Do Spanish speakers really understand Italian & Portugue

Native Korean   Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:01 pm GMT
1. Do native Spanish speakers really understand Italian and Portuguese language?
If you do, can you understand what she is talking about?
http://media.putfile.com/Italian-Greeting
What is she saying?

2. Which language is the easiest to understand for native Spanish speakers? Italian, European Portuguese, Brazilian Portuguese, Catalan(Valencian) or Galician?
Guest   Sat Jun 28, 2008 9:33 pm GMT
I can't get the file. Nice site putfile.com
Native Korean   Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:03 pm GMT
Seriously? It works fine on my computer.
Anyway try this link instead:

http://mfiles.naver.net/994dae78623255e6c9a4/data33/2008/6/29/80/italiano-majestaz.mp3
Guest   Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:14 pm GMT
The girl says she's "mucho contenta" (very happy) because she's going to be married soon and looks forward for the "matrimonio" (wedding).
Easy .
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 7:58 am GMT
1. Portuguese/Brazilian Portuguese Yes
2. Galician Yes
3. Catalan Not
4. Italian Not
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:12 am GMT
1. Brazilian Portuguese. Yes
2. European Portuguese. Yes. When I was in Portugal, the first day I understood only 50%. When my ears got used to the nasal sounds, I understood all.
3. Valencian. Yes
4. Galician. Yes
5. Catalan. Yes
6. Italian. Some. When I was in Italy, I understood almost all, using sometimes an English word.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:29 am GMT
Catalan is the easiest for Spanish speakers to understand.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:53 am GMT
From ethnologue.com

Lexical similarity 89% with Portuguese, 85% with Catalan, 82% with Italian, 76% with Sardinian, 75% with French, 74% with Rheto-Romance, 71% with Rumanian.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 10:50 am GMT
From Wikipedia
Spanish and Italian share a very similar phonological system. At present, the lexical similarity with Italian is estimated at 82%.[8] As a result, Spanish and Italian are mutually intelligible to various degrees. The lexical similarity with Portuguese is greater, 89%, but the vagaries of Portuguese pronunciation make it less easily understood by Hispanophones than Italian. Mutual intelligibility between Spanish and French or Romanian is even lower (lexical similarity being respectively 75% and 71%[8]): comprehension of Spanish by French speakers who have not studied the language is as low as an estimated 45% - the same as of English. The common features of the writing systems of the Romance languages allow for a greater amount of interlingual reading comprehension than oral communication would.


For instance:
NATO for Germanic languages . OTAN for romance ones.
EU " . UE "

etc,etc.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:16 pm GMT
Italians use NATO and EU.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:28 pm GMT
but in italian isn't it Unione Europea = UE.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 12:36 pm GMT
Organizzazione del Trattato Nord-Atlantico should be OTNA but it's better to call it OTAN rather than NATO.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 1:27 pm GMT
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:30 pm GMT
<< Do spanish speakers really understand Italian and Portuguese>>

No. Its often claimed to be true, but its demonstrably false; particularly with regard to italian which is dramatically different from spanish.
Guest   Sun Jun 29, 2008 9:58 pm GMT
The only one Spanish speakers can legitimately claim to understand is Catalan, which is at least 90% intelligible.