Italian or Spanish

[The_Brightest_Moon]

So I want to know 4 languages. I know English, am studying Japanese and French (intermediate student in both), and I WAS going to learn Mandarin Chinese..... I've tried it, and I really don't like it. If I don't like it, it won't be fun xD (and learning languages is somehow fun for me lol)

I've LOVED Italian for awhile, I wanted to switch in school for both heritage and fun, but my parents depend on me getting a scholarship for French ( -_- ). I think it's a really romantic sounding language and I love the flow of it (similar to Japanese except Japanese doesn't stress vowels and stuff......) so I REALLY want to learn Italian.

However, in the US, Spanish is VERY important now. My best friend is from Paraguay and they speak Spanish at home (it's like a second home to me lol XD) and I've picked up some Spanish from her house. I've never been able to actually get into the language. It's never really appealed to me. I don't know what it is, the sound, I have no idea. Just doesn't (Funny cause I have a completely Spanish first and last name by coincidence- the first name wasn't on purpose and the last name is cause my dad misspelled our name when changing it back to what it was before Ellis Island- so instead of a Portuguese name we ended up with a Spanish name, so everyone thinks I'm Spanish xD It's quite funny actually.... spanish tele-marketers provide endless amusement and Japanese practice).

ANYWAY.

Which should I learn, Italian or Spanish. I don't think I could learn both of them right now, seeing as I have to push myself to learn basic German in like 2 weeks because we have an exchange student coming and then I'm going there. I like German, I may take it up later, but for now I'm just learning it cause I'll need to use it sometime soon. So which one should I learn, Italian or Spanish? I love Italian, but Spanish is SO much more useful in the US (even though I wanna travel a lot)...

Btw I'm not looking for "Well ____ is easier so you should learn that". I'm tired of hearing people say "Learn Spanish cause it's easy" it was everyone's excuse in middle school because they didn't want to take a language. -_- I wanted to hit them. So I'm not looking for difficulty, I'm just asking your honest opinion. Hell I've taught myself intermediate Japanese in like 2 years and I have pronunciation like a native(been studying for 3 years but I started making an effort after the first year lol). So which one should I learn (again xD). I enjoy Italian, but Spanish is important.  

[The_Brightest_Moon]

Plus I have a REALLY good Spanish recource for learning. Online, but it has grammar and verbs and stuff, native speakers, tips, you're supposed to always match your pronunciation with the speaker, etc..... it's a good resource. Would anyone gimme a site like this for Italian that I could try out?  

[PiercedPixie2]

My vote is for Spanish, since you live in America, it seems like the most practical one you're learning XD  

[e r i s e d y m]

If Italian appeals more, I would go for that one. However, you say that you're not into Spanish because of the way it sounds, kinda? Well, you may just be used to the accent of your friend....Spanish accents do vary depending on where the person is from, so maybe if you listened to sound clips of people from different Spanish-speaking countries, you may find one that you prefer and get into it more.

You don't always have to go for what's the most useful. For example, right now, I'm studying German. I have absolutely no reason to learn it, other than the fact that I just love the language. I know 2 people that can speak it, and I barely ever talk to them anyway, so that's not a motive.
So, I still say, go for Italian.

And besides, the fact that it's useful doesn't mean that you'll ever come across an oppurtunity where you'll have to be able to use it. More than likely only if you worked somewhere where hispanics frequently visited or something along those lines.  

[Britomartis-the-Valiant]

Learn Italian. If you have the love of the language and the motivation to learn it, that should be the one. With a background in French and Italian, Spanish should be a piece of cake should you choose to ever learn it.

Just because Spanish is common here doesn't mean it's necessary to learn. Most school kids learn only very basic Spanish (shockingly so) anyways. At a higher level of Italian, you might be able to communicate with Spanish speakers better than they possibly!  

[poppy-dust_addict]

My vote is for Italian. That is the language that I'm learning at the present moment and it is absolutely beautiful. I am taking Spanish and Franch at the same time, and speaking from experience, Spanish is easier. The plurilization and such is easier, but Italian is more rewarding.

Take what you want to take. Don't take something because it's convienant, or you might as well take Mandrin. I would suggest learning both of them at once (Italian background is making Spanish so easy I could do it asleep) but if you can't, my vote is for Italian.  

[Desdemona Kwan]

My vote is for Italian. I'm learning that right now. I love it. And I'm not just voting for Italian because I absolutely HATE Spanish. =P I'm extremely passionate about people learning their favorite languages and if you love Italian, then you should learn it!

If you hate Spanish, you shouldn't have to learn it. But Italian is so similar to Spanish, if you learn that, you shouldn't have many problems with Spanish (even if you don't like it).

I know how you feel about Spanish being so important here in the U.S. - I live in Southern California nearly all my neighbors speak only Spanish. -.- And I hate it and I'm learning Italian. Since I started learning Italian, I've picked up Spanish more easily and it's become more tolerable (even though I still hate it a lot).

Oh by the way, responding to how you couldn't get into Mandarin, if you want to learn a Chinese language, go for Cantonese! It's easier (for me, anyways), and it's WAY smoother than Mandarin. =P And if you just want to be able to read Chinese without learning the spoken version, there's a few MASSIVE flashcard lists on the website smart.fm - it's really great, even though it's in Mandarin. I just turn the sound down and then save my progress and exit near the end of the lesson when I need to type in the Mandarin. Grr, stupid Mandarin.  

[Henneth Annun]

Well...

If you have your heart set in Italian, go for Italian. smile Who cares about practicality. I'm going to learn Icelandic even though there's a very slim chance I'll ever use it with a native speaker. Besides, it will be more fun and enjoyable for you and you will have fun expanding your horizons.

If you want to go practical, choose Spanish. I mean if you are set on having a career in an area with many Spanish speakers, Spanish is probably a very good idea.

Since they're both pretty closely related anyways, you could always learn Spanish after you learn Italian, and then it should be a cinch for you, quite painless.

All of this is coming from a person who lives in Los Angeles. We have a large Spanish speaking population here and I chose to learn French in highschool, no matter how much everyone told me to take Spanish because it would improve my career prospects.  

[snubsnub]

Go for what interests you more , or else you won't get enough motivation , and it won't be as enjoyable.
It's great that you want to learn Spanish because it's more useful in America, but you already have French under your belt. That will still look very impressive on your resume and such.
I know that if you are fluent in French and live in Canada, it's REALLY good . That's what I'm trying to do .. but I also like the language so it's win/win.

 

[Strawberries N Coolwhip]

i know spanish (from my parents) and i took italian in school. yes i also got the "why didnt you just take spanish, you would have had an easy A!!" but the spanish i speak is different because its from uruguay plus i love languages and i wanted to learn something new scream

anyways as to what you should learn. i suggest italian. although not as many people speak it as they do spanish, its a very interesting and old language. you can learn alot about renaissance literature and history in general.

but italian is definitely a lot tougher than spanish. it has like 6-8 ( i cant remeber exactly) ways of saying the word "the." lol!!

plus if youre taking it in school, they show the best movies for it! for example, life is beautiful, cinema paradiso, pinocchio (the live-action roberto benini version which is HILARIOUS), johnny stacchino/toothpick, and many others which are awesome.

i took italian for 7 years in school and i loved it. and if you know italian you can understand spanish and portuguese and vice versa with any of those languages. since i already knew spanish it was alot easier for me to learn italian and understand.

if you learn italian well, you can probably ace the basics of spanish. so take italian!! biggrin  

[Tohru_kiki73]

learn spanish because it will really help on job sites and there are jobs looking for bilingual people (those who know english and spanish). Well if u live in the U.S. and it is really helpful if u live in states like texas, california and new mexico. i live in texas so im learning spanish as my second language. on the side i know a little french, italian and now im learning japanese. so let italian be the side extracirricular language. Spanish is becoming one of the dominant languages in the U.S, along with english.  

[419scambaiterKoko]

Strawberries N Coolwhip

i know spanish (from my parents) and i took italian in school. yes i also got the "why didnt you just take spanish, you would have had an easy A!!" but the spanish i speak is different because its from uruguay plus i love languages and i wanted to learn something new scream

anyways as to what you should learn. i suggest italian. although not as many people speak it as they do spanish, its a very interesting and old language. you can learn alot about renaissance literature and history in general.

but italian is definitely a lot tougher than spanish. it has like 6-8 ( i cant remeber exactly) ways of saying the word "the." lol!!

plus if youre taking it in school, they show the best movies for it! for example, life is beautiful, cinema paradiso, pinocchio (the live-action roberto benini version which is HILARIOUS), johnny stacchino/toothpick, and many others which are awesome.

i took italian for 7 years in school and i loved it. and if you know italian you can understand spanish and portuguese and vice versa with any of those languages. since i already knew spanish it was alot easier for me to learn italian and understand.

if you learn italian well, you can probably ace the basics of spanish. so take italian!! biggrin

You do realize that language courses aren't really supposed to allow native speakers to take the course. It'd be like me taking an ESL course even though I speak it as a native.  

[emo_chickmaimai]

italian i <3 the accent  

[Hawk_McKrakken]

I'd personally say Spanish, solely based on the fact that I find the Italian accent slightly irritating. I hear a kind of "whine" to it, whereas Spanish - at least, Mexican Spanish - is quite lively and never fails to sound jolly.  

[419scambaiterKoko]

Hawk_McKrakken

I'd personally say Spanish, solely based on the fact that I find the Italian accent slightly irritating. I hear a kind of "whine" to it, whereas Spanish - at least, Mexican Spanish - is quite lively and never fails to sound jolly.

Yeah right, Mexican Spanish is probably the ugliest sounding dialect in the Spanish language. It's not very pleasant to my ears.