This Is Italy
Italian pronunciation difficult? No, of course you pronounce those Italian words well. But not all those others and you have to secretly laugh about that. Anyway. These are the common words where quite a lot Dutch e Belgian have a hard time with.
Just take a look.
Garden Slippers
Ciabatta is an Italian type of bread. An airy, flat, rectangular bread with a crispy crust. The ciabatta originates from the region around Como. The bread was made from leftover dough, which was made flexible again with water. Then it was baked in long strips on the oven floor.
This is how you pronounce it:
Chaa-bat-taa (note the ch sound)
Not:
Sie-ja-bat-taa
Prosciutto
Prosciutto is an Italian cured ham that is usually cut into thin slices and served uncooked; this style becomes ham called in Italian and distinct from cooked ham; baked ham.
This is how you pronounce it:
Proo-sjoet-too (note the double consonant)
Not:
Pro-skoet-too or pro-sjut-to
Bruschetta
Bruschetta is a dish that originated in central Italy. It consists of grilled bread, rubbed with garlic and sprinkled with extra virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. You can vary the toppings with red pepper, tomato, sausage, vegetables and/or cheese.
This is how you pronounce it:
Broes-ket-ta (note the k sound and the double t, stress on the second syllable)
Not:
broe-sjet-ta
Gnocchi
Gnocchi is an Italian pasta type. The word gnocchi, plural of the Italian gnocco, means 'lump'. The Asian variants are often referred to with the English word 'dumpling', the Dutch variant is dumpling. Gnocchi are mainly known in the potato variant: the so-called potato gnocchi.
Difficult to pronounce for Dutch speakers.
This is how you pronounce it:
njokkie
Not:
Gnokkie or gnotsjie
Espresso
You don't pronounce Italian coffee the French way. It is no café maar coffee. Note the accent line. If you in Italy a caffè bestelt, you automatically mean an espresso.
This is how you pronounce it:
Kaffeh (with an è instead of an ee)
Not:
Coffee
Espresso
Espresso is a small cup of coffee resulting from hot water being pressed through a small amount of finely ground coffee under high pressure.
This is how you pronounce it:
Espresso (with an s, so very easy)
Not:
Expresso (not with an x)
Latte macchiato
A latte macchiato is a coffee preparation which consists of layers of milk and espresso. Latte means milk and macchiato means spotted. What happens when espresso is added to the latte properly is a stain in the milk. Sometimes caramel is added.
This is how you pronounce it:
Latte makkiato (note the double k)
Not:
latte masjie-ato
Le Marche
Le Marche is a region in central Italy on the Adriatic Sea. The region borders to the north Emilia Romagna and Lombardy and the republic San Marino, to the west to Tuscany and Umbria, to the southwest to Lazio and in the south to the Abruzzo.
In Dutch, this region is called De Marken and you can already deduce the correct pronunciation from that.
This is how you pronounce it:
Le Marke
Not:
Le Marsje (you might do that in French)
thank you
It simply means 'thank you', but the pronunciation is not so easy for many.
This is how you pronounce it:
Kraa-tsie-e (start with the gh of ghetto, notice the e at the end)
Not:
Graat-tsie or Kraa-tsie
Cappuccino
Cappuccino is a Italian coffee, originally from Vienna. The coffee consists of equal parts milk foam, milk and espresso. Sometimes some cocoa powder or cinnamon is also sprinkled on top, although this is not done in professional circles, because the powder makes the foam disappear faster.
This Italian word is usually not so much mispronounced, but often misspelled.
This is how you write it:
Cappuccino (with double p and double c and you pronounce that too)
Not
Capucino, cappucino, cappuchino or whatever other variants I see passing by.
Lamborghini
An Italian luxury sports car manufacturer owned by Audi. Lamborghini's factory and headquarters are located in Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italy.
Not that you'll ever be able to afford such a luxury sports car, but still.
This is how you pronounce it:
Lam-bor-kie-nie (pronounced with the gh as in ghetto)
Not:
Lamb-bor-sjie-nie
Mozzarella for künefe dessert
Mozzarella is a collective name for two types of fresh cheese. The originally Italian mozzarella is the mozzarella di bufala, made from the milk of the water buffalo. Later they also started making mozzarella from cow's milk.
This is how you pronounce it:
Mot-za-rel-la (note the t sound and the a sound, just like in pizza)
Not:
moz-ze-rel-la
Puglia
Apulia (Italian: Puglia) is a region of southeastern Italy, northwest of and including the heel of the Boot of Italy, located on the Adriatic and Ionian Seas about 80 kilometers off the coast of Albania. Apulia is the easternmost region of Italy. The capital is Bari.
This is how you pronounce it:
poel-ja
Not:
Poe-kli-a or poe-li-a
More Italian words with difficult pronunciation?
Looking for more Italian words that are difficult to pronounce? Here you will find again 10 x mispronounced foods (with single double).
Finally, just to clarify: in every language people pronounce words differently. Of course, Italians also have trouble with Dutch words. So don't worry too much if you pronounce 'spaghetti' as 'spa-gettie'. May you know yourself.
Only: it can get embarrassing when mispronounced Italian words next mean something completely different!
Do you know any more 'tricky' Italian words? Then leave your comment below!
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