Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: Italian is to Spanish as English is to ...

Hi linguaphiles,
I wonder if any of you know which language is English 'closest' to?  I
just posted on another NG asking Spanish speakers about the similarities
between Spanish and Italian.  Both Italians and Spaniards agreed that
both languages are very similiar.  This got me thinking:  it must be
great for Italians and Spaniards when they meet that they can just try
to guess certain vocabulary, as the order of words and grammar are
virtually identical.
I'm wondering if any of the 'Germanic' languages would be the same for
English speakers.  I mean, English is classed as a 'Germanic' language
but I tried to study German many years ago and found it extremely
difficult (worse than French!).
Can anyone tell me if they know of a close relative language to English
that shares many grammar rules (ie not the 'word order' of Romance
language) and would therefore be technically 'easiest' for us
native-English speakers to learn?  Or is English too much of a hybrid of
German/Latin/Romance languages?
Joanna

 German/Latin/Romance languages?
Australian and British English, and possibly Canadian.

 German/Latin/Romance languages?
I don't think there is such a language, but I'm not an expert. Learn
Italian! I think it's a little harder than French (French is easy, and very
nice) since the latter has undergone a greatest normalization, but in
Italian you are much freer in grammar.
Bye, FB


That is true. When Italians and Spaniards meet, they can understand each
other, with a little of imagination.
Bye, FB

other, with a little of imagination.
They can say things like "Neach'io sono mancino".
-- 
Adam Atkinson (
gh...@mistral.co.uk
)
Man is a giddy thing, and this is my conclusion.
(Much Ado About Nothing)

 both languages are very similiar.
Italian and Spanish are as similar as German and English are. I've studied
all of them and I can assure you it has been always a hard work.
P.

 other, with a little of imagination.
Ti contesto questa vissuta sulla mia pelle per lavoro e pure quella
sopra di similitudine con il Francese almeno se ho capito bene di
maggior similitudine.

 other, with a little of imagination.
Beware of false friends... :-)))
--
Er Roscio.

 maggior similitudine.
Gli studenti che vanno in Spagna a fare l'erasmus danno esami all'università
in lingua (spagnola) dopo tipo 5-6 mesi che sono là. Proprio così diversa
non può essere, no?
Secondo me non è vero che ci si può capire così da zero incontrandone uno
per strada, però non è neanche che ci voglia un nobel.
Giovanni

 non può essere, no?
agree certamente, ma neppure così uguali. Ritrovarsi da zero a parlare
con uno spagnolo significa capire poco o punto.
... ma capisco di piu' da un quotidiano spagnolo che da uno inglese dopo
tanti anni ;)

 per strada, però non è neanche che ci voglia un nobel.
Se poi conosci il dialetto napoletano, puoi parlare francese e spagnolo in
un colpo solo. :)

 con uno spagnolo significa capire poco o punto.
Sě, infatti la parte che avevi tagliato del mio post era proprio "Secondo me
non č vero che ci si puň capire cosě da zero incontrandone uno per strada"
:)
Giovanni Bajo

 un colpo solo. :)
muauahahahaaha, quanto è vero
Giovanni Bajo

difficult (worse than French!).
I have found, having studied English, German and knowing some Danish,
some similarities with the three languages, but they're not as close
as Italian is with Spanish or French...
Mavi

difficult (worse than French!).
I have found, having studied English, German and knowing some Danish,
some similarities with the three languages, but they're not as close
as Italian is with Spanish or French...
R.P.

 There are many analogies you can recognise in english and german words.
In grammar, I suppose that the structure "never have I heard such a thing",
derives from German, where the inversion of subject and verb is compulsory,
when there is a complement before the subject.
Bye, FB

 nice)
No way!  I do speak Italian (it's my best 2nd language) and I found it
100 times easier than French!  I have only studied it for 2 years and I
have mastered most of the grammar, and when I watch Italian TV I can
understand 99% of what's being said (I only trip up with new
vocabulary - which I promptly scribble down on a notepad!).  I agree
that French grammar is maybe slightly easier than Italian, but the ease
of getting into spoken Italian outweighs that to make it overall an
easier language to acquire.  All the words are pronounced exactly as
they're spelled, there's no sound in Italian that's difficult to
pronounce as they all exist in English too, and besides - it's easy to
speak Italian in Italy as the Italians are much more forgiving and
light-hearted about less-than-perfect pronunciation.

 French is not difficult, is it? 
With Italian, if they slow down a little, you can hear every 
syllable clearly enunciated.
With French, the syllables of one word are slurred onto the 
next, and even if you can read the language to some extent, 
it won't help much when you are listening to a native French 
speaker.
Grammar-wise they seem about the same to me.
Rick

 light-hearted about less-than-perfect pronunciation.
I'll be in France next month, I hope they will forgive me.
Rick

 I'll be in France next month, I hope they will forgive me.
I didn't really enjoy my stay in France and found the French for the
most part very hard to 'befriend'.  But this was a vicious circle that
fed off itself:  Because people in shops and post offices and places
couldn't understand me, I gave up trying to communicate in French and
instead hung out with the American friends I made at the uni.  This
meant that I didn't get to know many French people to decide whether
they were nice people or not!
On my few final weeks there though, I met a couple of French people who
could speak English.  And when I was thus in a position to get to know
them, I found them very kind and interesting people.
So my conclusion on France is this:  I found most service people sort of
impatient with me when I had problems pronouncing the French, or sort of
judgemental that I couldn't speak French.  This is probably because the
French consider their language as important in the world as English.
After all, it is spoken in many countries around the world and France is
filled with visitors and immigrants from many countries who can speak
French.  So the French are used to hearing their language spoken in
numerous accents, just as English speakers are.
On the otherhand, Italy was an entirely different experience for me, and
the Italians were happy that I could even blurt out a few words.  And
this is probably for the exact opposite of the reasons I just gave -
because their language isn't as worldly or spoken by as many people as
French, they really don't expect you to know it.  So when you do speak
it, even if it's bad, they're pleasantly surprised.  This makes you more
comfortable and relaxed, and you'll find that the more relaxed you are,
the better you will speak a foreign language. (My foreign language
speaking is at it's best after a few vodkas!  Even French! :-p )
I think you're very fortunate if you can speak French.  You will
probably have the great experience I never had in France (but wished I
could have).

 the Italians were happy that I could even blurt out a few words.
I've never met any more friendly people than Italians.  It's 
a joy to go to Italy and be received so warmly. I think it's 
just an extension of their naturally outgoing social customs 
with each other.  And being able to speak some Italian just 
heightens the experience.  At one hotel I stayed at we were 
told by our tour guide that the elevator down to the beach 
wsa not free, so when I wanted to use it, I asked in Italian 
where to pay.  I was told something like "per te, costa 
niente."  It was a small thing, but those little things add up.
Rick


German grammar is tough, though the pronunciation is far easier than that of
English. But French grammar for a germanic-language speaker like you should
be hard too!! And then you have to add the complexities of the French
pronunciation which do not reach the elaborate intricacies of English but
are hard to learn after a certain age.
ggr


Flemish and Dutch should be almost the same.
Bye, FB

 generally, linguists agree that Dutch is the closest language to English,
So...how comes that I can understand English, but can't get a word in Dutch?
Dutch for me is double-Dutch!
Cheers
Fabio

 Fabio
I thought Dutch was a mix of German and French, but I could be dead
wrong!
-- 
Enrico
| Just my 2 cents
| Quella riportata è solo una semplice opinione personale
| di un italiano che si arrabbatta per imparare l'inglese

 --
There are 18 varieties of Dutch and those spoken near the border with
Germany are pretty much similar to German. This is what I was told while I
was in Holland. I suppose it must be true.
Of course the closeness between Dutch and English is very helpful in case
one is a mother tongue speaker of English.


Well I never, Flemish and Dutch are ALMOST the same? I did not suspect that,
really.