Learn about new Italian consonants
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| Hi everyone. |
| Welcome to The Ultimate Italian Pronunciation Guide. |
| In this lesson, you'll learn 3 Italian consonant sounds. |
| dz, ʎ, ɲ |
| These consonant sounds do not appear in English, so they'll likely be new to you. |
| Be sure to practice them because these are unique sounds of Italian which learners often get wrong! |
| Are you ready? |
| Then let's get started! |
| The first consonant is... |
| dz |
| mezzo (means, way) |
| zero (zero) |
| Let's break down this consonant. |
| "(voiced alveolar sibilant affricate) This consonant sound is like a combination of a D and a Z sound. |
| It starts off as a d sound, but ends with a z sound. |
| Here's a great tip. You can produce this sound by saying the word 'dads'. |
| So one useful trick is to bounce off of the ending when trying to pronounce this consonant sound." |
| dz, dz (slowly) |
| dz, dz (slowly) |
| The next consonant is... |
| ʎ |
| maglia (mesh) |
| figlio (son) |
| Let's break down this consonant. |
| "(palatal lateral approximant) You can sometimes produce this sound by saying the English word 'million'. Try it! |
| (pause) |
| Try to think of it as pronouncing a regular English L, but instead of using the tip of your tongue, try to use the blade or the middle part of your tongue." |
| ʎ, ʎ (slowly) |
| ʎ, ʎ (slowly) |
| The final consonant for this lesson is... |
| ɲ |
| gnocco (gnocchi, a type of pasta) |
| bagno (bathroom) |
| Let's break down this consonant. |
| "(alveolo-palatal nasal) Raise your tongue so that the middle or blade of the tongue touches the roof of your mouth. |
| It kind of sounds like a combination between the n and y sounds in the English word canyon. |
| Here's a great tip. Try to think of it as pronouncing a regular English N, but instead of using the tip of your tongue, try to use the blade or the middle part of your tongue. |
| Let's take a closer look!" |
| ɲ, ɲ (slowly) |
| ɲ, ɲ (slowly) |
| Well done! You just learned 3 new Italian consonants. |
| dz, ʎ, ɲ |
| "These consonant sounds do not appear in English, so be sure to practice them! |
| In the next lesson, you'll learn 2 more Italian consonants that are unique to English speakers." |
| How difficult were they to learn? Please comment and share your thoughts. |
| See you in the next Ultimate Italian Pronunciation Guide lesson! |
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