Learning italian?

Question

Is it really hard to learn italian. I've always wanted to learn the language and I'm fluent in spanish, it seems really close to spanish but when I had someone explain some stuff to me it seemed kinda confusing. Is it really hard to learn?

Answer 1

i have been learning italian in school for 6 years. Its sort of hard but not as hard as say french or any asian language. If you already know spanish you'll find it a breeze.

Answer 2

I know what you're saying about getting mixed up between Spanish and Italian, they're pretty much the same language, they just have different suffixes for their words.

I think the best thing to do is just to memorise these suffixes, if you are very sure about what ending belongs to what language, you won't have a problem differentiating.

Also, like in any other language, the more exposure to it, the more familiar you become with it and easier to acquire it. Try and listen to as much Italian music as you can and watch Italian movies. Try watching DVDs in Italian and maybe with Spanish subtitles, to see the difference between words, and then the other way round. Write down the key words, and in no time, you'll recognise the endings very easily, and also the intonation of the languages is completely different, that will help you too.
Buona fortuna!!

Answer 3

I'm Italian--- I think this language is so hard that the only way to learn it easily is to do it while you're still a child. It's 1000 times harder than French and Spanish. It's because of the grammar, it's a nightmare.
I deeply admire foreigners who can speak Italian *_*

Answer 4

If you already speak Spanish, then Italian will not be too difficult. The main problem you'll find initially is confusion between the two languages, for example:
if = si (Sp); se (It)
Reflexive 3rd pp = se (Sp); si (It)
I'd be interested to know what the "confusing" bits were.

Answer 5

well...isn't so easy but most basicly grammar rules (especially concerning the verbs) works (obviously differently) in the same way. if you are a really fluent spanish speaker you won't take too much to understand italian quickly and quite well.

Answer 6

Italian is no way more difficult than Spanish; just remeber they're simlira but not identical, so you can find a word with the very same meaning in both languages, but also using of very different words for the same concept; sometimes different words are used but the meanings is clear, like if you want to ask for help in Italian you say "Aiuto!" in spanish "Socorro!"; "soccorso" is also used in Italian (especially referring to help needed for health or safety) but not the same way, althoug the meaning in fact is the same!
"Brother" is "jermano" in Spanish, "fratello"in Italian; "Germano" in Italian, yes, it does means "brother", but not commonly used (in fact just sometimes in medicine).
So they're similar languages and a Spanish guy may be able to understand 80% of an Italian talk and vice versa, but since you know Spanish as a foreign language, could not be the same for you, all could appear confusing.
The best way I think is to learn Italian as a different language (which it is) and when you find similarity compared to Spanish saying "Oh! In Spanish is the same!", but not using this as a basic for learning Italian.

Answer 7

Y u tell me this!? I'm srry 4 u. I'm italian. I advice u to come here in Italy, the ppl here r very kind and u can learn italian and have fun at the same moment. Italian ppl say: unendo l'utile al dilettevole. Srry if my English isn't perfect but i try.
ciao= hi!
come va?= how are you?
come ti chiami= what's your name?
I hope to help u. Kisses and hugs (baci e abbracci)

Answer 8

What part of it is confusing? Pronunciation? Grammar?

Answer 9

Funny, very funny. I had to go to BangCock to learn Italian...