The descendent of Latin, the language spoken in the Roman empire, Italian is now spoken by more than 60 million people. Unlike its ancestor, however, Italian has grammar that is considered much easier to learn.
Reasons for learning Italian range from preparing for a trip to Italy to retiring on the Italian coast. Many others learn Italian because their ancestors came from Italy or because they want an advantage in applying for jobs. No matter what your reason may be for learning Italian, learning a new language is a very rewarding process.
If you already speak another romance language like Spanish or French, you will find that Italian is very similar. Many linguists estimate that the lexical similarity between Italian and French is 89% while the lexical similarity between Italian and Spanish is 82%. Even if you have only studied Spanish or French in high school, you will find that the grammar is quite similar and easy to pick up.
English speakers worldwide think of Italian as a very beautiful language. Unlike English, Italian puts a lot of emphasis on vowel sounds and many Italian words have vowel sounds at the end.
Italian differs from English in that nouns are split into two genders, masculine and feminine. Also, English speakers will find that Italian has verb conjugations that are quite different depending on the subject of the sentence.
Similarities, however, include word order. English and Italian have very similar word orders and both are considered to be subject-verb-object languages. You will find that it is very easy to start making Italian sentences even as a beginner.
Due to the large number of Italian speakers and Italian’s popularity as a foreign language, there is a wide variety of language textbooks and programs for learners to choose from. Depending on your ultimate language goals for Italian, you may want to choose from a quick audio program before your vacation or a textbook series to take you to fluency.
Before you begin learning Italian, you should remember to sit down and make a serious commitment to learning the language. It can be a tough process but if you stick to it, you will be greatly rewarded. On the other hand, don’t just simply do grammar exercises and read textbooks, you should also enjoy yourself in Italian, too! Watch an Italian film or buy an Italian language CD. You will find that these activities can be some of the most rewarding when learning Italian.
Author Robertson Kunz has a language learning guide: learn a new language quickly. Italian learners: learn fluent Italian.