<p>Yes. And sometimes, for an ironic/sarcastic vibe (not necessarily negative) and under a very informal situation, people would write 意呆利/意呆梨. As the transliteration comes mainly from English，where in the Italy the æ vowel doesn't exist in Chinese pronunciation, and 太 seems to be closer to the English word Italy.</p>
<p>And again, in formal, even the slightest sense, it is only correct and proper to use 意大利。</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-11T07:09:50.563Z
2020-09-11T07:09:50.563Z
JC J
<p>I have heard 意大利 read 意太利, as a sort of half-joke half-honest pronunciation. This is funny because some dialects do read 大 as /t‘ai/ (think: Gan, Hakka, Min Nan, etc.).</p>
<p>《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》also has an entry showing:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>大 t‘ai⁵³ (白读音) 又ta²¹³</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Some compound words with 大 can even be read /t‘ai/.</p>
<p>It dawned on me, though, that the /t‘/ pronunciation does seem to match the Western pronunciation of Italy much closer than, what we might call, the initial D sound (/t/) in 大.</p>
<p>It's true, this could be another Holmes (福尔摩斯) translation - transliteration via topolect. I haven't been able to find much information on the Chinese origin of the word Italy though.</p>
<p>Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-10T10:05:27.097Z
No.............
fefe
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-10T11:01:30.170Z
Actually the unaspirated voiceless plosive of 大 in Mandarin is closer to the original Italian (all varieties) than both the aspirated 太 in Mandarin and the aspirated "t" of most accents in English.
Michaelyus
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-10T11:47:54.743Z
A funny version is "一 大 粒"
Wayne Cheah
CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-10T14:23:15.060Z
not in Cantonese,  意太利 is not a thing
Tang Ho
<pronunciation>
Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利?
# Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-10)

I have heard 意大利 read 意太利, as a sort of half-joke half-honest pronunciation. This is funny because some dialects do read 大 as /t‘ai/ (think: Gan, Hakka, Min Nan, etc.).

《现代汉语方言音库 • 成都话音档》also has an entry showing:

> 大 t‘ai⁵³ (白读音) 又ta²¹³

Some compound words with 大 can even be read /t‘ai/.

It dawned on me, though, that the /t‘/ pronunciation does seem to match the Western pronunciation of Italy much closer than, what we might call, the initial D sound (/t/) in 大.

It's true, this could be another Holmes (福尔摩斯) translation - transliteration via topolect. I haven't been able to find much information on the Chinese origin of the word Italy though.

Does 意大利 ever get read as 意太利?

**Tags:** pronunciation

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: No.............  
> **username_2**: Actually the unaspirated voiceless plosive of 大 in Mandarin is closer to the original Italian (all varieties) than both the aspirated 太 in Mandarin and the aspirated "t" of most accents in English.  
> **username_3**: A funny version is "一 大 粒"  
> **username_4**: not in Cantonese,  意太利 is not a thing  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_5 on 2020-09-11. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

Yes. And sometimes, for an ironic/sarcastic vibe (not necessarily negative) and under a very informal situation, people would write 意呆利/意呆梨. As the transliteration comes mainly from English，where in the Italy the æ vowel doesn't exist in Chinese pronunciation, and 太 seems to be closer to the English word Italy.

And again, in formal, even the slightest sense, it is only correct and proper to use 意大利。


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