Well in plain german the r is spoken of course. The h is silent in any case.
So it either is “Farnholz” in plain german or “Fanhoiz” in dialect. In the letter case you can also include the r with a roll of the tongue, but no one in my family ever did that.
Some pro-tips for pronouncing italian vowels: E and I…
Pro-tip N. 1:
First of all, let me say this: italian vowels are NEVER silent. Never ever.
No, wait, there’s one case… it involves the letter I. I’m sorry I’ll have to go off topic and write about a consonant.
It has to do with how we pronounce the letter C. In english it can sound like a K (cat), or like an S (center), or have its own sound (chimney).
In italian, no S-sound for the C. We have a completely different letter for that sound, it’s called S.
Anyway, italian C sounds like in “cat” when it’s followed by:
A
O
U
Any consonant, including H
C sounds like in “chimney” when followed by:
I
E
Always.
So, what if I want to write the sound of “CHArly”?
That sound is written “cia”. THIS is the only case in which an italian VOWEL is silent. Example: Ciao!
Conversely, if I want to write the sound of the C as in “KErosene” or “KEEn”, I’ll write “che” and “chi”.
The H obviously is silent.
And, guess what? That is the only case in which an italian CONSONANT is silent.
Pro-tip N.2:
E can be pronunciated, as I explained, in just two ways: The IPA sounds “e” and “ɛ”.
But here comes the difficult for italians! There is absolutely no fixed rule about when use the one and when the other. It depends on the specific word. If you are uncertain, you have to consult a dictionary.
That’s particularly important for actors, who have to learn the correct pronunciation of every word.
BTW: we are trying to make the TWP dub sticking to these rules.
Anyway, for example, in my full name, Emanuele, we can meet both sounds: the correct pronunciation of the E’s is:
eMANUɛLe
But what is difficult for italians, shouldn’t bother stranger people: since the majority of italians, to more or less extent, mess up with this, you -as a stranger- are surely NOT required to stick precisely to the dictionary rules!
In my region, for example, every body say “eMANUeLe”.
So don’t worry. Just remember to use ONLY, for the letter E, one of these two sounds: either “e”, or “ɛ”
Ok, said that, here is my comment about your tries!
@tasse-tee
adorable voice. Anyway, all the three of your tries are fine. Well, the first and the second are fine: excellent A, fairly good E, but it feels slightly english… While the third try (the one which is in interrogative form) is PERFECT. Out of the contest, nobody could suspect you’re not italian. congrats.
@milanfahrnholz
the A is perfect. the E is acceptable… i mean: the correct sound should be “e”. You used “ɛ”, which is acceptable. Even some italians (especially from the southern regions) could say it like that.
What is wrong is the M, but you are excused, since I haven’t explained consonants.
your attempt sounded like ɛm-ma, which is the italian pronunciation of the female name Emma.
Anyway, even if the english name of my town is Milàn (stress on A), I’ve always imagined your name as Mìlan
(stress on I), like the soccer team.
Nevertheless, I’d have said, too, like Zak, that your surname sounded Farn-hole-tz.
So I’d have some issues with that. I could make an attempt, if you’ll send me a sample.
@Frenzie
I’m sorry, I can’t open your file. Try to upload again, please.
No, sorry, I haven’t been clear. There are no STRICT rules, but just some general indications. But there’s plenty of exceptions. The most common words are well known by the majority of italians, but some are quite more obscure.
Oh, was it thanks to you?
It seems like discourse does’t want to count Katie’s clicks.
Oh, wait a minute…
Now that I think of it… if send winks and smacks to a girl and a man answers, that could lead to some awkward moments… I’ll have to be careful!