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Which latin language is better to learn?

 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
44 messages over 6 pages: 1 24 5 6  Next >>
Enrico
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 3505 days ago

162 posts - 207 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: Italian, Spanish, French

 
 Message 17 of 44
09 September 2015 at 3:22pm | IP Logged 
garyb wrote:
From my experience of French, Italian and Spanish , Italian seems like the "middle ground". In terms
of grammar and vocabulary it feels very much in between the other two and shares various elements of both. The
verb endings and dropped pronouns are closer to Spanish, much of the rest of the grammar is closer to French, and
the vocabulary is a mix.


That's why I sometimes incline to Italian despite the fact that it is not so widespread as Spanish or French.
And I came to about the same feeling while my test learning of all three languages during one month.
Well maybe Italian can be a good solution to enter the Romance language world.

garyb wrote:

However, spoken French isn't very transparent to someone who knows Spanish or Italian, until they spend a bit of
time learning how the pronunciation works. Whereas it's easier for a French speaker to understand Spanish or Italian
with their more phonetic spelling. I've never studied Portuguese, but even with my three related languages I can
barely understand a word of it when spoken, so the situation seems similar to French.


Can you understand written Portuguese?

garyb wrote:
My choice would be to just learn the one that interests you most, then if you plan to travel in a
country where another is spoken, do a bit of work on that. In terms of listening comprehension, a little work can go
quite a long way with related languages.


This is a good advice. Now I have to choose the one that interests me most )

Thinking that I chose it before as a language to go thru 25 lessons of Assimil and after comments in this topic I
started to incline to Italian ) The main doubt that it is not so widely used as Spanish and French )
But as well as Surpent I don't like French pronunciation but I would like to be able to read in it )
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 18 of 44
10 September 2015 at 1:47am | IP Logged 
If you like Italian, go for it! It's not exactly a small country, and there's a lot to experience. If your first (next?) Mediterranean vacation is to Italy, it will certainly be the most useful language :)))

So, I'm inclined to agree about Italian ;))) Portuguese is also not widespread in Europe, but I've never regretted choosing it ahead of Italian or, god forbid, Spanish. Granted, I did have the time to start all three while still a student :)

Do you have any concerns apart from size/usefulness? Make sure to allow yourself some fun, otherwise all the grammar etc will get boring.

In a previous thread you indicated that you had already got the Spanish vocabulary book. It's not difficult to find a download ;)

I've found GLOSS great for improving my French reading skills. (Weird to admit it quite like that :DDD like a dirty fetish)
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Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 19 of 44
10 September 2015 at 6:09am | IP Logged 
You might also like the free Russian-based lessons at https://speakasap.com/ru/. There are song-based lessons for Italian, French and Spanish. (at least some of the songs are also on lyricstraining) There's also a phonetics mini-course for French. And the regular lessons are a nice refresher, though hopefully much of the stuff will be too easy for you :)

This was recommended on the new forum btw.

I don't know about garyb, but HTLAL veteran Solfrid Cristina is a fan of Agatha Christie (the writer, hehe) and she's read some of her stories in Portuguese despite not really learning it. (She speaks Spanish, French and Italian)

BTW, where in Russia are you from? I seem to remember that you're not from Moscow.

Edited by Serpent on 10 September 2015 at 6:13am

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Enrico
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 3505 days ago

162 posts - 207 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: Italian, Spanish, French

 
 Message 20 of 44
10 September 2015 at 11:44pm | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
If you like Italian, go for it! It's not exactly a small country, and there's a lot to experience. If
your first (next?) Mediterranean vacation is to Italy, it will certainly be the most useful language :)))


I like Spanish and French, too )) Especially the sound of Argentinian Spanish ))

So, I'm inclined to agree about Italian ;))) Portuguese is also not widespread in Europe, but I've never
regretted choosing it ahead of Italian or, god forbid, Spanish. Granted, I did have the time to start all three while
still a student :)

Serpent wrote:
Do you have any concerns apart from size/usefulness? Make sure to allow yourself some fun,
otherwise all the grammar etc will get boring.


Well maybe Spanish sounds more manfully )))

And I would like to take one which will be the best enter to the whole Romance group as a bonus )

1 person has voted this message useful



Enrico
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
Joined 3505 days ago

162 posts - 207 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: Italian, Spanish, French

 
 Message 21 of 44
11 September 2015 at 12:00am | IP Logged 
Serpent wrote:
You might also like the free Russian-based lessons


For almost all my topic of interests including language learning Russian materials worse than English.



Edited by Enrico on 11 September 2015 at 3:34am

2 persons have voted this message useful



garyb
Triglot
Senior Member
ScotlandRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4967 days ago

1468 posts - 2413 votes 
Speaks: English*, Italian, French
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 22 of 44
11 September 2015 at 10:28am | IP Logged 
I can read some Portuguese, I don't understand everything but I get the overall meaning. Like with listening, I imagine that a few hours spent learning the basics would "unlock" a lot more.

I love Italian, but overall, learning a language to a decent level is a huge commitment especially when you consider that it comes with learning about the culture and so on. What motivated me and continues to motivate me is my interest in the country and culture and my connections with native speakers; the easier access to other Romance languages is just a nice bonus. That's why I think interest is the most important factor.
2 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
serpent-849.livejour
Joined 6357 days ago

9753 posts - 15779 votes 
4 sounds
Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish

 
 Message 23 of 44
11 September 2015 at 4:53pm | IP Logged 
Enrico wrote:
Serpent wrote:
You might also like the free Russian-based lessons


For almost all my topic of interests including language learning Russian materials worse than English.


I agree in general, but I really liked that site. Try it out :)
1 person has voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5022 days ago

2237 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 24 of 44
11 September 2015 at 8:30pm | IP Logged 
Hi Enrico, I guess Russia is just too cold for you and you've returned to the Virgin islands again :) . My advice, is to pick a Romance language, stick with it- persist until you learn it well. With a knowledge of one Romance language, the others do become more accessible- Spanish/Portuguese are closer to each other as are French/Italian. Italian is also somewhat comprehensible to me with my Portuguese and Spanish.

Good Luck!




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