Portuguese vs Italian

saman42
Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:41:16 +0000

Here’s how it is linguistically when it comes to Portuguese and Italian in relation to Spanish (yes linguistics is like my hobby, I know it’s weird, btw i speak Portuguese and Spanish fluently, and I’m teaching myself Italian right now):
At the basic level, Portuguese is closer to Spanish than Italian is.
Once you go more advanced, Italian is closer to Spanish than Portuguese is.
Portuguese vocabulary is generally a bit closer to Spanish vocab than Italian is, but Italian grammar is definitely closer to Spanish than Portuguese is. So, once you grasp the vocabulary, Italian is easier for a Spanish speaker than Portuguese. At the fundamental level, like when you first start learning, Portuguese will be a bit easier than Italian.

Of course, all of this only applies on paper. When spoken, Portuguese is NOTHING like Spanish. Spoken Portuguese, depending on the dialect, has been compared most often to Romanian. People often say it sounds like a mix of French, Italian, and Russian.
Spoken Italian is much easier for Spanish speakers than spoken Portuguese.
Both are beautiful languages, so I say learn both!