Espanol en la sangre?

Your teacher is full of it. However Italian and Spanish are similar languages, and if you spoke Italian at home, then that might help you a bit. But even if you didn't, and English is your first language, English and Spanish are relatively closely related with many similar words and cognates. But I bet that if you had grown up speaking Japanese, your Mediterranean blood would be of no help at all.

You might have so much Italian in your sub conscious and if it was spoken in the house by your parents that could be the reason you picked it up quickly.

There are people that pick up languages easier than others.

wildnfree said:

Hi

I was just reading a post by a girl who is half dominican. Despite not hearing/speaking spanish at home, when she tried to learn it came really easily to her.

The same thing happened to me. My dad was born in Italy but our surname is Spanish and somewhere down the line our ancestors left Spain for Italy. Now I am learning Spanish, I have aquired a native accent (so I am told) and find it comes to me very easily.

My teacher said this usually is the case for people of mediterrean descent, as opposed to others.\

Is it in our 'blood'? Does that explain our ease of learning it?

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Io capisco italiano, anche la mia famiglia non sono d'italia.

Me piace molto questo pase. E un pase maraviglioso, la gente e piu simpatica anche bellisima, ma il cibo italiano e molto buono.

Me piace molto l'italia, solo il viaggio a roma non me piace perche e piu largo.

I don't know if its in "our" blood, but Spanish, French, Italian, and Portuguese are languages based on Latin. Even English has some Latin words imbedded, though English is more Germanic than anything else.

In any case, the Latin connection among the four languages of the western Meditteranean Europe certainly explains for the easy fluency of learning any of these languages, if one is a native speaker of Spanish, French, Italian, or Portuguese.

Arriverderci,
-NAL

d'accordo
My ancestors are predominantly European. English, German ...
If I hadn't lived in the DR as a kid, I probably wouldn't have recognized my ability to learn languages.
Meaning, you don't have to be of Latin origin to take to Spanish, etc.
Maybe I was a Taino shaman in a past life.

mkohn

I agree with the prior posters,
My father is from Curaçao and he spoke Dutch, Portugese, Spanish, English and Papiamentu. I noticed that words and phrases in Papiamentu are very similar to spanish, i.e. Di nada=you're welcome or Mi yama=My name is and Bon Dia, Bon nochi & Bon tardi. Also, there are a lot of words from the original Arawak language.

jmsunlinenet said:

Your teacher is full of it. However Italian and Spanish are similar languages, and if you spoke Italian at home, then that might help you a bit. But even if you didn't, and English is your first language, English and Spanish are relatively closely related with many similar words and cognates. But I bet that if you had grown up speaking Japanese, your Mediterranean blood would be of no help at all.

Click to expand...

I dunno though. I am about as white as white people can get. Basically I look Irish, but I am canadian. My grandma is half spanish, and her family came from northern spain. I too have learned spanish quite quickly. My grammatics are not the best, but I speak with hardly any accent. No my mom on the other hand, has no spanish blood and couldn't come up with the correct accent if she tried.

In the language learning arena - in some studies it has been noted that if you are exposed to more than one language before you are 12 then you have the capability to learn a new language to a level of native fluency. Something about how the mind absorbs the sounds and the ability to mimic those sounds.

I myself grew up in the Midwest US with croatian (not serbo-croatian) and french spoken in my family, and my spanish is at a level of native fluency (dominican/caribbean spanish), and I also look mediterian or as I have been told "Tu no puede ser americana"

I did live with my German grandma (and my mom while dad was in the service) for the first year of my life ... But my mom couldn't learn Spanish, so I'm not sure about that.
I will say, having lived in Japan, the vowel sounds are identical to Spanish, Italian, it's just that they have only one beat unlike Spanish where they can cover 2 beats.
I can empathize with those who learn languages at a later age, because I started to learn Japanese and Italian in my 40's.
If I hadn't lived in the DR for a year, I might have missed out on a lot of opportunities in my life. Including language learning.
mkohn

Spanish is my first language, I don´t have nothing of Italian but I could understand almost all that Nal typed

Yo no hablo italiano, aunque mi familia no es de italia
Io capisco italiano, anche la mia famiglia non sono d'italia.

me parece muy ********* es un *** maravilloso, la gente es muy simpatica
Me piace molto questo pase. E un pase maraviglioso, la gente e piu simpatica

**** bellisima, mas el *** italiano es muy bueno
anche bellisima, ma il cibo italiano e molto buono.

Me gusta mucho Italia, yo solo viajo a Roma, **************** muy largo
Me piace molto l'italia, solo il viaggio a roma non me piace perche e piu largo


Italian and Spanish come from Latin, so they have a lot similar words, so is easy for spanish speaker to lear Italian.

I learned english so fast and was easy for me, I always wanted to speak english.

correct translation

riravaga said:

Yo no hablo italiano, aunque mi familia no es de italia
Io capisco italiano, anche la mia famiglia non sono d'italia.

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Mi familia no es italiana, pero entiendo italiano.

riravaga said:

me parece muy ********* es un *** maravilloso, la gente es muy simpatica
Me piace molto questo pase. E un pase maraviglioso, la gente e piu simpatica

Click to expand...

Me agrada mucho ese pais. Es un pais maravillos, la gente es muy simpatica.

riravaga said:

**** bellisima, mas el *** italiano es muy bueno
anche bellisima, ma il cibo italiano e molto buono.

Click to expand...

y bellisima, y la comida italiana es muy buena.

riravaga said:

Me gusta mucho Italia, yo solo viajo a Roma, **************** muy largo
Me piace molto l'italia, solo il viaggio a roma non me piace perche e piu largo

Click to expand...

Me gusta much italia, pero no me gusta el viaje a roma por que es muy largo.

riravaga said:

Italian and Spanish come from Latin, so they have a lot similar words, so is easy for spanish speaker to lear Italian.

Click to expand...

Similarities also exist with French and Portuguese.

-NAL

Different opinion

From a linguistic point of view I have a very different opinion about the family of romance languages. French, Italian Spanish and Portuguese having all derived from Latin have similarities BUT many differences. The similarities are most apparent in the grammar patterns i.e. syntax and rules but phonetically and intonation wise these languages are quite unique. The vocabulary is sometimes similar but the gender may differ from one language to another because the origin of words in each language that is not Latin differs from language to language. The borrowed words in Spanish are either Greek or from the Moors. Words like ojalá, azúcar, almohada, alcázar etc. are examples. The Greek words are easy to identify because they end with [a] but are masculine in gender. For example el problema, el sistema, el programa and like words.

Italian is still the closest to Latin vocabulary and grammar wise. French is the most different in comparison to the other three because it had more time to evolve (away from Latin). French is phonetically unique when comparing it to an extremely phonetic language like Spanish. As well, French grammar in certain aspects differs very much from Spanish and is very difficult to master whereas Spanish grammar can be mastered at a high level if one has the proper educational training. Even French speakers admit how difficult French grammar is.

I just wanted to add my opinion since I can see how these languages are similar but yet VERY different therefore I am very careful when making comparisons. As well, Brazilian Portuguese is very different from Portuguese from the homeland. In my opinion Portuguese from Brazil is easier to understand but from Portugal the phonetic aspect is really a challenge.

The similarities in grammar are for example:

1) ser/estar= Spanish, Italian, Portuguese
2) concordance (nouns and adjectives)= Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, French
3) usage of the subjunctive (in order of importance IMO)= Spanish, French & Italian (a tie). I can't comment regarding Portuguese.
4) Reflexive verbs (verbs that are reflexive in these languages are not in English in some cases)= Spanish, French (I can't comment on Italian & Portuguese)
5) L'accord du participe passé (one aspect of this rule)= French only (and not easy for everyone).
6) Verbs= certain verb tenses are more commonly used than others= Spanish stands out here compared to French and Italian.

There are more comparisons but I will stop here.


Je m'en vais.

Salut,

LDG.

me parece muy ********* es un *** maravilloso, la gente es muy simpatica
Me piace molto questo pase. E un pase maraviglioso, la gente e piu simpatica
piacere is pleases, pase should be paese (country), I think
**** bellisima, mas el *** italiano es muy bueno
anche bellisima, ma il cibo italiano e molto buono.
ma is but, like mais in French, I think. And cibo is food. I think pronounced chibo
Me gusta mucho Italia, yo solo viajo a Roma, **************** muy largo
Me piace molto l'italia, solo il viaggio a roma non me piace perche e piu largo
solo is but or except and non me piace perque is no me agradece por que
the similarities grow on you. The similarities are also with French like piu is plus
IMO every language connection we make improves our understanding of Spanish/English/French, etc.
Makes it easier to communicate in the DR and other countries.

If you know any two of these three languages - Spanish, Italian and French, the third comes easily.
Romanian is an interesting one. It's supposed to be the language closest to Latin. You can certainly make yourself understood there by speaking Spanish.
In reply to the OP, some people are good at languages, others are not. What one of the other posters said is true: if you have learned a second language in childhood it helps, almost as if the process opened up some mechanism for language learning.

Chiri....

I just sent you a PM explaining Romanian/ Italian vs Latin. I just realized adding anything here may lead to a discussion that I am not willing to have since I have studied Latin which was a mandatory part of my educational curriculum. I think you will understand my point better.


LDG.

I'm told..

my Spanish has a very good Italian accent.. LOL as to how easy it is to talk with your hands and not your mouth.

JOHN

Further to the point of Latin Studies

My son's first second language was Latin for 7 years. Introduced French at some point and it was easy,but not as easy as Spanish which he began in September of this year. He has been speaking (roughly) since his first week of classes.
In fact he has become pain in the arse since I can't finish one sentence without him correcting my verse tense. Oh well, better than no conversation.

JOHN