What language is easiest for Spanish Speakers to understand?
That video is intelligible for anybody whom speak Italian, all they need is basic instruction of Spanish and they'll pretty much know 70-80% of the song.
For example;
"Soy de Mexico y tengo sangre espanola." (spanish)
"Sono da'Messico e ho sangue spagnola." (italian)
*though, southern italian regions used -tengo- instead of -ho-
This is understandable for both, nonetheless.
BUT,
Dónde puedo coger un taxi? (=obtener)
Dove può prendere un taxi? (=ottenere)
or better yet,
" (Vosotros) tenéis que hacerlo correctamente."
" (Voi) avete che farlo giustamente." (=justamente, which is similar)
In France the most foreign learned languages are:
- English
- Spanish
- German
- Italian
most French people like Italian language but it is generally considered less usefull than Spanish. At school we are in the obligation to choose at least two foreign languages, most of the time it is English+Spanish.
For the topic question, I will answer my point of view as long as I am not a Spanish speaker. The language easiest for french people to understand would be Italian, both writed and spoken.
"Sono da Messico e ho sangue Spagnola". "Though southern Italian regions used tengo instead of ho". Very true. I understand and speak my parents Abruzzese dialects very well. These dialects are considered southern because they resemble the Neapolitan (Naples) dialects to a large extent. When I hear my folks and relatives speak, they always use the word "tengo" instead of "ho". I know that the word "ho" is "have" in proper Italian. I'm upset at my parents and relatives for never speaking Standard Italian. When my family immigrated to the U.S.A. (Boston), they wanted to learn English as quickly as possible. The idea was to get acclimated to American society as much and as quickly as possible. To this day, they continue to speak in their own dialects, not exactly Italian, but very close. I only wish that they emphasized Standard Italian instead of their own local patois. It would have benefited me tremendously.
aldvs - - the point was how much of that song would an Italian with no understanding of Spanish understand. I was born and raised in Florence, Italy, where we speak a very standardized Italian. I, with no previous Spanish instruction, only got about 50% of that song in Spanish. I personally like the way Spanish sounds, but it is not as close to Italian as people think it is.
I think you have to get into the harder more complex words, which sound just about exactly the same, before that percentage of understandability starts going up. Spanish doesn't share a vast majority of simple words with Italian, like it does with Portuguese.
Southern Italian dialects have a closer affinity to Spanish than Central and Norhtern Italian dialects. This is because of lengthy Spanish rule in Naples and the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies during Medieval times.
Italian corrections:
<<"Sono da'Messico e ho sangue spagnola." (italian) >>
Sono da Messico e ho sangue spagnolo.
I think one would be more likely to say "Sono messicano" rather than "Sono da Messico"
<<" (Voi) avete che farlo giustamente.">>
(Voi) avete farlo giustamente/correttamente.
This means "you have done it correctly" but I think you wanted to say "You have to (must) do it correctly"
That would be - (Voi) Dovete farlo guistamente/correttamente
a.p.a.m. - Don't be upset at your parents. Even today, people want to speak their dialects. My husband's grandmother speaks nothing but dialect, and all his family will occasionally slip into it. They say it's dying out today, with the aid of TV and school, but imagine what it was like then.
I've excluded myself from saying how much of that song I got. Unfair advantage as I speak some Spanish. However, I'm glad a native Italian weighed in. Language ties are so important to some people - and they fervently want to believe the ties are closer than they may really be. I am not sure what this will achieve, or why it so important.
Even the title "Alejate" an Italian would probably get wrong thinking it might mean something like "Allegate" for "allegare" which means to enclose! "Alejar", by the way means the opposite - to move further away Thank you, tonino for your input.
"Soy de Mexico y tengo sangre espanola."
How funny. That's probably one of the most common answers I make to people who ask of my heritage.
And it would probably help the Italians if the guy didn't have such a thick English accent. But he's cool, cuz he has my name.
I have also noticed that words which I can't understand in Italian, will usually be very similar to their French equivalents. French and Italian are closely related lexically. It's only in spoken form that they appear drastically different, besides the fact that French has several unique features. For instance it will usually drop a lot of vowel endings, and things of that nature. Take Napoleon for example. He was Corsican, and so spoke an Italian dialect. His real name was written and pronounced as "Napoleone Buonaparte". The French style of his name became "Napoleon Bonaparte", with the -e vowel ending not pronounced on both his first and last name. His name is a perfect example for illustrating most differences between French-Italian cognates. At times, I can understand a lot of Italian and I am delighted. Other times, I can't understand much at all, so it depends on what's being said. Once I speak Spanish on a very advanced level, and if I ever learn French, I'm sure I'll be able to understand a great deal of Italian.
In this forum it has been said that Spanish has a great approximation to Italian.
The reasons that have been used are dodge at best. Romance languages are very proximit they have one comen ancester and that is the golden key.
Saying one is more similar is like saying ants and wasps are similar because they come from the same ancester.
eg
Olio(Italian)=Olio(Portuguese)=Aceite(Spanish)
Olio de oliva(Italian)=Azeite(Portuguese)=Aceite de oliva(Spanish)
This means that Portuguse is closer to Italian thae Spanish right?
No they are independent languges with different phonetics that some times can be totaly alien to each other. Exposer is the key when you hear a language long enough you starte to pic it up.
Long paragraphs of text have already been provided which clearly showed that of all the Romance languages Spanish and Portuguese are still, by far, the closest. This is common knowledge already, proved by modern Romance language scholars/experts ad nauseam. And even Tonino who is from Florence, Italy, has already said that he understood only approx. 50% of the Spanish song, while his Portuguese friend understood almost all of it.
What we have been talking about is the intelligibility of Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian, when the speakers of these languages have had no prior training or exposure to the others. It has been repeatedly demonstrated in this forum that Portuguese and Spanish have the highest level of intelligibilty when the speakers are not familiar with the other's language.
Portuguese and Spanish have more similarity in Lexicon, while Spanish and Italian have more similarity in Phonology. The truth is the above. Also, that people whom speak spanish prefer to learn Italian and vice versa. Japanese would be the next selection, for spanish speakers and if there's time perhaps they'll acquire Portuguese...
I guess -phonology- is key.
Portuguese and Spanish have more similarity in Lexicon, while Spanish and Italian have more similarity in Phonology. The truth is the above. Also, people whom speak spanish prefer to learn Italian and vice versa. Japanese would be the next selection for spanish speakers and if there's time perhaps they'll acquire Portuguese...
I guess -phonology- is key.