~TBL~ Italian Admin
Number of posts : 25 Age : 32 Location : New York, USA Registration date : 2008-02-24
| Subject: Lesson 1 - Pronunciation Mon Feb 25, 2008 1:24 am | |
| Italian is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people, primarily in Italy. In Switzerland, Italian is one of four official languages. It is also the official language of San Marino. It is also widely spoken in Vatican City, although Latin is the official language. Standard Italian, adopted by the state after the unification of Italy, is based on Tuscan and is somewhat intermediate between Italo-Dalmatian languages of the South and Northern Italian dialects of the North.
Unlike most other Romance languages, Italian has retained the contrast between short and long consonants which existed in Latin. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive. Of the Romance languages, Italian is considered to be one of the closest resembling Latin in terms of vocabulary, though Romanian most closely preserves the noun declension system of Classical Latin, and Spanish the verb conjugation system (see Old Latin), while Sardinian is the most conservative in terms of phonology.
It is affectionately called il parlar gentile (the gentle language) by its speakers. --stolen from Wikipedia
I suppose, it's best to start with pronunciation.
VOWELS
a - as in English "far"; same/similar to the Romanian and Spanish 'a'
e - as in English "send". The two sounds of e are expressed as CLOSED e (é), and OPEN e (è). Usually these accents are not written, unless there is confusion with another word (Perchè = why. Perché = because).
i - as in English "bee".
o - as in "dog." There is also a closed (ó) and open (ò) o.
u - as in "flu" and "mood."
Others:
gli - more or less "LYEE," similar to 'll' in Spanish. However, in some words the g and l are pronounced as two separate letters.
ex.: anglicismo (Anglicanism) - ahn-glee-CHEEZ-mo coniglio (rabbit) - con-EE-lyo
gn - same as Spanish ñ; like in canyon
h is silent when occuring in the beginning as in the words "ho," "ha" and "hanno" ("I have," "it has" and "they have"), so they become "oh," "ah" and "anno." | |
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Acapella
Number of posts : 28 Age : 29 Location : Washington D.C, U.S.A Registration date : 2008-02-24
| Subject: Re: Lesson 1 - Pronunciation Mon Feb 25, 2008 7:20 am | |
| Thanks for the prononciation guide TBL . I didnt' know yu spoke Italian! | |
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MissBalan Admin
Number of posts : 96 Age : 31 Location : France Registration date : 2008-02-23
| Subject: Re: Lesson 1 - Pronunciation Mon Feb 25, 2008 8:58 am | |
| Thx ItaSista (new name for u i hope u like it ) evevn me i couldn't write that O.o | |
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~TBL~ Italian Admin
Number of posts : 25 Age : 32 Location : New York, USA Registration date : 2008-02-24
| Subject: Re: Lesson 1 - Pronunciation Tue Feb 26, 2008 2:39 am | |
| I hope it is clear Heehee I do like it ItaSis ^.^ | |
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| Subject: Re: Lesson 1 - Pronunciation | |
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