# Ignoratio est felicitas [pronunciation]



## RCLB

Salve!

I talked to two experts in Latin online and I asked them to translate "ignorance is bliss" into Latin. I really like this saying in English, it says a lot to me. Anyway, among some translations I chose " Ignoratio est felicitas". Ok but the problem is I don't know how to exactly pronounce this sentence in Latin.  Can you help me with that?

Gratias vobis ago.


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## Agró

[igno'ratjo est fe'likitas]


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## Fred_C

The pronunciation of Latin varies from country to country, and according to the language in which you will use the latin quote.
I am afraid you cannot post a question in English, and expect the response given by a Spaniard to be usable in Portuguese in Brazil.


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## machadinho

I'm Brazilian, and Agró's transcription seems pretty accurate to me, except for r [ɾ] in ignoratio.
And I'm not sure about est. Isn't it [ɛst] ?

This is how I would say it:
[igno'ɾatjo ɛst fe'likitas]

I was wondering if Latin pronunciation really varies from country to country, or if generally we aren't taught how to pronounce Latin at all.
How would you pronounce that in France?


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## fdb

I see that both respondents fail to make any distinction between long and short vowels. Also: in classical Latin, at least, ignoratio has 5 syllables, not 4. On the other hand, whether short /e/ was an open or a closed vowel is difficult to say precisely; from a phonological point of view it actually makes no difference. The pronunciation of the Ciceronian period is thus probably: /i:gno:'ra:tio est fe:'li:kita:s/.


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## machadinho

Right, thanks. I thought vowel length was noted in poetry only.


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## fdb

Vowel length is not noted (that is: not indicated in writing) in any form of Latin, but it is phonologically relevant. It makes the difference between nominative /fe:mina/ and ablative /fe:mina:/, for example.


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## machadinho

I see, thanks!


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## Fred_C

The rules of pronunciation vary from country to country, because latin  teachers are not foreign language teachers, and they do not care about  foreign phonology at all. (some even do not know what it is).
They  agree to learn a particular pronunciation for latin, but unconsciously  eliminate everything from it that do not fall into the phonology of  their own language.
That is why Agró did not care about the  difference between [ɛ] and [e], (because this difference does not exist  in Spanish, and most spanish speakers aren’t even able to notice it when  they hear it) and why the French would pronounce it [ignɔra'tjo ɛst  feliki'tas], wrongly moving the stress to the last syllable, because in  French phonetics, the stress rigidly always falls on the end.
In France, even latin teachers ignore that stress is an important feature of Latin pronunciation.


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## machadinho

D'accord, mais on peut quand même poser des questions concernant la pronunciation du latin.
Pourquoi pas [*iɲɔ*ra'tjo] en latin-français? Ce n'est pas évident.


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## Fred_C

machadinho said:


> D'accord, mais on peut quand même poser des questions concernant la pronunciation du latin.
> Pourquoi pas [*iɲɔ*ra'tjo] en latin-français? Ce n'est pas évident.



Você tem razão, é uma boa pergunta.
Na realidade, existem duas maneiras pronunciar Latina em francês (e em Inglês)
A maneira "assimilada", usada para palavras individuais ou pequenas citações, onde se diz [iɲɔra'tjo], e a maneira "erudita", usada para a leitura dos textos, onde se pronuncia [ignɔratjo].
só a forma erudita quer ser universal, mas não conseguiu ser.


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## fdb

Of course, every European country has its traditional way to read Latin. But it is possible to attempt to reconstruct the pronunciation of Latin in ancient times. This was the purpose of my contribution to this thread.


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