This guide serves as a very brief introduction to the pronunciation of the Italian language. It is no way intended to be comprehensive.

Note on pronunciation:

• The accent ( ' ) precedes the stressed syllable
• L'albergo [al'bergo] is pronounced as alBERgo.
• Il gomito ['gomito] is pronounced as GOmito.

Vowels:

• A - sounds like a in father or o in bother
• E - has two sounds: like e in Ben or ai in hair
• I -  sounds like i in machine or ee in bee
• O - has two sounds: like o in doze or o in lost
• U - sounds like e in lewd or oo in mood

Tips:

1. Italian vowels are always articulated in a sharp, clear fashion, regardless of stress; they are never slurred or pronounced weakly.
2. Vowels (a,e,i,o,u) always retain their value in diphthongs.
3. Italian is a phonetic language, which means that it is spoken the way it is written. Italian and English share the Latin alphabet, but the sounds represented by the letters often differ considerably in the two languages.