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Upcoming trip to Italy. | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3903 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes  Speaks: French | Message 1 of 13 20 December 2014 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
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I know French, and a bit of Spanish, and was wondering how well these would do me in Italy? How much Italian should I learn? I am a classical musician, so have had exposure to Italian for many years, just never got around to learning more than I needed to know. (Musical terms, a few extra phrases that crop up in operas, and musical works as well.) I am unsure of how far away this trip actually is.
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| Xenops Senior Member United States thexenops.deviantart Joined 3815 days ago 112 posts - 158 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese | Message 2 of 13 20 December 2014 at 4:56am | IP Logged | ||
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French does not sound similar enough to help; Spanish might help, if you speak slowly.
I would just go and start learning the language. Pimsleur is great for pronunciation and introductory phrases, and the cheapest way to buy it is through Audible.com by purchasing and collecting credits. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc2 Tetraglot Groupie United States Joined 4549 days ago 85 posts - 186 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan, German Studies: French | Message 3 of 13 20 December 2014 at 9:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I have been to Italy a couple of times, and I found that with a mix of Spanish spoken slowly and with an Italian accent, and some basic knowledge of Italian, I could get by.
I did a little bit of Duolingo Italian and One Minute Italian and those basically gave me all the knowledge I needed. I agree with the above poster that Pimsleur would help, but it can be expensive so I'd check if your local public library has it first. Edited by anamsc2 on 20 December 2014 at 9:38am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| eyðimörk Triglot Senior Member France goo.gl/aT4FY7 Joined 4089 days ago 490 posts - 1158 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French Studies: Breton, Italian | Message 4 of 13 20 December 2014 at 11:48am | IP Logged | ||
I strongly disagree. My experience is that it is a massive comprehension boost. French being my only romance language, I can understand a fair bit of spoken (and sung) standard (I presume) Italian. I can read articles on somewhat familiar topics and tell you what they are about (I actually tried this the other day with an article about studies concerning running and health), but I can't tell you what tense is being used and being unfamiliar with pronouns and articles I am sure I'd struggle tremendously with a "he said, she said" text and anything reflexive. Will they understand me back? I don't know. Most probably wouldn't. Maybe some would in the north, if what an Italian classmate at university in Scotland told me about north-western dialects is true. That said, I've come across some very unimaginative people in my day, so I'm sure there are many people for whom even a native level in one or more Romance languages wouldn't help even a little a bit with Italian without serious studying. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cavesa Triglot Senior Member Czech Republic Joined 4999 days ago 3277 posts - 6779 votes Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1 Studies: Spanish, German, Italian | Message 5 of 13 20 December 2014 at 11:55am | IP Logged | ||
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When I was a shopassistant in a small shop near a hotel, I used to have lots of
Italian customers. Most of them couldn't speak any English, so they used slower (and repeated) Italian and I used my Spanish (a very neanderthal dialect those days). It worked better than their attepts at English. In Italy, I believe you can enjoy every little bit of Italian you've learnt beforehand. It won't be hard for you, in my opinion, after your French and Spanish. The basics aren't that bad, even my father (a total foreign language antitalent) learnt some basic words and was able to make himself understood even in quite tricky situations (which I still don't know how). It is possible I'll have such an opportunity as well in 2015, and should I really go, I'll surely try my best to learn it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Itikar Groupie Italy Joined 4659 days ago 94 posts - 158 votes Speaks: Italian* | Message 6 of 13 20 December 2014 at 4:30pm | IP Logged | ||
Maybe, if you really want, watch some videos or pictures on Italian gestures. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tyrion101 Senior Member United States Joined 3903 days ago 153 posts - 174 votes Speaks: French | Message 7 of 13 20 December 2014 at 6:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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Getting used to saying word endings will be the hardest part. If it looks french I have a tendency not to. I've started with duolingo, figured it would be a good place, I should have learned Italian long ago, as it one of the most widely used languages in classical music, especially prior to the 1800s.
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| dampingwire Bilingual Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4655 days ago 1185 posts - 1513 votes Speaks: English*, Italian*, French Studies: Japanese | Message 8 of 13 20 December 2014 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
My mum's dialect is Piacentino, and I only ever understood any of that because I knew some French. So your classmate is correct in at least one case. If you want them to understand you back, I suspect you'll have to learn some basic Italian though. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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