It’s easy. Follow the rules — unlike English, they are simple and consistent. Unfortunately the pronunciation is sometimes quite the opposite of English, but the waiters in Da Angelo’s will always understand you.

The one that’s most confusing is the letter c

Followed with a, o, u it’s a k sound — as in casa, con, cucina

but followed by i it becomes ch — spinaci, ciao (and take a look at cucina again, which is ‘kuchina’)

and for ce — which is ch, as in Versace or dolce (sweet)

It’s the same for cc, which sounds as ch before an i — capucchino, fettucine

but is a hard k before a, o, u — as piccante (what we’d called piquant)

and sc followed by e or i reverts to a hard k — pesce (fish) as well as scusa

In other words, e facile (farchile), non?