Do you ever have trouble spelling things or pronouncing letters? Spell the alphabet with our online tool and api. The nato phonetic alphabet is a spelling alphabet, a set of words used instead of letters in oral communication (i.e. The letter W isn’t technically in the Italian language, and when it’s said aloud it’s rather long – “doppia voo.” So imagine the collective groan in Italy when it turned out that every single web address had to start with “Instead of saying, “doppia voo doppia voo doppia voo” they simply say “voo voo voo.I printed this page, cut out the table containing the nato phonetic alphabet (below), and taped it to . More Language Nerdery: W in the Internet Age “Parla lentamente, per favore.” – Please speak slowly.“Io non parlo Italiano molto bene.” – I don’t speak Italian very well.Super-Handy Bonus Phrases for Talking on the Phone If you say “yogurt” or “Washington” to an Italian the same way you do in English, they may not understand you. † Yes, I know, these are English words, you don’t need to know how they’re pronounced… Except that they’re pronounced slightly differently by Italians. * A “jolly” is what Italians call the “joker” in a deck of playing cards. (ee GREH | kah or EEP | see | lon / YOH | goort) † (DOHP | yah voo or vee / WAH | sheen | ton) † Below each phrase you’ll find its pronunciation, including both the letter and the word. The word in every phrase below is “come,” which means “like.” It’s pronounced KOH | meh. Also note that the five non-Italian letters can often be understood without having to use one of these prompts. If you want to substitute “Siena” or “Salerno” for “Savona,” feel free. Italians use city names whenever possible, and you’re not really limited to the ones listed below – these are just some of the most commonly used. That’s when you need the Italian spelling alphabet. Phone call in Siena || creative commons photo by Duccio MoonĮven if you’ve got this or a similar pronunciation cheat-sheet in front of you when you need to call a taxi or make reservations at a trendy restaurant, however, M still sounds an awful lot like N over the phone. Y – i greca or ipsilon (ee GREH | kah or EEP | see | lon).W – doppia v, which means “double V” (DOHP | yah voo or vee).J – i lunga, which means “long I” (ee LOON | gah).Those five letters have their own pronunciations, too: The other letters – J, K, W, X, and Y – aren’t in the Italian alphabet, although you’ll see them used all over the place in words that have been introduced from other languages or sometimes regional dialects. There are only 21 letters in it, as follows (with pronunciations in parentheses): A (ah) I’ll get to the spelling alphabet in a moment, but first you need to know the Italian alphabet itself – and yes, it’s different than the English one. Which is why there is something called the Italian spelling alphabet, or Italian phonetic alphabet. “S as in Sam,” I say, followed by, “P as in Paula.” In Italian, though, “Sam” and “Paula” won’t cut it. My last name is such that I have to spell it out over the phone all the time at home. Once you’ve managed to convince the person on the other end of the line that you really, really need them to speak more slowly, the next hurdle is one you’re probably not prepared for: Spelling. Having said all of that, sometimes travelers in Italy – including me – find it necessary to get on the phone. Some of it is physical, since Italians speak with their entire bodies, but most of it is due to just how rapidly Italians talk. It’s not even that I rely on reading lips – I’m certainly not staring at the driver’s face when I’m in the back seat of the cab.
#Spelling alphabet english telephone driver#
I will happily start a conversation with my taxi driver just to keep the linguistic gears in my brain oiled, but I will do almost anything to avoid making or receiving a phone call in Italian.
The overwhelmingly positive responses always seem out of whack with my meager attempts at speaking Italian, but it sure is a confidence boost that keeps me coming back for more.Įxcept, that is, when it comes to talking on the phone. Getting a short – but coherent – sentence out to a taxi driver or shop keeper sometimes means getting praised as if you’ve just recited Dante from memory. One of the things I love most about traveling in Italy is how gracious Italians are when you fumble through a few words of their language. Alfabeta || creative commons photo by Martin Abegglen
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