# How do you pronounce Colnago?



## AllezX2

Please excuse my ignorance, but I have heard Colnago pronounced many different ways. What is the correct pronunciation?


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## Argentius

I can't write IPA, but, Coal - nahh -go.

How else have ya heard it?


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## AllezX2

i haven't heard it any way. but "G" in italian is pronounced like a "Y" so it should be pronounced Coal-Nigh-Yo. Campagnolo is pronounced with a y sounding G..so why not Colnago?


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## Daddy yo yo

AllezX2 said:


> but "G" in italian is pronounced like a "Y"


sorry, dude, but that is bullsh*t! colnago is pronounced the way it is written, it's as simple as that. there's no other way of pronouncing it (Argentius was pretty much right).

campagnolo is pronounced differently as it has a _-gn-_ in it, which is pronounced just as the spanish -ñ-.


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## clm2206

COL like COLumbus
NA like NOthing
GO like aGOny


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## AllezX2

i have just learned it's supposed to be pronounced COAL-NAJ-OH...from my colleague who hails from Torino.


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## qwer

It's like clm2206, Daddy yo yo and Argentius have already said. 

I'm italian and your colleague from Torino is wrong.

In italian, G, when followed by the vocals O, A, U, is pronounced "hard", like Gone, Governement, Gator, Gun etc., i.e. it's pretty much like in english.


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## singlecross

No, no, no...

COL like COLumbus
NA like Nay (rhymes with hay)
GO like Go

Just like Tour Day France...just to piss the Euros off.

COL-NAY-GO. 

whatever...

singlecross


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## DIV

This should help: 10 second mark...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMOi-f3S2lc


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## wgscott

Kind of like _gnocchi_. Which I am told is pronounced "nookie."


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## ibericb

> Kind of like _gnocchi_. Which I am told is pronounced "nookie."



not really, well not if you pronounce "nookie" anything close to how I say it.

Try this


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## kbwh

Lost for words? Say it with ink.


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## Mapei

Or pronounce it the way I think I once heard Paul Sherwin say it -- kee ole nyay gyo (hard g).

I gotta say, too, that Italian spelling is remarkably straightforward, phonetically. After all, the Italians invented the letters...2000+ years ago.


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## wgscott

Mapei said:


> Or pronounce it the way I think I once heard Paul Sherwin say it -- kee ole nyay gyo (hard g).
> 
> I gotta say, too, that Italian spelling is remarkably straightforward, phonetically. After all, the Italians invented the letters...2000+ years ago.



They invented Roman numerals as well, but no one seems to know how to pronounce them. 

Similarly with Latin.


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## ibericb

wgscott said:


> They invented Roman numerals as well, but no one seems to know how to pronounce them.
> 
> Similarly with Latin.


One of the things that most of us 'mericans fully appreciate about our own version of the English language but completely miss in other countries are regional and local dialects. This extends to much of western Europe as well. I suspect that, depending on where you are in Italy, it will be pronounced both with a hard g and a soft g, both being correct within their local dialect.


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## wgscott

I was just going on the basis of the guy who lived next door when I was growing up. He wound up in a car trunk abandoned at O'Hare. The Chicago mob has its own regional accent.


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## .je

Sheesh, it's _2007_ already! maybe it was started as a silly gag, but what's all the discussion and disagreement about? Italian isn't new to anybody.



Argentius said:


> I can't write IPA, but, Coal - nahh -go.
> 
> How else have ya heard it?


Everybody I know who spoke village Italian, which is every person I am related to, would use the dialect, but also knows the real language. That includes people who stopped going to school at age 8, because there wasn't a way to get to the another school in some nearby town... but they'd pronounce it their way, then correct it. Remember, in those days, they didn't even have Google to pronounce it for them. 

Long ago, people would ask me how to say "thank you" in Italian, so I would tell them it was "fanculo"... but even they knew that wasn't true. What's the disagreement about?


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## GlobalGuy

Here in a 30 second video is the answer to your question. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMOi-f3S2lc

On the other hand when it comes to the US you speaking of a country where most of the folks mispronounce Porsche.


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## .je

Remember, Italian was developed by a lot of people who didn't go to school, and couldn't write. That's why it's so 'straightforward'. Non-Italians seem to have a hell of a time trying to pronounce this 'simple' language..

N.B. We're talking about the land of "brushetta" and "expresso". 

If it makes you feel any better, my wife has trouble pronouncing and even spelling her own name some times.


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## ibericb

.je said:


> ...
> 
> N.B. We're talking about the land of "bruschetta" and "expresso".


expresso? does that have something to do with speed, or quickness?

guess you made your point.


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## Pirx

AllezX2 said:


> i haven't heard it any way. but "G" in italian is pronounced like a "Y" so it should be pronounced Coal-Nigh-Yo. Campagnolo is pronounced with a y sounding G..so why not Colnago?


That's because the "gn"-combo is pronounced like an English "ny" combo. The "g" by itself is not.


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## Mapei

Not to continue to beat this dead horse, but Italian spelling is remarkably straightforward once you understand the rules. That is, of course, only truly true if you are speaking the pure argot spoken in Tuscany.


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## DIV

New link: 
https://youtu.be/2XqBjSUmBaw


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