What language is easiest for Spanish Speakers to understand?

I think "silla" is the only word that would not be understood. An old Portuguese word no longer used for chair is "silha".

I speak Italian and can understand your paragraph, but I do speak a little Spanish as well so that will probably disqualify me. I, however, did not get "silla" without reading Gringo's explanation, to show how much Spanish I've forgotten.

Here is how I would translate it in Italian. Keep in mind I am a girl and thus will use related word endings as I feel the Italian translation would require them:

Ero seduta su una sedia sul balcone, e stavo provendo a leggere un giornale in francese. Con sorpresa, sono riuscita a capire un po' dell'articolo che stavo leggendo. Parlava di un uomo che aveva violentato una ragazza.

As you can see, this is not a strict word for word translation as some of the concepts I got from the Spanish would not be expressed in Italian the same way.

On point on tense:

I used mostly the tense trapassato perfetto in the passage. This reflects the usage that I am in familiar with (specifically of northwest Tuscany). The South would probably use passato remoto, a tense more similar to the one used in Spanish. If you talk to an Italian prescriptivist, I think he would say the use of passato remoto is more correct, however reality is that it is has fallen into disuse especially in Northern Italy, now used mostly to relate historical events, like the birth of Napolean, etc.

Tiffany, I'm from Panama, and I read the paragraph you translated into Italian. I only understood about 60% of it. But when I read the Portuguese translation I understood 99% of it.

So mario tell me how you knew what ''periódico'' meant

Ok, here is something a little more difficult and longer..I got this from a mobile phone bill..you don't have to translate it, I just want to see how intelligible these languages are. Sorry if it's too long!



El servicio móvil está sujeto a la aprobación de crédito. Se cobra un cargo por terminación anticipada de $175. Algunos agentes pueden cobrar cargos adicionales. Si se devuelve el teléfono dentro de los tres días, se reembolsará el cargo de activación. Si se devuelve el teléfono ''como nuevo'' y con todos sus componentes dentro los treinta días, no se cobrarán cargos por cancelación anticipada, pero se cobrarán los demás cargos. Los minutos se descontarán según el uso, en este orden: minutos de noche y de fin de semana, minutos de móvil a móvil, minutos a cualquier hora y minutos Rollover. Facturación y uso en incremento de minutos: el tiempo de uso y otros usos del servicio se facturan en incrementos de minutos completos y el tiempo de uso real y otros usos se redondean al siguiente minuto completo al finalizar cada llamada a los fines de facturación. Cingular redondea la fracción del último minuto de uso de cada llamada desde el teléfono móvil. Las llamadas efectuadas en redes de otras compañías telefónicas pueden demorar más en ser procesadas, por lo que la fracturación de dichas llamadas también puede demorarse. Esos minutos se descontarán de los minutos a cualquier hora mensuales en el mes en que aparezcan las llamadas en la factura. Las llamadas salientes que no se contesten después de treinta segundos o más incurren en tiempo de uso. Precios/Impuestos/No prorrateo: los cargos del último mes no se prorratean. Los Precios están sujetos a cambio y no incluyen impuestos.

I am Portuguese and I understood ALL of it. It's like reading Portuguese, with an extra letter here, or a letter less there. Spanish and Portuguese vocaubulary is 90% similar. Structurally, the sentences in Spanish are put together in much the same way as in Portuguese.

"Tiffany, I'm from Panama, and I read the paragraph you translated into Italian. I only understood about 60% of it. But when I read the Portuguese translation I understood 99% of it."


Joaquin what part of Panama are you from. My Grandmother's family on my fathers side is from the area known as El Valle de Anton.


"I am Portuguese and I understood ALL of it. It's like reading Portuguese, with an extra letter here, or a letter less there. Spanish and Portuguese vocaubulary is 90% similar. Structurally, the sentences in Spanish are put together in much the same way as in Portuguese."

I agree in official text (non-conversational written form), the writing is almost identical between spanish and Portuguese.

O serviço móvil está sujeito a uma aprovação de crédito. Cobra-se um carregamento por término antecipado de $175. Alguns agentes podem cobrar carregamentos adicionais. Se devolver-se o telefone dentro dos tres días, se reembolsará el carregamento de activação. Se devolver-se o telefone ''como novo'' e com todos os seus componentes dentro dos trinta días, não se cobrarão carregamentos por cancelação anticipada, mas se cobrarão os demais carregamentos. Os minutos se descontarão segundo o uso, nesta ordem: minutos de noite e de fim de semana, minutos de móvel a móvel, minutos a qualquer hora e minutos Rollover. Facturação e uso em incremento de minutos: o tempo de uso e outros usos do serviço facturam-se em incrementos de minutos completos e o tempo de uso real e outros usos arredondam-se ao siguinte minuto completo ao finalizar cada chamada aos fins de facturação. (Cingular redondea) a fracção do último minuto de uso de cada chamada desde o telemovél. As chamadas efectuadas em redes de oturas companhías telefónicas podem demorar mais em ser processadas, pelo que a fracturação de ditas chamadas tambem pode demorar-se. Esses minutos descontarão-se dos minutos a qualquer hora mensais no mês em que apareçam as chamadas na factura. As chamadas salientes que não sejam contestadas depois de trinta segundos ou mais incorrem em tempo de uso. Preços/Impostos/(No prorrateo): os carregamentos do último mes não se (prorratean). Os preços estão sujeitos a câmbio e não incluiem impostos.

There are some words i didnt quite understand when translated into Portuguese, they are Cingular redondea; Prorratear

I think I get more of it than an Italian would, simply because of my background in Spanish. I grew up among Cubans and it's hard not to learn at least some Spanish in that environmnet, and then it was supplemented in school where I took Spanish for years starting when I was six. My Spanish helps fill in the blanks that my current knowledge of Italian cannot.

Ex.
I know "desayuno" is breakfast, but Italians with no contact with Spanish would not. I also know "almuerzo" is lunch, but an Italian would not. They might understand dinner though (comida or cena in Sp and cena [pronounced (che-nah)] in Italian)

However, much of my Italian has replaced my Spanish and I have forgotten a lot of Spanish due to my years away from any native source.

That said, I'd say I understood about 75% - 80% of it. This would likely be lower for someone who knew just Italian.

They would definitely not know what "cobrar" meant and it was used in several places. Other words I know they wouldn't get - "redondear", "demorar" and "prorratear" .

Amusingly, they might have trouble with "descontar" as the verb in Italian is "scontare" while I can sound that out from English as "to discount"! This is the same with "prorratear" - took me a minute, but obviously "to prorate"! Not exactly sure with they'd use in Italian, but perhaps something like "spartire" or "dividere". Maybe "proporzionare".

Oh and a word like "cada" they might incorrectly associate with the Italian "cadere" - "to fall". "Ogni" is "each" in Italian. And of course little things like "mas" when it is "più" in Italian, "llamadas" when it is "chiamata" (too many letter changes)

These and other things would hinder comprehesion for them. Trying to be fair, I'd put their range of comprehension from 60-65%, but an Italian speaker with no prior knowledge of Spanish could tell you better.

Tiffeny

I had a friends brother that went to Italia, to finish his course, now he didn't learn Italian, he knew Portuguese and a bit of English. Now it would seem obvious that he would have to use English but he gave Portuguese a bash. Well a year later when he was leaving he told his friends and collegues he was Portuguese and asked them if they didn't pick that up. They told him that they thought he was from another parte of Italy.
I must point out that he Italianized his Portuguese.
The funny thing is that some of his Italian friends had difficulty with other Italians Italian.
I can understaned some Italian from certain regions but other Italian from Rome (it's to quick) and Sicily (does anyone outside Sicily) not a chance.

There are indeed many dialects in Italy, and I could imagine how it would be easy to think Portuguese was a dialect from another city. I'm not sure about "rua", but I know they use the word "calle" in Venezia for street. When I went there for the first time I was surprised to the point of asking my father-in-law why they wrote the street signs in Spanish. I now know the interdental (th) present in Castillian Spanish is also present in some versions of the Venetian dialect, but is absent in standard Italian.

I think people who are debating Romance languages often do not see it from an objective point-of-view. In reality they are very close with clear roots seen in each language. They might not be 100% intelligible, but I find it's closer than say English and German.

That said, I feel most Italians would find it strange that your friend would use dialect with them and can't really understand why they did not ask him about it. People normally only use dialect with those they are familiar with and know are from the same place. I, for instance, have never had someone come up to me and speak in dialect, only standard Italian. However, my sister-in-law will sometimes speak to my husband in Carrarino (the dialect of his town) for fun.

««As chamadas salientes que não sejam contestadas depois de trinta segundos ou mais incorrem em tempo de uso. »»

Isto é Português mas não faço a mínima ideia do que quer dizer. O que é uma chamada saliente? Como se contesta uma chamada?

I'm originally from 'Colon' Panama.

I wanted to see if there would be at least a bit of a difference but you obviously tried to make it as close to Spanish as possibe..even adding Spanish words to try to make it look almost the same..how could it be possible to understand 100% of it if you haven't studied Spanish? They may seem closer than they are apart but they do differ..you'd have to be fluent in Spanish to understad EVERYTHING I wrote.

I've always wanted to know which of the two languages is older..they are too similar and I don't think that Spanish was born near the Portuguese border..so how can they be almost identical? My opinion is that Portuguese was spawned from Spanish being that Spain onced ruled over Portugal and once Portugal got it's independence it created a language seperate from Spanish? I'm not sure and once again it's just an opinion! What do you guys think?