Some people love Italian opera but have no knowledge of Italian diction.

Allow me to offer one rule which will immediately make anyone sound like an opera aficionado.

The rule involves common operatic nouns like Don Giovanni or Giuseppe Verdi and even shows up in that chicest of all Italian words, ciao.

These are pronounced Don JOH-vanni, JOO-seppe Verdi and of course, CHAHow.

Whenever an "i" follows the letter "g" or "c" and is followed itself by another vowel, it is silent and tells us the "g" or "c" is soft.

Imagine someone saying, "I love Don Geeo-vanni".

Really? Thats funny because if you love something I would assume you know how to pronounce its name.

With Giuseppe, most people don't even try and simply call him Verdi. Just for fun, Giuseppe Verdi translates Joe Green. Not quite as elegant in English.

Giacomo Puccini gives us a great example because Giacomo contains the silent "i" rule but also has a hard "c" in -como. It is pronounced JAH-como.

It is a hard "c" because there is no "i" to tell us to make it soft. So Puccini's name is Jack.

So how do we get a hard "c" sound followed by an "i" as in "ski"?

Consider Puccini's opera Gianni Schicchi. JAH-ny Skeek-key. The "chi" is the key.

Next time you hear an opera lover get lazy and sound like they're from the Land of Dixie, gently chastise them with your basic rule of Italian diction.