Learn Italian

By William W on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

If you want to learn to speak them, you should not start them at the same time. They’re similar enough that you’ll confuse them. Start with Spanish, and once you get to a level where you can use all the tenses comfortably, then start Italian.

They’re both wonderful languages. Best of luck.
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By dubyou cee on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

No learning spanish first will only confuse you. The grammer is the same, but you will end up mixing the words from each of the languages and speak Italianish.
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By Mariela R on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

don’t learn them both at the same time! or else you will be completely lost. if you are going to take spanish classes already then go ahead and once you are good at spanish start italian. it will be hard at first but if you study then you can do it. Good Luck!
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experience

By zapeman on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

Better, study Spanish at first.
Italian is not useful at all (It’s only spoken in Italy)
and Spanish is almost as useful as English, it is spoken in many countries.

I learned Italian and it is beautiful, but When I went to Italy, all italians wanted to talk with me in English…

They see that you are an alien, and they immediately think "ENGLISH"

so, better learn spanish.

And NO, The grammar is not the same, there are some serious differences…
But spanish is more evolutionated.

it is this order (In evolution)

LATIN==>ROMANIAN==>ITALIAN==>PORTUGUESE==>
SPANISH===> FRENCH

which is after ???
SPANISH !!!
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By eazyneva@sbcglobal.net on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

Id say just learn Italian after Spanish. You should get comfortable with Spanish first. It would make learning Italian easier but not because Italian is harder than Spanish. Just cuz its similar and you can carry some things over from Spanish to Italian and vice versa. Cmon forget about it, youll learn Italian real fast badabing badaboom…lol
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By Robert on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

The real problem is the confusion due to similarity. If you want to learn Italian, go for Italian right now.
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By Con on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

I think it would be better to learn spanish first, both are similar but it’s easier to learn italian once you know spanish
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By taiketsu/ showdown master on Dec 30, 2009 | Reply

Well ultimatley its your choice but heed these words. If you take Spanish first and master it, the CLOSEST and EASIEST language for a spanish speaker to learn is Italian. Of course there are others like french, portuguese etc.. but Italian is easier than all those for a spanish speaker. You can also do it vice versa, learn Italian first than spanish. But DO NOT try to learn them at the same time. If you do that you will be confused and have 2 languages with such similarity and could get mixed up when speaking or using them. As well as the fact that you must take time to master one than move on to actually make progress. And so what if they don’t offer Italian at your school? I know spanish, english and I’m learning japanese. They don’t offer japanese at my school. What you should do which is what I did was to immerse myself in japanese grammar books, vocabulary books, dictionaries, writing books, language cds, and anything else that would help. As well as listen to japanese music, watch movies in japanese, and buy comics in japanese to help me hear and familiarize myself with the language. You should do the same with Italian. See if you can also find a teacher like I did. If you want to learn Italian you can do it. Basically I know spanish and I can still read A LITTLE Italian. The words are similar but with some twists from spanish.

EX. SPANISH: Night: NOCHE
ITALIAN: NIGHT: NOTTE

See? It’s similar. Good luck with learning whichever one!

By the way, how did you get your screen name like this??

????? ?Giannaaa? ?????
Kind of cool
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Itaria go wa omoshiroi gengo da yo!

By Lorenzo on Jan 5, 2010 | Reply

Sorry to argue on what you said, but your theory about the evolution of languages is TOTALLY wrong. the three languages evolved simultaneously after the fall of the roman empire, each of them had pre-latin roots that were still alive plus they absorbed all the different influnces coming from the different barbarian tribes that occupied europe. I’m Italian and about it I can tell you that the use of vulgar latin started already during the empire time, it evolved during the dark ages and in 1300 it was finally recognized (With Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy) as a proper language. But if you try to read the Divina Commedia you’ll find it substantially different from modern italian because it kept slightly evolving during the centuries. French and Spanish followed the same process with different results. I can also tell you that the grammar is the same but french and spanish have abandoned many elegant forms (tenses etc.) that we still use and that make you understand who’s ignorant or foreigner after a few sentences. Also during middleages and renaissence writers like Dante or Cavalcanti, Guinizzelli, Boccaccio kind of “built” italian trying to make it good, smooth and good sounding…up to you to say if they did a good job or not!
ciao!