How similar is Italian to Spanish?

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tori_042

I just got back from Italy in June. I did a foreign exchange with Rotary. I had taken 5 years of Spanish in jr. high/high school. I can say your high school spanish will familiarize you with certain words and help you with the verb endings. Other than that, learning the language will be based on how much you open yourself up and speak to others.

steph16222004

Not that similar.

tricanese

i picked up spanish growin up, but when i moved to italy and started learning italian i kept getting the two mixed up. now that i finally speak decent italian ive completely forgotten all the spanish i learned. its amazing how little i understood in Spagna last time i went. the languages are similar enough to where you will recognize root words so knowing a little spanish will help you learn the structure of the language quicker, but it is a completely different (though related) language.

nicmo429

some words are way diffrent some are almost the exact

dark_one

well I speak Spanish, Italian and Portuguese and I must say.

The real "cousin" languages (if you can say something like that) are spanish and portuguese they really are similar and one can understand one another if one speak slowly.

but spanish is not that similar to italian.
it's a different grammar and whole different words. I really think Italian is a bit harder than spanish

Jujeaux

If you understand one you can get the fundementals of the other if it is spoken slowly

liz

70 or 75%

cheahyoufeng

They belong to the Romance family of languages,meaning to say that they are derived from Latin.

mtpizzo

It is difficult for a native English speaker to seperate Spanish and Italian while speaking. I am a native English speaker, and speak Italian fairly well. However, whenever I speak Spanish, I often will interject Italian words on accident.

I have to admit that I am a little scatter brained so you might do better.

The similiarity is high between the two languges when reading it. For example, I have no problem reading a Spanish language newspaper. Speaking is much harder. A Spanish speaker would not be able to understand the Italian cadence and dialects.

For example, I learned Italian in Rome and Milan, but can hardly understand the Florentine dialect. I have a Bolognese friend who will often use phrases that I have never heard of.

The dialectical differences are great. For example, while a Milanese would tell you "vaffanculo," a Neapolitan would say "Vaffanmoc." A Roman is proud of his enormous "Cazzo," while a Sicilian has a "Minchia."

Va beh' buona fortuna.

cyanne2ak

It is amazingly similar. It won't be hard for you to learn the language at all. However, what you learn in books for a language is not always that helpful. Keep this in mind.

dragonrider395

I had taken a very minimal year of Spanish before I moved to Italy for a year. If you speak (more or less) fluent Spanish, you would be able to understand the Italian pretty well, and get the general idea. But, when you try to learn it you may get confused. For example, the Italian days of the week were harder for me to learn because they were so similar to Spanish, and I had the Spanish ones stuck in my head! Then, when I learned the Italian ones, I had to re-learn the Spanish ones! But, that may just be because I spoke only a TINY TINY bit of Spanish! :)
Good luck and have fun! :)

Diego

Italian and Spanish are the only "cousin languages" in the world. I was in Italy. I spoke Spanish and they spoke Italian, and we understood pretty well. Only some words are of different root.

Xx_Nikki_xX

yes the word sometime sound the same

somechick.

yepp.

fun fairy chick

there practactly the same launguage!

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