Most scientific names utilize Latin words and origins. One benefit of reading the Latin language is that it contains almost no silent letters, so you should pronounce the word exactly as it is spelled. This minimizes most guess work on how to say Latin phrases. Use the scientific terms below as examples, and try to pronounce them yourself:

Carcharodon carcharias (kar-KAR-uh-don kar-KAR-ee-uhs) - Great white shark. Manta birostris (MAN-tuh BY-ros-truhs) - Giant manta ray.c c 

Practice saying scientific names as much as possible. You can use items found around your office or house. The ingredients list for many packaged and processed foods contains common scientific names you can read aloud, like monosodium glutamate, phosphoric acid, etc.c  

When it comes to writing scientific names, it's important to pay attention to font and style. Be sure to use italics to denote a scientific name when typing; underline it if writing by hand.

For biological organisms, such as plants and animals, there will typically be two words in the name--the first word is the genus (which is always capitalized) and the second is the species (which is never capitalized). This is called binomial nomenclature, a formal system of naming species typically used in botany and zoology.c 

For example, when pronouncing the scientific name for the Great white shark, Carcharodon is the genus, while carcharias is the species.c