If I learn Spanish well, will I be able to understand Italian?

[Valeria]

Por curiosidad. Mis amigos siempre quieran viajar a Italia. Si decidamos viajar a Italia quieria poder comunicar con la gente del lugar. ¿Qué opinas?

[ROBINDESBOIS]

You´ll be able to understand 70 % of the language and if they speak slowly even more, sometimes they use the Spanish word.

[chileno]

I wouldn't say 70% not even 50%, but you will be able to understand some and discern others...

[Valeria]

Gracias por la contestación.

[poli]

Sometimes whole sentences translate, but despite the many similarities between the two languages, they are also quite different. I tell you this from personal experience.

[Valeria]

OK, trato de concentrarme solo en español, es la mejor idea para mí.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by Valeria

Por curiosidad. Mis amigos siempre quieran viajar a Italia. Si decidamos viajar a Italia quieria poder comunicar con la gente del lugar. ¿Qué opinas?

Hola Valeria.

La lengua italiana y la lengua española son muy parecidas.
Hablo de la experiencia real y personal porque viví en Italia y México.
Cuando llegué por primera vez en Italia no hablaba una
palabra de italiano o español. Estudié noche y día 24/7 durante
una semana y no podían decir nada en italiano. Tuve un compañero
de quarto que era de México y hablaba con fluidez el italiano. Le pregunté
como había aprendido a hablar italiano tan bien. Quería saber que libros,
cintas de audio y los métodos que había utilizado para aprender a hablar
italiano, para poder seguir su método. Nunca olvidaré lo que me dijo. Dijo
que no estudiaba el italiano en absoluto. No usaba ningun libro y nada de
audio tapes etc. Todo lo que hizo era hablar el español con acento italiano
y podía comunicarse desde el principio. Después de algunas semanas podía
entender y hablar italiano. El vivió tres años en Italia y llevaba mejor con
los italianos que cualquier americano.

Salíamos juntos por la ciudad en Vicenza, Italia. Él solía decir comentarios
tales como los italianos parecían mucho a sus familiares en México y que los
edificios y la forma en que los italianos hacían cosas era como en México.

Finalmente después de cinco meses de haber estudiado el italiano mucho aprendí
a hablar bien italiano. Incluso llegué a ser traductor en Italia. Pero nunca voy a
olvidar de mi amigo mexicano en Italia y lo que dijo sobre que tan similares son el
italiano y el español. Cuando volví de Italia aprendí español con un familia mexicana
y después fui a vivir a México.

Just a few of the muchos ejemplos of similar words in Spanish and Italian.

lunes: lunedì
martes: martedì
miércoles: mercoledì
jueves: giovedì
viernes: venerdì
sábado: sabato
domingo: domenica

Come sta? Come va? Quando? Quanto costa? ¿Cuanto cuesta?, bien/bene, Ti amo tesoro. Ti adoro!

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

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

[Disposal]

I don't think so, I have a few friends from Italy and I can't understand them. Maybe you will can understand some words, and the learning of italian will be easier for you if you know Spanish, but forget to speak Italian only knowing Spanish because Italian and Spanish are two differents languages.

[Villa]

Originally Posted by Disposal

I don't Spanish speakers so, I have a few friends from Italy and I can't understand them. Maybe you will can understand some words, and the learning of italian will be easier for you if you know Spanish, but forget to speak Italian only knowing Spanish because Italian and Spanish are two differents languages.

Hola Disposal. Did you read what I wrote? I speak from actually living
in Italy and Mexico. If a person speaks Spanish then Italian is easy to
learn and if you speak Italian Spanish is easy. I have seen both ways
many times. Fact is I learned Italian first and then Spanish. I also
first leared Italian without knowing Spanish. Just imagine that
if an English speaker can learn Italian how much easier it is for a
Spanish speaker.

[pinosilano]

AY!
No es tan fácil come se cree.
Si no sabes pronunciar bien las "dobles consonantes" pueda ser que la entera conversación cambie significado.
Casa y cassa, por ejemplo.
Uno puede vivir más o menos cómodo en una casa, mucho menos en una cassa que significa caja.
È lo stesso = es lo mismo
E l'ho steso = y lo he extendido
Los de habla hispana no notan la diferencia en una conversación.