Instructions: Compared to the French, Italians are exceedingly forgiving when it comes to the mangling of their language. And in fact Italian isnt that hard to pronounce. But you can improve your Italian immeasurably by remembering that both che and chi are hard, K sounds. You dont call Chianti she-ANT-y, do you?

o bruschetta: brew-SKET-uh
This simple dish of toast rubbed with garlic and anointed with olive oil (and usually topped with tomatoes) is doubtless the most mispronounced word on any Italian menu. Your waiter may well have gotten it wrong.

o radicchio: ruh-DEEK-yo
This crisp, red-leafed chicory brings up another rule of Italian: the io at the end of a word is one, not two syllables: yo.

o maraschino: ma-ruh-SKEE-no
It has become standard English to call the thoroughly denatured cherries that adorn your Shirley Temple ma-ruh-SHEE-noes, but we thought youd like to know the truth.

o ceci: CHEH-chee
The lowly chickpea offers an object lesson in pronunciation: Without an h after the c, ce and ci are pronounced like the ch in chair.

Its not a matter of pronunciation per se, but a number of Italian food words seem only to have reached these shores in the plural.

o biscotti: bees-COHT-ee
Biscotti are first baked as a single loaf, then sliced and baked again to achieve their distinctive crispness. Bis means twice, and cotto means cooked, so a biscotto is a twice-cooked cookie. If you cant bring yourself to ask for one biscotto, please, consider asking for one of those biscotti.
o cannoli: can-NOHL-ee
Again, unless youre prepared for a substantial dessert, you want to order one cannolo.

o gnocchi: NYOH-kee
Its unlikely that youll ever have the opportunity to order one gnocco

(NYOH-ko), but now youd know what to call it.

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