spanish and italian

Linguist   Sunday, January 30, 2005, 11:57 GMT
it's strange that you dont understand Russian, I understand south-slavic language quite well, but not Czech eighther , mluvite cesky?;) Czech language seems to be very far from all other slavophones, nobody understands it well....
Ved   Sunday, January 30, 2005, 19:10 GMT
I find I can find my way through a Russian newspaper or book, but it becomes a bit harder when they're speaking. Their speech has to be very slow and meant for me to understand it (simple sentences, well-enunciated words...). Mine too.
Ved   Sunday, January 30, 2005, 19:13 GMT
meant for me to understand it ---> meant for me to understand
Xatufan   Sunday, January 30, 2005, 19:14 GMT
EL IDIOMA ESPAÑOL ES TAN FACIL QUE NI SIQUIERA TUVE QUE PAGAR A UNA ACADEMIA PARA APRENDERLO. LA LOTERIA GENETICA ME FALLO. DEBI NACER EN UN PAIS DONDE HABLARAN ALGUN IDIOMA MAS DIFICIL, QUIZAS ESLOVENIA O KAZAJSKAN.
Juan   Sunday, January 30, 2005, 20:07 GMT

Xatufan: el idioma español es fácil para los que lo tienen como lengua materna. Lo mismo se aplica a cualquier lengua.

Admiróse un portugués
de ver que, en su tierna infancia,
todos los niños de Francia
supieran hablar francés.
"Arte diabólica es", dijo, torciendo el mostacho,
"que para hablar en gabacho
un fidalgo en Portugal
llega a viejo y lo habla mal
y, en Francia, lo habla un muchacho.".

Creo que estos versos describen bien la cuestión.
kazakh person   Monday, January 31, 2005, 01:53 GMT
Kazakh language is not very difficult really.
Chris   Monday, January 31, 2005, 22:05 GMT
I'd say Spanish is easy if you are a Spanish native speaker, but for foreigners it is a very difiicult-to-learn language. Even so Spanish is a difficult language itself . A Spanish native speaker could get to speak English almost perfectly, but an English speaker would hardly get to speak English perfectly
Brennus   Monday, January 31, 2005, 23:22 GMT
Dear Chris,

It's all relevant. Every language has some difficulties but as languages go Spanish is actually one of the easier languages to learn in the world. Only some of the Creole languages (Krio, Taki-Taki) and some of the artificial languages (Esperanto, Novial, Interlingua etc.) are easier. The most difficult feature of Spanish is the verb system and this is where you may be coming from. It's true, Spanish still retains much of the complex Latin verb system. However, Spanish nouns are much less inflected than those of other Indoeuropean languages.
Ruth   Monday, January 31, 2005, 23:50 GMT
There are other factors that affect it, such as how close the language is to your own. Spanish will be easier to a Portuguese speaker than a Japanese speaker because it is very similar.

Personally, I don't think any language is easy, not if you wish to master it. As languages embody entire cultures, they are highly complex things and require years of learning for most. I'm still learning a lot about English and I have been speaking it since I was a baby and teaching it since I finished studying it at university.
Ed   Tuesday, February 01, 2005, 02:49 GMT
Bulgarian has lost its cases. To us they seem totally innecessary when we hear them although you can still find them in old proverbs and tales. The has acquired definite and indefinite articles which come at the end of the words. We also have a special verbal conjugation which expresses an action that you didn't witness youself.

Example:
He GOES to school (I know it for a fact)
Toi OTIVA na uchilishte.

He GOES to school (someone else told me but I'm not sure)
Toi OTIVAL na uchilishte.
Xatufan   Tuesday, February 01, 2005, 19:08 GMT
In Spanish that would be: "Por ahi en l'esquina me contaron qu'ese inche va l'escuela".

Spanish is not the easiest, but it's still very easy (especially pronounciation, Latin American pronounciation is easier).

"Admiróse un portugués
de ver que, en su tierna infancia,
todos los niños de Francia
supieran hablar francés.
"Arte diabólica es", dijo, torciendo el mostacho,
"que para hablar en gabacho
un fidalgo en Portugal
llega a viejo y lo habla mal
y, en Francia, lo habla un muchacho.".

Nicolás Fernández de Moratín?
Juan   Tuesday, February 01, 2005, 20:56 GMT

Indeed Nicolás Fernández de Moratín.
Fre   Wednesday, February 02, 2005, 02:24 GMT
Spanish is the easiest major language to learn for English speakers.

Spanish and Portugese are interintelligible.
Tomas   Wednesday, February 02, 2005, 02:44 GMT
<<Spanish and Portugese are interintelligible.>>

Think again


http://www.portcult.com/10.LANG7_natal_navidad_nadal.htm

A better explanation for why the Portuguese can understand the Spanish and not the contrary is the phonetic system of the languages. The existing phonetic differences between the two languages are very great, making the pronunciation the main difficulty on which a Spanish speaker stumbles when trying to understand or speak Portuguese well.
mjd   Wednesday, February 02, 2005, 04:42 GMT
Fre,

That's not true.

While written Spanish and Portuguese do have many similarities, the accents are radically different.

Whenever a Spanish speaker appears on the RTP (Rádio e Televisão de Portugal) news, he/she is always subtitled.