Latin regional pronunciation
, both in the classical and post-classical age, has varied across different regions and different eras. As the respective languages have undergone sound changes, the changes have often applied to the pronunciation of Latin as well.
Latin still in use today is more often pronounced according to context, rather than geography. For a century, Italianate Latin has been the official pronunciation of the Catholic Church due to the centrality of Italy and Italian, and this is the default of many singers and choirs. In the interest of Historically informed performance some singers of Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque music adopt the pronunciation of the composer's period and region. While in Western university classics departments the reconstructed classical pronunciation has been general since around 1945, in the Anglo-American legal professions the older style of academic Latin survives to this day.
The following table shows the main differences between different regions with the International Phonetic Alphabet. This is far from a complete listing and lacks the local variations exhibited through centuries, but should give an outline of main characteristics of different regions.
| Sign | Example | Classical | Italian | Romanian | Spanish | Portuguese | French | Catalan | Slavic | German/Uralic | Danish | English |
| a | canis | or | ||||||||||
| ā | cāsus | or | ||||||||||
| ae | saepe, bonae | , later | or | |||||||||
| ce,i,ae,oe | benedīcimus | or | ||||||||||
| ch | pulcher | |||||||||||
| e | venī | or | ||||||||||
| ē | vēnī | or | ||||||||||
| ge,i,ae,oe | agimus | or | ||||||||||
| gn | magnum | |||||||||||
| h | hominibus | or or | or | |||||||||
| i | fides | or | or | |||||||||
| ī | fīlius | or | or | |||||||||
| j | Jesus | |||||||||||
| o | solum | or or | or | or | ||||||||
| ō | sōlus | or or | or | or | ||||||||
| oe | poena | , later | or | |||||||||
| qu | quis | or | or | a æ,e,i o,u | ||||||||
| sungeminated between vowels | rosa | or | or | |||||||||
| sce,i,ae,oe | ascendit | or | or | |||||||||
| tiV | nātiō | or | or or | or | ||||||||
| u | ut, sumus | or | or | |||||||||
| ū | lūna | or | or | |||||||||
| um | curriculum | or | ||||||||||
| v | veritās | , later | or | |||||||||
| xce,i,ae,oe | excelsis | or | , or | or | ||||||||
| z | zodiacus | or | or | /ts/ |
In many countries, these regional varieties are still in general use in schools and churches. The Italian model is increasingly advocated in ecclesiastical contexts and now widely followed in such contexts by speakers of English, sometimes with slight variations. The Liber Usualis prescribes a silent "h", except in the two words "mihi" and "nihil", which are pronounced and . Some English singers choose to pronounce "h" as for extra clarity.
Specific languages
- Traditional English pronunciation of Latin
- :de:Deutsche Aussprache des Lateinischen|Traditional German pronunciation of Latin
- :de:Französische Aussprache des Lateins|Traditional French pronunciation of Latin
Other languages
- Pronunciation of Ancient Greek in teaching
- Sino-Xenic pronunciations