Pronunciation of these towns

[DeFilippis78]

Stella Cilento: is the c a hard c or is it a ch sound?

Gimigliano: are these hard g's or softs g's or a mix?


Alicia

[johnnyonthespot]

"Ci" is chee, as in cheese.

"Gi" is gee, like in jeep. The second "g" is harder to explain, and I have to say that I never liked the explanation I usually find in books which tell you to think of the "gl" as "lyuh" like in million.

Here is what I think is a better explanation for the two common G-consonant pairings, gl and gn:

First, forget about the g.

Second, pronounce the letter after the g as if it were part of the previous syllable.

Third begin the next syllalbe with a yuh sound.

So gnocchi is pronounced (roughly) en-yokie and Gimigliano is Gee-meal-yano.

Check out this great site. It will pronounce single words or short phrases (complete with punctuation if you like) and does so quite accurately, I am told.

[edited to fix Oddcast hyperlink]

[DeFilippis78]

So basically the g in the middle is silent in this case?

Alicia

[johnnyonthespot]

So basically the g in the middle is silent in this case?

Alicia

We need to be careful. As English speakers, when we think of a silent letter, we think of it as simply not existing and serving no purpose at all.

But in the case of the gl and gn pairings in Italian, alhough the g itself is not pronounced (in the English sense), it does tell you, the speaker, that you must insert that yuh sound in front of the next syllable.

Gimigliano: gee-MEAL-yano

[DeFilippis78]

I get it (I think). I think english and my knowledge of some spanish gets in the way.

Alicia

[liviomoreno]

I get it (I think). I think english and my knowledge of some spanish gets in the way.

Alicia

The sound of "GL" in Italian is similar to the sound of "LL" in Spanish.

[DeFilippis78]

Is there a L sound at all then? Because the LL in spanish is a Y sound. Like llamo is said, YAh-mo. Like that?

Alicia

[liviomoreno]

I realize that maybe the "LL" is pronounced differently in various places int he world...

[DeFilippis78]

Well I guess I have the basic idea of how the town is said now. I was totally destroying the pronunciation before thinking they were both hard g's . Thanks for your help everyone.

Alicia

[johnnyonthespot]

Is there a L sound at all then? Because the LL in spanish is a Y sound. Like llamo is said, YAh-mo. Like that?

Alicia

Yes, definitely.

The "gn" example I gave earlier is helpful as everyone (well, almost) knows how to pronounce gnocchi.

Did you try out the Oddcast Text-To-Speech site I linked to?

Another example, Campagnolo - pronounced Cam-pan-yo-lo.

Figlio/Figlia (son/daughter) - pronounced Feel-yo / Feel-ya

Or. one of my favorites, the actor who portrayed "The Hulk" on TV, Lou Ferrigno. Someone needs to tell him (not me!) his name is pronounced Fer-reen-yo and not Fer-rig-no.

[DeFilippis78]

So basically the y comes after the l or the n? Im going to take a look at that website now.

The hulk....

I noticed that son and daughter is very close to the latin translation. Neat!

Alicia

[DeFilippis78]

Carmine, that oddcast link isnt available anymore

Alicia

[johnnyonthespot]

Carmine, that oddcast link isnt available anymore

Alicia

That's odd; I use it all the time. Let's try again, Oddcast link.

[DeFilippis78]

That one works. But when I put in random words and put to say in Italian it just says the word in english with an italian accent

Alicia

[johnnyonthespot]

That one works. But when I put in random words and put to say in Italian it just says the word in english with an italian accent

Alicia

Well, I've never had that happen. What random words are you trying?