How to Learn Latin Pronunciation
According to the Latin Language website, Latin is an old language and was originally spoken in Latium. It was the language of the Roman Empire. Today, it is the language of the Vatican state in Italy. In this How-to Article, you will learn the proper way to pronounce vowels and consonants in the Latin language.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Pronounce proper short vowels for the Latin language. Short A is ah as in alike. Short I sounds like the i in the word hit. Short U is uh as in put. Short E is eh as in let and a short O is aw as in often.
-
2
Pronounce proper long vowels. Long E is ay as in date: me, pes and de. Long A is ah as in bother: imago and infra. Long O is oh as in hope. Some examples are: non, mons, pro. Long I is ee as in seen for example qui and risus. Long U is oo as in mood such as ius.
-
-
3
Pronounce your Latin diphthongs. Examples of Latin diphthongs are: ae, au, ei, oe.
Ae is ai as in eye for example saepe. Au is ow as in chow for example causa. Ei is ay as in grey such as Pompeii and oe is oi as in toy such as poenae. -
4
Speak out loud the Latin consonants. Pronunciation for Latin consonants are: b as in boy, c as in kite, d as in doll, f as in flame, h as in hire, L as in labor, M as in make, N as in nap, pi as in put, qu as in quite, s as in sat and T as in tan.
-
5
Learn special consonant sounds. G is always a hard g as in gate. However, if combined with the the letter N such as in the Latin word agnitio, the G is silent. J or I is like y in you and V is like W in welcome.
-
6
Go online to view the International Phonetic Alphabet which is a system of phonetic notation based primarily on the Latin alphabet. You will want to choose one that compares Latin to other languages such as English, German and French (see Resources).
-
1
References
Resources
- Photo Credit book and pencil 2 image by DLeonis from Fotolia.com
