native Spanish speakers: which one do you find closer to ESP

[rykketid]

Which one do you find closer to Spanish: Italian or Portuguese?

In the Italian section there's a controversy about this issue. Some people are claiming that Spanish is closer to Portuguese, others that Spanish is closer to Italian. Therefore I thought that, in order to clinch it once and for all, the best thing was ask directly to native Spanish speakers.

Personally I've always thought Spanish was more similar to Italian, and definetely Italian is closer to Spanish than to Portuguese... But now I want to hear your opinion

[kalemiye]

In my opinion, Portuguese is closer to Spanish, but the pronunciation is very different, thus it is difficult for us to understand spoken Portuguese. Italian is not as close to Spanish as Portuguese is, but spoken Italian is much easier to understand.

[Michael]

In my opinion, Portuguese is closer to Spanish, but the pronunciation is very different, thus it is difficult for us to understand spoken Portuguese. Italian is not as close to Spanish as Portuguese is, but spoken Italian is much easier to understand.

Word.

[JackFrost]

Definitely Portuguese because because both languages are in the same language subgroup (Ibero-Romance). [Standard] Italian is in another subgroup.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_la ... _languages

[Michael]

In a nutshell: Portuguese (whether EP or BP) is more akin to Spanish in print; Italian is (by far) more akin to Spanish from the mouth. There. I said it.

[mikemike18]

I agree with those above me ^

Spanish and Portuguese have more similar vocabulary and structure. So as far as the written language goes, Portuguese is more similar.

However, the pronunciation trends are closer in Spanish and Italian, which makes spoken Italian more recognizable to a Spanish-Speaker.

( In Portuguese you may see a word that once looked familiar in Spanish, but then when you hear it pronounced, you're like.. "What?" )

[daniel201088]

Yes, for me, the portuguese is the closest in its written form, but in my case, i find italian more understandable when it is spoken, anyway.. italian is also understandable when it is written..not as much as portuguese but almost.

[enricmm]

Galician

[Lazar Taxon]

Yeah, it's funny - in lexical and morphological terms Spanish is most closely related to the other Ibero-Romance languages, and then to the Gallo-Romance languages, but it's Italian to which it seems the closest phonetically.

[babosa daltónica]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical_si ... _languages

Spanish/Portuguese: 89% lexical similarity
Spanish/Italian: 82%. "

Pronunciation: Spanish/Italian.

Sentence structure: Spanish and Portuguese are VERY similar.

Common sense sniff test: Spanish and Portuguese share same peninsula, so it is logical that they are more related. (Italian and French are also 89% similar in their lexicon and not coincidentally are neighbors. Romanian is the red-haired step child of the Romance language families, as an aside)

[.Denise.]

Yes, as an Argentinian Spanish native speaker, Italian is easier to understand auditorily than Portuguese.

In addition, people who speak the Rioplatense variety of Spanish may use some words or phrases in Italian due to Italian immigration in the 40's. That makes us a bit more aware of how it sounds, as it's been spoken in immigrant families and passed down on to the following generations. Many Italian words are even part of lunfardo, our local jargon.

On the other hand, we're right next to Brazil, and due to business and foregin affairs, we are close to the Poruguese language. And in written from, Portuguese is easier to understand.

It's a tough question to answer, though.

[KarlDerKaefer]

I'm not a native speaker, but I agree with the others. I have learned the Argentinian variety of Spanish and actually the pronunciation of Argentinian Spanish resembles more the one of Italian than of any other Spanish variety. This makes it very easy and familiar to understand spoken Italian, however, the languages have quite some differences.

With Portuguese it is the other way round. The languages are very similar concerning their structure and vocabulary, but the pronunciation is very different. I have never studied Portuguese but I can understand a lot, if it is written. I have seen a lot of Brazilians and Argentinians talking with each other, using their respective language. For Brazilians it seems quite easy to understand Argentinians, but usually the Brazilians simplify their pronunciation, so Argentinians can understand them easier.