Italian vs. Spanish

[Anna]

Yes I agree! As a teacher of English I was amazed when I first heard my Spanish students speaking Spanish to my Italian students and the Italian students answering in Italian! So, for sure, it can be done! ;-)

[María José]

Originally Posted by Anna

Yes I agree! As a teacher of English I was amazed when I first heard my Spanish students speaking Spanish to my Italian students and the Italian students answering in Italian! So, for sure, it can be done! ;-)

I would only understand an Italian if he talked to me and not too fast. I get lost when they talk to one another. It's a bit easier with Portuguese, but maybe because I used to holiday there and because Portuguese people, mainly in the hotel business, are very good at languages. Sometimes I was not consciously sure, when recalling a conversation with a receptionist or a waiter if it had taken place in Portuguese-Spanish or just Spanish with a heavy accent on his part.(Sorry I used just masculine pronouns, girls, but it was faster this way ).

[Villa]

I just returned from a month in Italy. There are many Spanish speakers in Italy and every single Spanish speaker I met in Italy spoke Italian. I have made it a point the last 2 times I was in Italy to go out of my way to meet Spanish speakers. (I lived in Italy for 2 years and in 2007 went back to school in Italy.) I'm going into my 4th year of teaching Italian to Spanish speakers here in California. They all learn Italian relativamente facile compared to the English speakers por lo menos. Ademas I've lived in California all my life and have yet to meet an immigrant from Italy who did not learn Spanish right here in California. I myself learned Italian first and then Spaish. Italian and Spanish are more similar than they are different. Think about it logically. Even English has a vocabulary that is some 60% derived from Latin. Now just imagine Spanish that is a Latin language. Spain was Rome's most important colony for 640 years. Latin was spoken in Spain for 840 years. Romans went to live in Spain and visa versa to Rome. There were Roman emperors, popes, generals etc. etc. from Spain. Spain was Rome and Rome was Spain.
Sometimes when I talk to people in Italian they remind me so much of somebody I know who speaks Spanish and visa versa.

Come sta? Come va? la casa. You would have to be a real menso to not be able to learn Italian
being a Spanish speaker.

Anybody care to add to this list of words similar to Spanish and Italian?

A proposito.
Vale la pena.
Non vale la pena.
la casa
una casa
una casa grande
la casa grande
la mano
Quanto le devo?
Ti amo.
Ti amo tanto.
Ti amo tanto tesoro.
la libreria
la biblioteca
il supermercato
Dammi un bacio, tesoro.
arte
musica
la terra
nord
Atlantico
Pacifico
Artico
Antartico
disponibile
secondo
telefono
ora
caffe
tempo
sempre
va
agente
animale
attenzione
attore
azione
capitale
caso
centrale
centro
cereale
chitara
colore
differente
festa
gererale
generoso
importante
interessante
locale
materiale
nazione
necesssario
originale
personale
possibile
probabile
radio
regolare
ristorante
semplice
simile
teatro
totale
We could go on and on all day.

[irmamar]

gracias /grazie
llave /chiave
lunes, etc. / lunedì
etc.

E più facile:

Sí / Si
No / No

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Well, I speak both languages, I have a diploma in Italian. Learning Italian was very easy for me, because The grammar is almost similar, and the pronunciation is practically the same but for 3 or 4 phonemes. As far as vocabulary is concerned, the best thing to do is to learn just the words that are completaly different from Spanish, the rest is easy. At the beginning was difficult to do the agreement with all the endings singular, plural, masculine and femenine, because they are more like latin.
Though Written Portuguese is more similar to Spanish, it´s more difficult to understand because of the phonetics. Sometimes when I go to Italy I think they speak Spanish because they sound very similar except for 2 or 3 sounds as I said before, the rythim of the sentence is different, Spanish Argentinian is Spanish with an Italian accent.

I have an American friend who speaks Spanish and everytime he goes to Italy, speaks in Spanish to communicate without a problem.

[ookami]

It depends of whitch places of Italy you are talking about I belive. If you hear my grandmother speaking... if you don't known Italian it's difficult yo undrstand. But yes, I had watched some Italian movies and I think it isn't to difficult to understand for Spanish speakers if they speak quietly.
But Portuguese is a lot more easier for me.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by ROBINDESBOIS

Well, I speak both languages, I have a diploma in Italian. Learning Italian was very easy for me, because The grammar is almost similar, and the pronunciation is practically the same but for 3 or 4 phonemes. As far as vocabulary is concerned, the best thing to do is to learn just the words that are completaly different from Spanish, the rest is easy. At the beginning was difficult to do the agreement with all the endings singular, plural, masculine and femenine, because they are more like latin.
Though Written Portuguese is more similar to Spanish, it´s more difficult to understand because of the phonetics. Sometimes when I go to Italy I think they speak Spanish because they sound very similar except for 2 or 3 sounds as I said before, the rythim of the sentence is different, Spanish Argentinian is Spanish with an Italian accent.

Questo e molto vero! Es la pura verdad. Very true.

[Villa]

Here is a list of those important Italian words you need to know
in order to speak and understand Italian. Put them on flash cards.

Adverbs of quality or manner:

bene- well, (BAY-nay)
meglio- better,(MEL-yo)
peggio- worse (PEG-gee-oh)
male- badly, (MAH-lay_
anche- also (ON-kay
cosi- as, like (coe-SEE)
pure- also, too, (POO-ray)
insieme- together (in-see-EH-may)
come- as, like
invece di - instead of

Adverbs of time:

Quando?- When?
sempre- always,
mai- never, (my)
oggi- today,
domani- tomorrow,
ieri- yesterday, (YEER-ree)
adesso- now, ora-now,
allora- then, poi-then, (owl-OH-rah)
dopo- after,
dopo domani, the day after tomorrow
prima(di)- before,
ancora- still,yet, non ancora-not yet (an-CORE-rah)
spesso(frequentemente)- often,
stasera- tonight,
presto- early,soon,
tardi- late,
a tempo- on time,
gia- already, (jah) (An importantissimo little word!)
subito & immediatamente- immediately, (SUE-be-toe)
di quando in quando- from time to time,
di solito- usually (dee SO-lee-toh)
fa-ago, tre giorni fa- 3 days ago,
fino a- until, (FEE-no)
frattanto- meanwhile,
raramente- rarely,seldom,
recentemente- recently, (ray-chin-tay-MINT-tay)
ultimo- last,
una volta- once,

Adverbs of Place:

Dove?-Where?,
Dov'e? Where is?
lontano-far, (loan-TAH-no)
vicino-near, (vee-CHEE-no)
dietro-behind, (dee-EH-tro)
davanti-in front of,
avanti-forward, (ah-VAHN-tee)
indietro-backward,
dentro-inside,
fuori-outside,
qua,qui-here,
li,la-there
giu-down (jew)
laggiu-down there (lah-JEW)
lassu-up there (lah-SUE)
accanto a - beside
sopra-above
sotto-below
tra,fra-between
via-away (vada via!-get out of here!)
attraverso- through
intorno,attorno - around
da nessuna parte - nowhere
da qualche parte - somewhere
dappertutto- everywhere
a destra - to the right
a sinistra to the left

Adverbs of quantity:

Quanto?- How much?
molto-much
troppo-too much
poco-little
tanto-so much
abbastanza-enough
quasi-almost
piu-more (pew)
meno-less
circa-nearly, about (CHEER-kah)
soltanto, solo, solamente-only (soul-TAHN-toh)
assai-much
piuttosto- rather Piuttosto caro. - Rather expensive.
probabilmente- probably (pro-bah-bill-MINT-teh)
piu o meno- more or less
veramente- indeed, really
purtroppo- unfortunately (purr-TROP-poh)

Le Domande - Questions

Come?- How
Quanto? How much
Quanti? Quante? How many?
Come mai?- How come? (Very common expression.)
Che? What? (Kay?)
Che cosa? What? Che? and Che cosa? are basically the samething.)
Quale? Which?
Chi?(key) Who?
Perche? Why?
Perche -because
Che tipo di...? What kind of...?
Dove? Where
Dov'e? Where is?
Dove ci vediamo? Where shall we meet?

Aggettivi importante

buono- good
buffo- funny
caldo- hot
freddo- cold
caro- costly
cattivo- bad
celibe (CHAY-lee-bay) single male
aperto- open
chiuso- closed
corto- short
debole- weak
forte- strong
difficile- difficult
facile- easy
gentile- nice
giovane- young (JOH-vah-knee)
grande- big
piccolo- little
grasso- fat
magro- skinny
innocente
lento- slow
libero- free, availiable
malato- sick
meschio- mean
morbido- soft
nubile- single female (NEW-bee-lay)
nuovo- new
occupato- busy
pesante- heavy
piacevole- pleasant
piccante- spicy hot
pieno- full
pigro- lazy
primo - first
profondo- deep
sbagliato- mistaken
scuro- dark
secco- dry
sordo- deaf
sporco- dirty
pulito- clean
umido- humid
vecchio- old
vivace- active
vuoto- empty
zitto- quiet

Prepositions - Don't forget to make flash cards!!!

a- to, at
da- from, by, sometimes at
di- of sometimes from, about
in- in into sometimes by, on
su- on sometimes upon
con- with
per- for, through sometimes in order to + verb

[poli]

I would add voglio or desidero. If you are in a store or food establishment
it's nice to say I would like or I want instead of just pointing or other hand signals. Take a pocket dictionary to look up the Italian word for the object you need. As mentioned before in this topic, many nouns have cognates with Spanish nouns.

[irmamar]

"Vorrei", better than "voglio" (more polite):

Io vorrei un gelato
....

qui aspetto il mio gelato