Pronunciation Aids

A

is pronounced as ah  as in father, never as in can

E

is pronounced as eh as in red  or met, never as in ray unless closed by a consonant sound (but never a diphthong)

I

is always pronounced as ee as in feet, never as in it

O

is pronounced as aw as in for, never as in go with diphthong

U

is pronounced as oo as in soon, never yoo as in music or uh as in custom

Y

is treated as an I in Latin

AE and OE

are pronounced as eh as in caelum (CHEH-loom)

C before e, ae, oe, i, and y

is pronounced like ch in church

CC before the same vowels

is pronounced as T-ch (ecce - ET-che)

SC before the same vowels

is pronounced like SH in shed

C except for the above cases, C

is always pronounced like the English K

CH

is always pronounced like K

G before e, ae, oe, i, y

is soft as in generous

GN

has the sound of NY as in the Italian word Signor or Spanish Señor

G at times other than the above

is hard, as in God

H

is pronounced K in two words — nihil (nee-keel) and mihi (mee-kee).  In all other cases H is silent or used to "harden" C or G

J, often written I,

is treated as Y

R

slightly rolled

S

Pronounced as a combination of S and Z when it comes between vowels, otherwise it is pronounced S

TI before a vowel, and following any letter except S, X, T

is pronounced as tsee (Gratia - GRAH-tsee-ah)

TH

always simply T

X

pronounced KS

XC before e, ae, oe, i, y

is like KSH (Excelsis - ek-SHELL-sees)

Z

pronounced dz