A common mistake related to the pronounciation of the letter S in Italian

In this video I'm going to talk about a mistake that is very often made by those who learnt Italian as a foreign language. This error is related to the pronunciation of the letter S.

If you are not a native speaker of Italian, but learned Italian as a foreign language, in all likelihood you make this mistake, but you don't know it's a mistake.

This error in pronunciation is subtle and systematic, meaning that many people make this mistake not because they can't smoothly pronounce specific letter sequences, but because they assume that certain sequences should be pronounced in a specific way.

So the issue is not that pronounciation is not identical to that of native speakers, the issue lies in pronouncing a sound when in fact you should pronounce a different sound.

That is, in certain sequences, the letter, the character S should be pronounced as /S/, whereas in other sequences it should be pronounced as /Z/.

And in this video I'm going to talk about four sequences that are mispronounced by many people.

Let me repeat: the issue is not that some people can't pronounce specific sequences perfectly, the issue lies in pronouncing /S/ when in fact you should pronounce /Z/.

Chances are, you also make this mistake, but you don't know that it's a mistake. Like I said, this error is very subtle and very difficult to spot; if you watch this video until the very end, though, you will be able to improve your Italian pronounciation right away.

According to some gurus who make videos on how to learn Italian, on the most effective methods to learn Italian etc. etc., it is wrong to correct errors, because errors will eventually self-correct.

That is, in their opinion, if someone wishes to learn Italian well, they should just watch hundreds and thousands of tv serials, of (quotation) "authentic" materials, and then all errors in pronounciation will magically "correct themselves".

In actual fact, in this case I can assure you that there are people who, for instance, have lived in Italy for 20 to 30 years and keep repeating this mistake, precisely because they don't know that it's a mistake.

Contrary to what is claimed by some gurus on the Internet, some errors won't self-correct, it is necessary that an individual notices that they are making a mistake.

Anyways, well, I'm Luca and I welcome you to my channel. Welcome!

If you wish to learn Italian well, please consider subscribing and turning notifications on, because on this channel I regularly publish lessons about various topics related to the Italian language, including the most common errors in Italian.

That being said, let's move to our error!

Like I said, this error is related to the pronunciation of the letter S. More specifically, this error is related to the pronunciation of 4 consonant clusters: S + L, S + R, S + M, S + N.

Let's start from the first sequence, namely S + L!

Many learners of Italian say /slacciare la cintura/. So they pronounce an unvoiced S. The sound of such unvoiced S is similar to the S-sound in the word "sono".

Thus, many non-native speakers say /slacciare la cintura/. That is, you can clearly hear two separate sounds: the sound /S/ and next the sound /L/: /slacciare/.

Another example could be: "Mi si sono slacciate le scarpe". Again, you can clearly hear the sound /S/ and next /L/: slacciate.

The problem is that these words shouldn'tbe pronounced like that, but should be pronounced as follows: /zlacciare la cintura/ and /mi si sono zlacciate le scarpe/.

So in this case the sound of the letter S is more similar to the sound of the intervocalic S which can be found in a word such as "rosa", so it should be /Z/ and not /S/.

Can you hear the difference? Slacciare vs. zlacciare. Similarly, /slacciate/ vs. /zlacciate/.

For example, we have the verb "slegare". E.g. "Il prigioniero è stato slegato". "Slegare" is the opposite of "legare" and essentially means that first the prisoner had been bound with something, and then the things used to bind them were removed.

So, the pronunciation is /zlegare/, "l'hanno zlegato, è stato zlegato". There's a sound similar to that of the intervocalic S that can be found in words such as "rosa", "riso". It is a Z-sound - not a S-sound.

Where does the error lie? Many people essentially pronounce two distinct sounds, that is, the sound /S/ and then the sound /L/, and say /slegato/, /slegare/ and so on. Well, you see my point!

I'll give you another example: "Ho comprato una slitta".

I don't know if you know what "slitta" means. Well, anyways, here I'll add a picture. This word should be pronounced like so: /zlitta/. It shouldn't be pronounced like /slitta/.

Many people pronounce this word incorrectly and say /slitta/.

Next, well, we have the verb "slittare". Again, we say /zlittare/, not /slittare/.

Another example could be the verb "slogare". Can you hear the difference between /zlogare/ and /slogare/? In Italian the correct pronunciation is zlogare.

This error is very, very, very often made by Americans, English and Anglophones in general, and conversely we Italians tend to make the opposite mistake when we speak English. For instance, 90% of Italians would say /zlaid/ - not /slaid/.

If you will, this fact somehow confirms such unwritten rule according to which S followed by L should be pronounced as Z. For example, in Italian we say: /zlovakkia/, /zlovenia/, /izlanda/, /ozlo/, /lingue slave/.

As you can see, in all these words we have the sequence S + L which is pronounced with a voiced S which is similar to that found in the words "rosa" and "riso".

Anyway, the same applies to the sequence S + R.

Let's do an example right off the bat!

"Giovanni vive in modo sregolato".

What does "in modo sregolato" mean? With no rules.

As you can see, I said /in modo zregolato/ and not /in modo sregolato/. Again, the pronounciation of the letter S is similar to that of the intervocalic S.

Similarly, we say /zrotolare/ and not /srotolare/.

I don't know if you know the verb "srotolare". What does "srotolare" mean? Here I have an elastic band, "l'ho arrotolato". Meaning that I have rolled it up. "Srotolarlo" means doing this. L'ho srotolato.

Another example could be "srotolare una pergamena". For instance, let's pretend that this one were a scroll. So la pergamena è arrotolata. La pergamena è stata arrotolata. If I do this, la srotolo.

Anyway, apart from meaning, it's important to understand that you should say /zrotolare/ and not /srotolare/.

Another example could be: "Dovresti sradicare le cattive abitudini dalla tua vita".

What does "sradicare" mean? It essentially means pulling out, pulling out the roots as well. It is typically used in reference to trees. If a tree is "sradicato", it means that it is pulled down and also its roots are removed, that is, pulled out. The verb "sradicare" is related to the word "radice". "Sradicare" means removing something completely.

Anyway, this is not the main point. The main point is that I say /zradicare/ I don't say /sradicare/.

The third sequence to which this applies is the sequence S + M.

For example: "La polizia ha smascherato la sua truffa".

As you can see, I said /a zmaskerato/, I didn't say /a smaskerato/

What does "smascherare" mean? It means taking off a mask. This is the literal meaning. In particular, the phrase "ha smascherato la sua truffa" means that the police have found out his fraud and shown everybody that it was a fraud.

Another example could be: "Non devi sminuire i risultati degli altri".

As you can see, I say /zminuire/, I don't say /sminuire/.

What does "sminuire i risultati" mean? If essentially means saying that those are not great results, such results are insignificant.

The last sequence I wanted to discuss is the sequence S + N.

Let's do an example right off the bat!

"Questa cosa è davvero snervante".

As you can see, I said /znervante/. Also because I can't say /snervante/. Or rather, in theory I could say that, but it's undoubtedly easier to say /znervante/.

What does "Questa cosa è snervante" mean? This thing makes me lose my temper, it's annoying.

Another example could be: "Hanno completamente snaturato il progetto".

What does "snaturare" mean? It means turning something upside-down, changing the essence of something, that is, changing something to such an extent that it's not the same thing anymore.

As you can see, I pronounce it /znaturato/ and not /snaturato/.

Another example could be: "Si è messo a snocciolare tutti i verbi pronominali".

"Snocciolare" means listing, enumerating.

Again, /znocciolare/ - not /snocciolare/.

Well, I'd really like to know if you made this mistake and what you think about this video. So please leave a comment and let me know what's your take on it.

In the top corner I'll add a card to a video you might wanna watch, if you truly want to speak Italian naturally. Check it out!

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