is way smaller than Italian e and English ay.

Do we agree, that the 'ay' sound you are talking about is like the 'ay' in 'okay'?

Yes. The 'ay' is the long a of pain, pane, pay. Although English people pronounce it as a diphthong, it still sounds closer, to an English speaker, to the Italian 'e' than the 'e' in pen does.

So, does that mean that you would only pronounce the a part of 'ay', when you say that Italian 'e' is pronounced as English 'ay', so that the y part is not actually pronounced and that you could instead say "e is pronounced as a in day"? That would make sense, but that's not how I understood the description.

Most words end in vowels I see........ I guess you pronounce every letter.

Anyway, my Italian frind was singing ' Wattaray Bro, he is a dog, he is a dog today....' to some Italian tune. They are a musical bunch + can make anything sound good.

Ciao Baby

Wattaray

Wattaray Bro, he is a dog, he is a dog today........

Sorry, anyway Italian food + culture are great. And their team won the World Cup. Was in New York at the time + Little Italy was going mad

Yeah

Ciao

It seems I'm talking to myself on this thread.......I don't mind.

Incidentally, there are many Italian Dictors in the UK.....I believe this is a good thing, especially as there isn't enough home grown talent.

Wattaray

Hello Joyika!

Yes, I love Italian food and Italian culture too!

italian food, culture + the women........ooooooooooohhhhhhhhh bella

Wattaray

Bravo! Hai ragione e sono d'accordo con te...
Yes, you are quite right and I agree with you!

Excuse for the late reply.........yeah, hopefully am going on short break 2 Rome soon. Hi to you.

Wattaray

I don't think it really matters too much, if we are not perfect in our pronunciation of a foreign language. I reckon the 'foreigners' (to us) appreciate us trying to speak their language. Very few of us could ever hope to be perfect.

True!