Is it true that Italian is the easiest Romance language?

truth   Fri Sep 18, 2009 8:47 pm GMT
that's easy....you must be deaf if you don't hear that...

in written language it's not easy at all! You cannot read it properly if you don't know its pronunciation unlike Spanish or FRench for instance
Chato   Fri Sep 18, 2009 9:36 pm GMT
The only romace language (and one of the few in the world) that you can read 90% correctly without knowing its pronounciation is Spanish.

You cannot pronounce French, Italian or Portuguese properly without any previous knowledge.
Hispano   Fri Sep 18, 2009 10:16 pm GMT
<< The only romace language (and one of the few in the world) that you can read 90% correctly without knowing its pronounciation is Spanish. >>

O dear. Have you ever heard someone with zero knowledge of Spanish read a Spanish text?
In 90% of the cases they don't read it 90% correctly. Sorry.


<< You cannot pronounce French, Italian or Portuguese properly without any previous knowledge. >>
This applies to Spanish too.
I'm not even just talking about the pronunciation of individual letters (including the vowels) alone, but also the stress, which is pretty important in Spanish.
If you speak Spanish, just try to read a text using the wrong stress patterns, have another Spanish speaker listen to you, and see how much he understands.

For someone without any prior knowledge a Spanish text is just a jumble of words one doesn't know how to pronounce.
guest   Fri Sep 18, 2009 11:17 pm GMT
célebre, celebre, celebré...
Islandic sheep   Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:39 am GMT
"de-SI-de-rano"
Kaeops   Sat Sep 19, 2009 7:48 am GMT
Italian spelling is the most difficult. Double consonants are so hard to master, because: in Northern Italy most double consonants are pronounced as single: belo instead of bello, and in Central and Southern Italy most single consonants are pronounced as double. So, it's practically a learning by hearth process:

cappelli (pronounced: cappèlli ''hats'') vs capelli (pronounced: capélli ''hair'')
anni (years) vs ani (anuses)
reality   Sun Sep 20, 2009 8:08 am GMT
Italian spelling is the most difficult. Double consonants are so hard to master, because: in Northern Italy most double consonants are pronounced as single: belo instead of bello, and in Central and Southern Italy most single consonants are pronounced as double. So, it's practically a learning by hearth process

This was true a century ago. Nowadays Young educated people can speak standard Italian. The only difference in pronunciation between Northen and southern pronunciation is Raddoppiamento sintattico. Italian from Florence or Rome pronounce vado a casa = vado akkasa or akkaza/ people from Milan and Venice pronounce vado a casa = vado a Kaza. Anyway the former is the standard one.
Manaus   Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:06 am GMT
Nowadays Young educated people can speak standard Italian.
//
The only place I've heard young people speaking standard Italian was in Rome. In Milan and Venice they use wrong vowels, and in Florence they pronounce /k/ as /h/. There use to be a dialect in Rome (Romanesco) but it's spoken only by old people. Young people speak impeccable standard Italian (unlike in Milan where they speak nasally and with wrong vowels, or in Tuscany when they pronounce /k/ as [h]).
blanche   Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:16 am GMT
Tuscany when they pronounce /k/ as [h]).

People speak the best Italian in Tuscany They use proper vowels and all verb tenses like in literary Italian. K as H or X is not so widespread among young people: Anyway it's funny and I adore it
truth   Sun Sep 20, 2009 10:59 am GMT
Young people speak impeccable standard Italian

Just a Roman can say a comical thing like that. Even though Italian vowels are generally well pronounced by Romans, their accent is quite strong and some consonants are completely modified like ch, sh, r, z. EX. BorZa
Guest   Sun Sep 20, 2009 1:16 pm GMT
Do the Romans pronounce l like r?
Español   Thu Oct 15, 2009 12:06 pm GMT
French is grammatically the easiest Romance language.