Spanish or Italian?

Mackleton

Hey, Im a leaving cert with plans to do arts next year in UCC and Im in a quandry about my choices, I cant decide whether to take Spanish or Italian as my foreign language. What I would love is some feedback from people who have done one or the other, or both of their thoughts on the subject. What I need to consider is,

The usefulness of the language

The difficulty of the language

The fact that I prefer the idea of Italian as I love the sound and romance of it

I am hoping to specialize in the archaeology of the mediterranean

All suggestions welcome, thanks in advance!

Schlemm

I did Italian and it's a great subject.

I really wanted to learn it too, and it's not a hard language to learn (and languages aren't my strong point!).

The exam is pretty easy cos not a whole lot of ppl do Italian, unlike French.

Look at some of the past exam papers on www.examinations.ie - it'll give you an idea of what they ask. I did the LC in 04, dunno if much has changed since, but I presume that they still ask a comprehension, a letter, and some other stuff.

If they still ask you to read a novel in Italian and answer a question on the paper in either English or Italian, this is a great way to get extra marks. You can sometimes find translations of the novels on amazon, etc. and they're fairly straightforward. I dunno if the Spanish paper has a question like this, but it is a great asset to the Italian paper if it's still being asked!!!

Make sure u get a good teacher cos I dunno if there's any textbook. If u decide to go with it, I could give u the names of the books we used.

In bocca al lupo with your exams!

Mackleton

Hey Schlemm, thanks for that but I dont think I was clear enough, I meant that in september I hope to do arts in college and I want to study a foreign language there, either Spanish or Italian. Unfortunately Im stuck with French like most people, for the leaving. I was kinda looking for people who have, or are currently studying either language at colloge level. Thanks though, my own fault for phrasing the question badly.

nervous_twitch

I did French for LC, and took up Spanish in college (bit of a language head, so studying both ;p) - absolutely love it.. the sounds, the rhythm, plus imo its somewhat easier than French. It is also the mosrt rapidly expanding language in the world, with a whole continent of speakers, how can you go wrong??

(By the by, Italian French and Spanish are all pretty similar in terms of difficulty.. they're all romance languages with similar sets of rules)

Mackleton

Thanks for that. I think wats really bothering me is that I would Spanish because I should and not because I want to, while doing Italian would be more enjoyable, it wouldnt be as useful for travel. I have also heard that while both languages are very similar, Italian is slightly more complexa and so if I learned that first then Spanish would be infinitely easier to learn after. Right or wrong? Dunno myself, feel free to correct me any Italian speakers

is_that_so

Italian is generally considered one of the easiest languages , at least for Europeans. It is marginally easier than Spanish as you don't have to get into the extra sounds (ll, ñ and the z sound). Spanish is easy and as pointed out more practical - as it is more widely spoken. I learnt Spanish in Spain and found it pretty easy. Whichever you do you should find the other one easier to pick up after.

nervous_twitch

Mackleton wrote:

while doing Italian would be more enjoyable

- well isnt it obvious so??

Do what you would most like to do; I'm studying Irish too, and chances are it's not gonna afford me many opportunities in later life, but I love it. Practicality shouldnt be much of an issue.

ps have you considered doing both? maybe not as part of your degree, but most colleges offer evening language classes

Mackleton

Ya I was thinking of doing that and would you believe that I Irish is one of the subjects I have definately decided to do too. As someone else said Im a bit of a language head. Si Im hoping for Archaeology, Irish, History and Italian or Spanish. By the way how is Irish at college level? Im thinking it could be pretty technical but I dont really care, Im gonna do it anyway. Any words of advice on that?

nervous_twitch

I found Irish grand; I think most colleges take into account the fact that everyones at a different standard, and so essentially start from scratch. This is especially handy for grammar.
Also, most colleges will have a few Irish societies/organisations etc, so you're never short of a place to speak the language.

Ádh mór ort

rufio

Well as a partisan of the Italian language, I'd say Italian. I realize that is really simple compared to all the other european languages (we don't have any weird sound, your pronunce the words just the way you read them, ecc). Our grammar is for sure more difficult than the english, but nothing even nearly comparable to german (I'm not sure whether French would be more difficult than italian).

Also, if someone wants to learn Italian in Cork, I'm more than available for a language exchange. I'm not a teacher but I might have fun doing it.
My english has a lot to be improved but the basis are there.


Fabio