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Italian, like all languages, has its trickier points of pronunciation. This week, I’d like to put the spotlight on what I call the Sneaky S. It’s one of the most common mistakes I hear 
my students make, yet one of the easiest to spot and fix.
Anatomy of S in Italian –
In Italian, S often sounds like /s/ as you know it (the English S sound in smile and student). That happens when S is the first letter of a word (studente, seta, silenzio, Sicilia) or inside of a word as a double consonant, SS, in which case you have to hold the S sound for double the time (rosso, messasggio, tassista, adesso).
But sometimes, S is not an S as you know it – rather it sounds like the English letter Z (or /z/, in phonetic shorthand). And how do you recognize this phenomenon? Easy – look for what I call an ‘S vowel sandwich’ – that is to say, words containing a combination of the letter S flanked by vowels on both sides. For example: casa (one of the most commonly mispronounced – it should be /cah-zah/), mese, cosa, scusami, bisogno.
– Are you saying it correctly?? Listen to the mini podcast of this Language Nugget to hear and practice saying these words right!
Leave a comment! What’s your take on the Sneaky S? Has it ever tripped you up? Do you know any other ‘S vowel sandwich’ words? Are there other Italian pronunciation landmines you’d like me to cover? Love to hear your comments!
