How to pronounce Italian  - a few basics

    * Italian isn't hard to pronounce for English speakers. You need to know a few basic rules.

    * Italian ci and ce are both pronounced like the English 'chi, che'. In cia, cio, ciu the 'i' is not pronounced, so it sounds like 'cha, cho, chu'.

ciabatta
Botticelli

    * chi and che are pronounced like the hard English 'k':

Chianti
orchestra

    * gi and ge have a soft sound, like the 'j' in 'Jim'. In gia, gio, giu the 'i' is not pronounced, so it sounds like 'ja, jo, ju':

Parmigiano
Genova

    * ghi and ghe are hard, like the 'g' in 'gate':

Lamborghini
spaghetti

    * gn sounds like 'ni' in 'onion'

lasagne

    * gli sounds like 'lli' in 'million'

Modigliani
Cagliari

    * z is pronounced like a 'dz' or a 'tz'.

Venezia
grazie

    * Most double zz's have the 'tz' sound:

pizza
piazza

    * Most other z's have a 'dz' sound:

zona
Gorgonzola

    * Italian vowels are clear, distinctive and consistent.