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* English phonetic convention

Italian is normally is written with only 21 letters.

The remaining letters (JKWXY) are used almost exclusively for foreign words.
And here is how they are pronounced....

J = i lunga

K = kappa

W = doppia vu

X = ics

Y = i greca or ipsilon

ITALIAN PHONETICS

THE SHORT EXPLANATION

CH is pronunced K ORCHESTRA and CHIMICA

CI + vowel is pronounced "ch" (like change) CIAO CIOccolato CIUffo

GHis pronunced G (like get) SPAGHETTI and LAMBORGHINI

GI + vowel is pronounced J (like jet) PARMIGIANO GIOvanni GIUsto

ITALIAN PHONETIC CONVENTIONS

THE LONG EXPLANATION

CONSONANT C followed by a VOWEL HAS TWO POSSIBLE SOUNDS:

"K" as in car

and "ch" as in cherry

BACK VOWELS

A O U

in Italian as well as in English, these
are called BACK VOWELS because they are pronounced in the back of the mouth

FRONT VOWELS

E I

So called FRONT VOWELS because they are pronounced in the front of the mouth.

Try

Sound "K"

CASA COLORE CUBO

ORCHESTRA CHIMICA

Notice that we have to insert H between C and E or I (front vowels)
to produce the K sound.

This is purely a convention.

Sound "ch" (cherry)

ceramica Cina

ciao, cioccolato, ciuffo

For this sound, C precedes immediately the front vowels E or I

With BACK VOWELS, we insert I between C and the vowels

This is purely a convention.

OF COURSE THIS IS CONFUSING TO ENGLISH SPEAKERS:

it would be much simpler if Italian used "H" instead of "I" to produce the CH sound with back vowels.

That at least would be symmetrical with the front vowels.

-- A --

ANOTHER WAY TO COMPARE THE PATTERNS