Italian Pronunciation

Date

June 28, 2016

Category

We’re celebrating the 20th anniversary of Gelatiamo! Founded by Maria Coassin in the heart of downtown Seattle, Gelatiamo is the art of perfect gelato and Italian pastries. Each of our recipes is skillfully developed by Maria following authentic Italian traditions, and inspired by her love of Seattle. Throughout this year we’ll feature stories, people, partners and milestones that have been a significant part of our history. Come enjoy gelato with us!

What better way to celebrate Gelatiamo’s 20th Anniversary than to give our readers a primer on Italian pronunciation? First, a little background on the language: The Italian language is a Romance language with around 65 million speakers worldwide. It is the national, or de facto, national language of Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, Switzerland, and areas of Slovenia and Croatia. Although many of its citizens communicate in regional dialects of Italian, standard Italian is the only written version.

The Italian language has a reputation of being a passionate language. Watch any Italian movie and listen as the words roll beautifully off the tongue. Every conversation seems like a passionate one, especially when hand gestures are added (which is often). For native English speakers, pronouncing Italian words can be a struggle. And even though Italian is a phonetic language (meaning most words are pronounced as they are written), enunciation and knowing where to stress each word can be tricky. As a general rule, Italian words are stressed on the next-to-last syllable. It’s learning which words are the exception that takes practice and memorization.

One way to practice is by visiting our store. We welcome anyone to order in Italian and even place Italian words on our flavor cards to provide a little practice. The following list includes the phonetic pronunciation of select flavors and pastries to help you order the next time you visit. So grab a friend and have fun pronouncing!

[TIP: stress the part of the word in all caps.]