How to Pronouce All Things tokidoki Correctly
Thanks to Paulie for this list!
adios: ah-dee-os
andiamo: an-dee-ah-mo
angioletto: an-joe-let-o
arancia: ah-ran-chah
bambino: bam-bee-no
bambinone: bam-bee-no-në (as in never)
bella: bell-ah
buon viaggio: boo-on vee-a-joe
camo: cam-oh
caramella: car-ah-mel-a
caramellina: car-ah-melina
ciao: chow (pronounced as in owl)
ciao ciao: same as above
citta rosa: chee-táh ro-sah (with accent on the “táh” as in taco)
corriere: core-yeh-reh
cucciolo: ku-chee-oh-lo
denaro: den-are-oh
dolce: doll-chë (as in chester)
famiglia: fa-mee-lee-a
foresta: for-ës-ta ( ës as in the letter S)
gioco: gee-oh-co
inferno: in-fher-no (fher as in fertile)
l’amore: la-more-ëh / amore: ah-more-ëh
latte: lah-tëh
luna: loo-na
mamma mia: mah-mah mee-a
nuvola: noo-voh-la (noo as in noon)
paradiso: pah-rah-dee-so
pirata: pee-rah-ta
portatelefono: por-tah-tëlé-foh-no
scuola: sku-oh-lah
Simone Legno: see-mo-neh leh-gnio
spiaggia: spee-ah-jah
stellina: stel-ee-na (as in stellar)
trasporto: tras-pór-toh (por as in pork)
trenino: trë-nee-no
tutti: too-tee
vacanze: vah-can-tse
zucca: zoo-cah
July 31st, 2007 at 8:03 pm
haha! this is brilliant! =D
July 31st, 2007 at 8:34 pm
Amazing I knew some of the words even though I don’t speak italian but most of these words sound the same in spanish but spelled differently.
July 31st, 2007 at 9:19 pm
I’ve been saying dolce and pirata all wrong!
July 31st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
This is such a clever idea!
…Should ciao and ciao ciao be switched, though? Switched as in the order they’re in?
July 31st, 2007 at 9:24 pm
*Shouldn’t, not should
July 31st, 2007 at 9:39 pm
Rebekah - yes, they should. I’ll fix that - didn’t notice it when I alphabetized the list.
July 31st, 2007 at 11:03 pm
Is it really bell-ah
and not bay-yah
like it would be in spanish? the “ll” makes a “yuh” sound
August 1st, 2007 at 12:04 am
it is bell-ah, the “ll” sounds like a single L in italian, unlike spanish. and it wouldnt be “bay-yah” if it was the case anyway, but “beh-ya” if it was based in a spanish pronunciation.
August 1st, 2007 at 12:59 am
Grazie mille!
August 1st, 2007 at 11:01 am
…In Spanish, the “e”s are pronounced like “a”s.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:06 pm
ah-ëh-ee-oh-oo
thats the spanish pronunciation. spanish is my first language, being born and raised in panama.
August 1st, 2007 at 1:25 pm
yup italian is not all that hard to pronounce (at least for native english speakers…). all the vowels are pronounced, and there are very few silent sounds or awkward rules.
I went to italy last september and never spoke a word of italian before that. used a self-taught CD on and off for about a month before the trip and now I can pronounce anything toki that i see coming out!
August 1st, 2007 at 6:12 pm
The only Italian pronunciation rule that I always seem to forget is that “ci” = “chee”. And because of that, I’ve been pronouncing “citta rosa” as “sitta rosa” in my head all this time
August 1st, 2007 at 9:51 pm
Haha, I never knew citta was “chee-ta!”
August 1st, 2007 at 11:18 pm
I’m glad it’s Citta (chee-tah) because that’s what I’ve been saying but all these sales clerks have been trying to correct me. All of them that I have come across say ‘Seeta’.
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:15 am
my italian teacher pronounces all the “cio”s and “gio” like cho’s and jo’s ?_?
August 2nd, 2007 at 7:16 am
without the ee’s in the middle
August 11th, 2007 at 1:14 am
This was a really cute idea. I knew how to say most of the names because I speak Spanish, but I got tricked a couple of times by the Italian pronounciation. =P
I think maybe there should also be a list of all the Tokidoki characters!! Do they ALL have names? There’s Bastardino & Polpettina, Adios & Ciao Ciao, Sandy, Mozzarella, Gatto? … but do the rest of the cuties also have names?
Does the little smiling tiger in Foresta have a name? He’s soooooo cute!! I love him!!
September 5th, 2007 at 1:01 pm
how do you pronounce Corriere?
October 31st, 2007 at 7:55 am
How do your pronounce tokidoki haha
March 25th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
This is an EXCELLENT IDEA, but there are some mistakes… sorry
.As Giang ( Aug 2, 2007) stated, “gio” is like “joe”, gia is “jah” and never “gee-oh” or “gee-ah” regardless of someone’s italian accent. (Same of course goes for “cio” and “cia”) The “i” is this case is simply there to denote a “ch” sound as in “choh” and “chah”. (Italian is my first language). BTW for NiseBaby: Corriere is pron. core-yeh-reh. THANKS AGAIN for the list!
March 25th, 2008 at 5:24 pm
Scilla - Thank you - I attempted to edit the list accordingly (hopefully I got it right - I am not the author of this list & can’t speak Italian at all).
April 8th, 2008 at 2:56 am
Good Idea! my first language is Spanish, and I know the meaning of any item of tokidoki, because Italian seems the lenguage Spanish but the pronuntiation is so different.
seeing the list, I can pronunciate as it is writen?? Is that OK???
or is English??
for example, a–>pronuntiate ‘ei’ in English.
Thank you for the list.
April 8th, 2008 at 8:48 pm
cereza - This list was created for English speakers, so think English instead of Spanish pronunciations when using it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 9:17 pm
How would you pronounce the names of new bags like Bacio?
August 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm
gem - Good question, hopefully an Italian speaker will be able to answer for us.