Italian Course Beginner Series 8: The Consonants Video Lecture | Learn Italian Language: For Beginners and Travellers

hello guys welcome to another tutorial
my name is claudio and let's learn some
italian so today we are going to try the
impossible learn all the consonant
sounds amazing so what you see in front
of you is the phonemic chart we've
already had a video on the phonemic
chart and i talked to you guys the
italian bowels today what we're going to
do is forget about the vowels and learn
we're going to learn all the consonants
alright so first thing you have to know
is that you know already all these
sounds this because these are all the
sounds in the english language so we
start from the sounds in English and we
go on to the Italian sounds basically um
most of the sounds most of the consonant
sounds are the same in English and
Italian
so that makes it a lot easier for us so
first things first the the sound
thup and the do not exist in Italian so
we can just get rid of these and forget
about them the sound zsa like in casual
also doesn't exist same as here the
sound and like in sing the H the H also
doesn't exist and w window what what the
what sound and the sound okay so as you
can see as for the vowels we have less
to work with we have fewer sounds in
Italian than we have in English which is
also good news
so there's no need for me to go through
all of these because you already know
them there's an example underneath each
sound so of course these are not letters
these are sounds so this is not the
letter P this is the sound pup and this
is not the letter T is the sound tur
okay so what you may struggle with is
well it's basically all the sounds that
you don't have in English that you only
have an Italian such as the sound yeah
the sound yeah and the sound the and
also VR sound
obviously the r sound is common in both
languages but it's interpreted a lot
different so the Italian R is a lot
different from the English R and if you
don't know how to trill your tongue
don't worry there will be a video
purposely on that so the purpose of this
video today is to expose you to all the
consonant sounds make you be aware of
all the sounds in Italian and it is not
to teach you all the sounds perfectly it
takes practice to master one sound so
start practising but you don't have to
worry if you can't learn them very well
in the first week or so
ok so let's start from the first one I
will make videos specifically on each
one of these sounds but let me give you
a few tips to start practicing because
this is what we're looking for in this
video so the sound nu is basically the
sound that babies make when they
complain like Union Union and and it's
basically a an end sound like you know
but you touch the top of your mouth with
your tongue and that's going to be your
starting position
so you touch you make contact with your
tongue and you end the top of your mouth
and then you start pronouncing
pronouncing an end sound trying to put
as much emphasis as you can on it so it
becomes a something like instead of no
it becomes something like yeah yeah yeah
and this is what it's supposed to sound
like the second one is basically the
same concept but with the letter L with
the sound look instead of na so you
start with uh your tongue attached to
the top of your mouth
and then you start pronouncing look
sound try to over pronounce it of course
so instead of lo it becomes something
like yeah yeah yeah start practicing and
then the Italian Zed now everybody's
talking about the Italian are oh my god
a country my Tunga cannot make the
Italian or Spanish are well the deal is
the truth is there's also the Italian
Zed the people should talk about because
the Z is not pronounced the same as in
English so in English you say zu but the
sounds ER it also exists in Italian so
if you want to say Maserati you use
exactly the sound but an Italian you
also have another sound that sounds like
the Z so try to pronounce the sound der
like Hindu and the sound sir like in zu
all together as if they were attached as
if the D and the Z were one after the
other and you should come up with
something close to the sir and that's it
the R sound well um so many people have
tried to teach it and it's very
difficult it takes a lot of practice
some people pick it up quickly some
others don't so a few tips so I will be
teaching the r sound in another video
but I
want to give you a few tips so that you
can start practicing it first very
important thing whatever you're doing
with your mouth while practicing it make
sure that your tongue is able to float
and move because it's not that you make
the sound um okay so when the our sound
is being pronounced you don't have
complete control over what's happening
it's not like with the P sound with the
pup you basically make it yourself
it's Manuel / you position your mouth
your teeth your tongue in a certain way
and you make the sound / so far so good
so the same happens for pretty much all
the sounds the R sound is very different
because it's the airflow that will make
your tongue trill so will to some extent
it will be out of your control so make
sure that when you're practicing your
tongue is able to flow and it's not
rigid and what I do is I basically
attach the tongue to the top of my mouth
but very slightly remember that it's got
to be able to move so just make sure
that is able to move although you want
it to be uplifted a little bit and then
start blowing and wait for it to trill
if it does amazing if it doesn't wait
for the video where we will focus just
on the R sound and don't worry too much
about it because this is not the time
for you to learn it this is the time for
you to stop practicing it and for you to
be aware that it exists but it's very
advanced and don't worry if you can't
make it properly some native speakers
can't make it properly anyway so don't
worry too much about it okay guys so I
hope this video has been helpful and I
will see you in the next one keep
practicing and take care