Where does one find pronunciation, spelling, and phonetic rules in English for Italian?

Question

In English, a native speaker learns to spell based on the way words sound. Correspondingly, one learns to pronounce a word based on its spelling, using phonetics. This involves rules learned when quite young, such as "I before E, except after C, or when sounded as A, as in neighbour or weigh." and the like. Most rules are simply absorbed as we grow up and obtain more vocabulary.

However, when learning another language, particularly as an adult, it can be more difficult to pick up these "rules" and it helps if they are explicitly stated somewhere. For example, in my Italian lessons, I have learned a couple, such as the "soft" G or C when followed by I (eg: Giacomo or città).

There must be many other grammatical rules such as these English and Italian examples. Does anyone know of such a list of rules for Italian, but in English so a beginner can understand?

Answer 1

I am hoping that as I learn to read Italian, that my spelling will necessarily improve as well, since I will understand the phonetics better, and when to use all the accent marks, etc. that we do not really have in English, because I will have seen them written over and over while I am hearing them. If you can hear the words as you see them in writing, I am finding that my brain just begins 'sussing out' the rules behind the punctuation and spelling and punctuation. We are all different - but this is working for me.

1. I like "Italian in 10 minutes a day" by Bilingual Books. This is paperback book that I bought to start off with. It has English phonetic spellings of the Italian words. It is VERY basic, but I found it to be very helpful in 'reminding' me what the words should sound like. I don't think it has much grammar in it, but I am trying to learn that with different books.
2. Also, I have found that the site below has been helpful. The accent is questionable, I think (I have no reference, really, to make a judgement on the Italian accent, but I have heard the English one) but it helps me read a sentence or two and hear it at the same time, so I am gradually becoming better with the phonetics. I think (but do not know) that the examples are sentences that are actually in usage on Italian sites. http://context.reverso.net/translation/italian-english/Pronuncia
3. Also, I use Google/Translate the same way. While the translations and accent are suspect, it IS useful, and I have been building up my phonetic understanding of speaking and comprehension speed this way as well, since I can read and hear at the same time. I find that it is an easy way to learn, and my "out loud" reading is becoming more accurate.
   • On the FULL site, (not the mobile one) you can actually highlight one word out of a sentence, see alternative translations, (suggested, I guess by anyone who cares to do so), and hear one word of a phrase over and over if you wish. The information that you can glean this way is interesting, in addition to being helpful in elementary phonetics. You are presented with different information depending on whether you are translating FROM or TO Italian from the English, so I often reverse the process, just to see what happens. Once I have refined and polished a sentence, I 'star' it, which saves it to a phrase book. This phrasebook, in turn, syncs with my phone, so I can review things while I am out and about, or I can have it printed out for me as a pdf.

Here is a picture of the kind of phonetic spelling that "Italian in 10 minutes a day" has.