Does anybody know what the most difficult part about learning Italian is for English speakers (and what...?

Question

English speakers' most common mistakes are when learning Italian ?)

I'm doing an interesting bit of research, and thought that the wise folk of Yahoo! Answers could help me !

Thanks !

Answer 1

I did Italian for a couple of years and the hardest parts for me were:
Plurals (why not just stick an S on the end?) and
Reflexive verbs (especially the perfect tense)

Answer 2

English speakers find it hard to learn the grammar of other languages because we don't understand the grammar of our own. Students in many other countries (such as France and Spain) have to learn the grammar of their own language in school, which makes it easier for them to understand English grammar. You can help yourself a lot by figuring out English grammar before you start with anything else. If you pick a book for learners of English (try TEFL/TESOL on Amazon) it will be a lot easier to understand than one for English speakers, which would be aimed at experts like teachers or linguists. You can also buy a book called something like "English Grammar for French Learners" - I expect they have an equivalent for Spanish/Italian learners. Personally, I find speaking and listening the hardest. It all depends on your personality, the way you learn (e.g. visually, by listening, by doing etc) and how you are taught. A good teacher should work on all the skills with you and then the next step will be to take a trip to Spain or Italy to put into practice what you have learned. Good luck!

Answer 3

The most difficult part of learning Italian, Spanish and Portugese is that the verb TO BE is divided into 3 i.e. instead of saying I'm cold they say I have cold as it is not something you own, it is a feeling. After a couple of lessons, you'd get the hang of it. Good luck.

Answer 4

I recently did the GCSE Italian and the most difficult thing for me was, (and still is), the complexity of the pronouns. Things like 'glielo' and when do you put them where? When do you attach them to the infinitive? I must have got it roughly right because I got a good pass but pronouns are difficult.

Answer 5

I'm not sure but I'll be watching this question because I have thought about learning the language because allot of music language is Italian.

Unfortunately I have little time to learn because of how busy I am but if anyone knows of an easy way of learning it, let me know.