Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Similarities

Lolling Joao   Mon Feb 01, 2010 4:24 pm GMT
Regarding lexicon, Portuguese and Italian share many false friends. That makes the comunication between speakers of these languages very clumsy and funny, with plenty of misunderstandings.
* * *   Tue Feb 02, 2010 4:25 am GMT
"Although the history says that Portuguese and Italian took different routes long ago, i think that they're still very similar, in some ways more than with the Spanish and French, phonetically for instance. And i'm not the only one, many English speakers say that too, if they say so i believe it because the only way they differ a romance language from another is by the accent."

- Brazilian Portuguese sounds to me like people from Naples trying to speak Spanish.
And European Portuguese like Russians trying to speak Italian.

Hey, is *this* one and only one language?
lmho Joao   Tue Feb 02, 2010 11:46 pm GMT
<< Regarding lexicon, Portuguese and Italian share many false friends. That makes the comunication between speakers of these languages very clumsy and funny, with plenty of misunderstandings. >>

Just like the misunderstanding between Portuguese and Spanish.

When Portuguese say "no" they mean "en el" not "no"; "dos" is not 2 but "de los"; "O" is "el" not "o/or".
Lolling Joao   Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:42 am GMT
No, it's worse. We can understand Spanish in a clumsy way without learning but yet, we do understand.

Regarding Italian it's more complicated. It's harder to understand and there are plenty of misunderstandings, very funny ones.
lolling Joao   Wed Feb 03, 2010 12:46 am GMT
«- Brazilian Portuguese sounds to me like people from Naples trying to speak Spanish.»

That description fits more to Argentines. The Argentine Spanish accent is also influenced by Italian settlements there.

Brazilians jokingly describe Argentines as Italians who speak Spanish and pretend to be English.
Penetra   Wed Feb 03, 2010 1:49 am GMT
Speaking from personal experience, I never once had to resort to English, the only foreign language I really spoke back then, when I've been to Italy and Spain, and only knew a smattering of both languages. Portuñol and Portugliano can sure go a long way.
loling Joao   Mon Feb 08, 2010 2:54 am GMT
Penetra, nevertheless Italian is more difficult for us to catch the meaning of words than Spanish, a least for me.

I've never learned Italian. Obviously I've never got lost in Italy, but precise communication with Italians without speaking Italian is quite difficult for me.
kalis   Mon Feb 08, 2010 3:54 am GMT
What is the easiest romance language to learn besides spanish?

Portuguese or Italian?
5   Mon Feb 08, 2010 5:37 am GMT
<<
Brazilians jokingly describe Argentines as Italians who speak Spanish and pretend to be English. >>

How do they pretend to be English?

<< What is the easiest romance language to learn besides spanish?

Portuguese or Italian? >>

Italian is easier to pronounce. But Portuguese is much easier to read off the bat for Americans, especially if you know a little French. I have trouble reading Italian, but Portuguese is much easier especially if you read it slowly and translate it out loud.
looling Joao   Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:20 am GMT
«Brazilians jokingly describe Argentines as Italians who speak Spanish and pretend to be English. >>

How do they pretend to be English? »

It's a joke done by Brazilians because a stereotype about Argentines is that they pretend to be Europeans and are vain. This is arguable of course.
Brazilians and Argentines are neighbours and rivals.
Guesto   Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:22 am GMT
The Brazilians on the other hand pretend to be Africans and are good at it.
Guesto2   Tue Feb 09, 2010 12:44 am GMT
"The Brazilians on the other hand pretend to be Africans and are good at it."

The quality of life of region south and Southeast of Brazil owns the ass of argentina and chile.And is even better than most countries in eastern Europe.
Indeed,the 2 largest and most important cities in latin america is brazilian.são paulo and rio de janeiro.
Is just a matter of time to Brasil be bigger than russia.
Penetra   Tue Feb 09, 2010 2:52 am GMT
Ao indivíduo acima: você não se sente nem um pouquinho encabulado em postar num inglês tão maltrapilho? E para quê essas patriotadas?
Raven   Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:22 pm GMT
"Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese Similarities"

They are all ugly languages.
UGLY COWS AND UGLY SHEEP   Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:31 pm GMT
If you know French, wouldn't Spanish be harder than Italian, given that French and Italian share more vocab?

How would French help with Portuguese?