Helpful Italian Words and Phrases

I know that when you are learning a new language, it can be harder than just having the words in front of you, its also about how in heavens name you’re supposed to be able to pronounce them!

There are a lot of guides, but when you are in the store, or in the taxi and its your time to shine, you totally freeze and forget everything you studied. Been there, done that.

For me, it is useful to have an syllable by syllable guide to how each foreign word would be spelled if it were written in English.

For example: many people probably know how to pronounce the word “Uno” in Italian, but, if it were a super phonetic English word, it might look like “oo-no”.

A more complicated word would be “men”.  In Italian it is spelled “uomini” but that is a little intimidating to look at for a beginner. A super phonetic English spelling might be “woah-me-knee”. If you say these three English sounds out loud “woah”- “me” -“knee” you will have correctly pronounced the Italian word for men.

The very last thing I want to do is confuse anyone, I just want to give you a tool I find useful when I am desperately trying to learn a new language. If the super phonetic guide confuses you more, I promise I won’t be offended. At least you still have the English – Italian translations.