Pronunciation of Latte?

[Miss Inquiry]

I never know the correct pronunciation of the word Latte, is it "Laa" (dragging out the a's) or "Lat" (as in Lateral, emphasising the at). As soon as I hear a few people say it one way, someone always says it another way.

[spanner7853]

lartay its pronounced

[Miss Inquiry]

Thanks Spanner.
I'm off to Costa confident now......

[Susan123]

Lartay? Where are you from??!!
Latte is the italian word for milk. It's pronounced lahtthay but sure isn't it fun to have our own pronunciations and the main thing is that they understand what you want.

[andy-hughes]

Regional pronunciations vary with this word, as with many others.

In the south, people say 'Laatay' because they pronounce their a's long - as in 'barth'.

Here in Stoke, 'e' sounds are flat, as in 'bath' so it would be 'latay'.

What ever is natural for you is fine, don;t be put off by culture (or coffee) snobs.

[Alibobs]

Stick to capuccino!

[Narolines]

In Italian the "a" is actually somewhere between the long "a" of southern England (and posh people!) and the short "a" of us speakers of real English from the Midlands and the North, and the double "t" introduces a kind of hesitation over the T-sound that's rather different fron a single "t". The "t" is also produced rather further forward in the mouth than an English "t". So strictly speaking, neither is "correct"! However, I would say that either is acceptable in English usage - doesn't bother me, as I always drink espresso. Can't understand why anyone would want to ruin good coffee by putting milk (ugh!) in it......

[dachse]

Spanner7853 is wrong - correct way is la-tay. with a short 'a'. There is no 'r' in it. The Americans have as usual corrupted the word from the original pronunciation.