Anyone here speak Italian?

[HEyHEY]

I'd like to learn it and I was wondering how difficult it is. I speak French (Albeit not as well as I used to) And I've heard the transition is easy.
Anyone?

[Cheswick2.0]

1. I sing Italian

so I know a little bit and I do think the transition is easy. Italian is probably easier than French and you already have a grasp on the root words so you should do just fine.

[sui generis]

2. any time you speak more than one language

learning the next language is a snap. go for it! You'll love Italian - and it is probably more like French than it is like Spanish, especially with contractions.

[HEyHEY]

3. Eye Ferrari, Spahgetti Ocho!

How's that? ;-)

I will need to get a good book on it

[Maleficus]

4. L'italiano non è che duro per imparare.

Infatti, se lei può imparare il francese, poi lei può imparare l'italiano con nessuno problemi. :)

Translation: Italian is not that hard to learn. In fact, if you can learn French, then you can learn Italian with no problems. :)

[HEyHEY]

5. cool thanks!

I can't wait until I find a teacher

[Maleficus]

6. Nessuno problema.

Fortuna buona (Good luck)!

[ze_dscherman]

24. Le lingue s'imparano nel' letto

Languages are learnt (best) in bed. I had lovely teachers ...

[Momgonepostal]

7. Esatto. :-)

The sentence structure of French and Italian are almost identical. If you speak French, Italian should be a breeze.

Italian is also very phonetic. Very few weird pronunciations top memorize. Go for it!

[KurtNYC]

10. yes - no tricky spellings

you say every letter that is written which helps when learning.

[mahina]

15. Hey that's my dog...

and she speaks Italian too!
Andiamo ragazzi, bite Bush!

[LynzM]

14. And apparently,

If you speak French and German, you can read Italian ;)

[Maleficus]

16. Sì lei può.

:)

[PittLib]

8. After years and years of German...

which I never quite mastered (without a beer in my hand):beer: Italian is a cinch. It is a beautiful language ... I learned by 1 year in the classroom and 2 summers in Italy. Unfortunately, I am now rusty as it's been 6 years with no one to speak with!

[TomClash]

9. You can learn Italian if you know French or Spanish

Non si preoccupi a questo proposito. Buona fortuna!

[ProfessorGAC]

11. It's Not Very Hard

I speak it at the level about a 12 year old, i would guess. I probably know a few thousand words, and know all the conjugations and tenses of the verbs, plus those of some of the passive verbs.

I can read the paper when i'm there, and watch the news in bites. But, i lose when i watch TV, because i still am translating most things from Italian to English. (I don't think in italian, except for some very common words and phrases.) So, i can't keep up. Reading is easy because you read at your ability to keep up!

When i'm conversing, i have to say "ripetta lentamente, si prega", a lot, which means "repeat that slowly if you please".

A lot of vocabulary is similar to French, but the pronunications are very different. The rules of conjugation are pretty hard and fast. There are far fewer exceptions in italian than in most European languages. (And way fewer than English.)

If you were adept at French, you will get italian. It's pretty easy, as long as you can roll your "R's". And remember, there are two different kinds of rolled "R's". (Short roll and long roll.)

Anyway, g'luck with it. Or should i say "Bona fortuna"?
The Professor

[Huckebein the Raven]

13. Also, are there no silent letters in Italian as in French ?

I speak French (a little) but I can read the newspaper and can reasonbly keep with dialogue on TV and in movies. I want to pick up another langauge as well so I'm curious.

[ProfessorGAC]

21. Sorry For The Late Reply

Yes, there are silent letters. For instance, a 'g' followed by an 'l' creates a soft, lingual 'l' sound. One doesn't pronounce the 'g' at all. Same with a 'g' followed by an 'n'. It creates a 'ny' sound, again not pronouncing the 'g'.

Still, if you know some French, you should pick it up. The general manager of our French operation doesn't actually speak italian, but gets by as well or better than i when he's in Milan.
The Professor

[Huckebein the Raven]

25. thanks

[Momgonepostal]

19. I never did get R rolling, but I did OK

I lived in Italy for a year and a half and have never been able to roll my R's. It's not a huge deal, maybe a little like having a lisp.

Not to split hairs, but it's Buona fortuna. Bona means sexy. :-)

[ProfessorGAC]

22. You're Right!

My bad! Typed faster than my brain engaged, i guess.
The Professor

[no_hypocrisy]

12. It's easy. Pronunciation makes sense. Easy grammar. Even makes

sense of English grammar at times.

I've studied French, German, Spanish, & Italian. Italian was the only second language in which I received "A's".

[Dookus]

17. I majored in Italian

pretty easy, especially if you already know one romance language.

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

18. Hey, sono italiana!

I'm a native Italian from Bologna. I do not think that Italian will be a major problem. Of course, if you are planning to become a Dante scholar, Italian can be very difficult. Like the other romance languages, Italian can get very verbose (meaning that Italians like to get longwinded when describing even the simplest of concepts) and the conjugation of verbs is difficult at times (take the verb "cuocere" - to cook... yikes!)

I taught at Berlitz here in NYC and in Raleigh, NC. My method is simple. It is based on the concept that, with a few exception, unlike English, what you read in Italian is how you pronounce it. Therefore, once you master the pronunciation of the Italian vowels (a as in father; e as in they -although this pronunciation varies from region to region; i as in we; o as in want; u as in too) you are already doing quite well.

Basic sentence construction is fairly easy. Remember that the subject changes the verb conjugation and the adjective changes the gender/number of the noun. Therefore, something like "La casa e` bianca" (as in the house is white). Note that "casa" is preceded by the definite article "La" and that Casa is a feminine noun (nouns are either feminine/masculine; there is no third gender, unlike German). E` is the third conjugation of the present form of the verb "essere" (to be). Bianca is the adjective (it means white). Note that all parts (except for the verb, in this case) agree in gender and number. All are feminine and singular. Let's make it plural!

Le case sono bianche

And now, another gender...

Il castello e` bianco (castello - castle)

I castelli sono bianchi


Enjoy!

[Momgonepostal]

20. Welcome to DU!

:hi:

[Hand]

26. Benvenutto, NYCparalegal!

:hi:

[ze_dscherman]

23. I do

Italian is quite easy, IMO, but then I picked it up when I travelled there frequently and had Italian girlfriends. Spelling/pronounciation is pretty easy. It is also much closer to Spanish than to French - my French is pretty poor, but my Spanish - uhh - quite acceptable.