The Church says Latin the Roman way, close to Italian. These rules cover the sounds you will meet in the prayers here. (Classical Latin, taught in many schools, sounds different: c and g are always hard.)
- Vowels
- a as in father, e as in met, i as in machine, o as in or, u as in rule. Every vowel is sounded: Dei is DEH-ee.
- ae, oe
- Said like e: caeli is CHEH-lee, saecula is SEH-koo-lah.
- c
- Like ch in church before e, i, ae and oe: caeli is CHEH-lee, caelestis is cheh-LEH-stees. Hard, like k, elsewhere (culpa).
- g
- Soft, like g in gem, before e and i (Genitrix, jeh-NEE-trix); hard elsewhere (gloria).
- gn
- Like ny in canyon: regnum is REH-nyoom, agnus is AH-nyoos.
- h
- Silent (hodie, AW-dee-eh), except in mihi and nihil, where it sounds as k.
- j, or i before a vowel
- Like y in yes: Iesus (Jesus) is YEH-soos, eius is EH-yoos.
- qu
- Like kw: qui is kwee, quotidianum is kwoh-tee-dee-AH-noom.
- sc
- Like sh before e and i: descendit is deh-SHEN-deet.
- ti
- Like tsee before a vowel: gratia is GRAH-tsee-ah, tentationem is ten-tah-tsee-OH-nem.
- ch, ph, th
- ch is k (Christus), ph is f (prophetas), th is t (catholicam).
- xc
- Like ksh before e and i: excelsis is ek-SHEL-sees.