Jessie44

I'm taking a 3 week trip in the summer of 2008 with my boyfriend. We're going to Italy, Spain, France, Monaco and Amsterdam. We will be spending an even amount of time everywhere except France and Monaco(which we're pretty much just passing through and only plan on staying 2-3 days in Nice and Monaco). I would like to learn at least one language before we go. I'm fluent in German and understand the amount of work that goes into learning new languages. I just don't know which to learn. My boyfriend doesn't know any languages(outside of English) and has never been overseas. I've been everywhere except Amsterdam before but have always gone in a group where someone knew the language. So, in which country would a fluent knowledge of the language help out the most--Italy, Spain or Amsterdam?

Christina

only passed through Italy, so can't comment on that, but it would help in Spain. Not necessary at all in Amsterdam and a waste of time, IMO, and that's because I do know the time it takes to learn a language, so why waste time learning a language no one else speaks except those in one country and they speak other languages very fluently. Besides, if you know German, you could make out a lot in written language, as they are similar.

I don't think you can learn a language in a year, myself, but you can learn something.

flanneruk

I'd say it's a total tossup between Italian and Spanish.

Both are a great deal easier than German, and getting reasonable fluency in one will help you a lot in the other country anyway.

It partly depends on where you're going: Italian is accepted everywhere in Italy, while they can get pretty antsy in Catalonia or the Basque country if you speak Spanish. I'd argue Italy has a better back catalogue of literature.

OTOH, obviously Spanish is a great deal more useful in the world outside European tourism. And not speaking English is more common in the Spanish travel industry (apart from the industrialised bit along the Costas) than in Italy.

dejafaux

not to worry, if you already speak German. I speak spanish and was able to communicate pretty well in Italy. Of course in Germany we always had to ask if someone spoke English. Your going to so many places that English will probably be your best mode of conversation. Maybe a few words in each? Its difficult because everyone speaks or learned different languages in school. The most fluent people I found were in Turkey. They spoke easily 6 or 7 languages.

nicegirl512

If you are American, I would agree that Spanish has the most practical application outside your trip. It is very useful to speak some Spanish. I found Italian a little harder to learn than Spanish, but not much (though my knowledge of Italian is a very shallow pool indeed). Once you know one, the other will be much easier to pick up. You can probably study one language in depth and learn travel phrases for the other in one year.

suze

Spanish, gets my vote for the most practical applications and relative ease of learning.

Jessie44

Wow, people really get back to you fast here. First off I would like to thank everyone who has posted and anyone who posts after I enter this.

I have to admit I've been leaning towards Spanish from the beginning. Mostly because I live in Florida and sometimes it seems Spanish is the official language here. So it would have more of a practical application than any of the others, but by all means keep the opinions coming.

hetismij

Spanish definitely.
BTW Amsterdam is not a country it's a city in the Netherlands. You won't need Dutch there, though it is nice to be able to say hello, goodbye, thankyou in the language of the country you are visiting.

daveesl

Well, I speak Spanish and French and it made it very easy to learn a bit of Italian. I find Spanish and Italian to be very similar and when my Italian would break down, I'd shift to Spanish and the locals could at least figure out what gibberish I was saying.

So, I vote for Spanish. Oh, and I also live in Florida, it does help alot!

dave

Larryincolorado

Periodically, the European Union does an exhaustive survey of European language abilities. The latest survey is published on the EU website, www.europa.eu, under Learning Languages, Eurobarometer. According to the latest survey, 29% of people in Italy can speak English, while only 20% of people in Spain can speak English. So apparently, you are more likely to need Spanish than Italian. Of course, that depends on where you go in each country, and how many English speakers go to that area for work.

And, just for the record, according to this study, 71% of people in Turkey can not speak any language other than their mother tongue! English is the next most common language in Turkey (18%), followed by German (4%). Six percent in Turkey are bilingual, with another language being their mother tongue and Turkish being their 2nd language.

enroute

Agree about Dutch. They do speak English well in Holland and German would help you even more.

Of the two romantic languages, I would consider which country you are likely to come back to. I love Spain but keep coming back to Italy. When faced with a similar choice a couple of years ago, I went for Italian and haven't regretted it since. When traveling in Spain last year, I found it easy to just talk Italian at them and phrase my questions as yes or no wherever possible. Most Spaniards understood me very well. Many of them do speak Italian.

Whatever you decide, I think it is a terrific idea and will serve you well in life. Have fun!

-e

kenderina

I think Spanish will be more useful for you outside of travelling , specially because you live in Florida

I'm Spaniard, and speak a bit italian also. I haven't had any problem travelling in Italy even when my Italian failed..and they don't get to understand me in Spanish ..just spoke English

nytraveler

Spanish is probably the most useful - since in small towns you may encounter some people who don;t speak English. And it's close enough to Italian so you can understand basic tourist needs. (I've never studied Italian at all and can bumble along with a basic understanding with my simple Spanish.) And, again you're unlikely to find any place in Italy (except a very small town, where someone doesn't speak perfectly good English.)

I've never met anyone in Amsterdam (4 trips) who didn't speak at least some English - often perfect and with very little accent. (So many people are fluent in English they routinely run American and British TV shows there in English with Dutch subtitles.) Also - Dutch is sort of between German and English (actually the closest language to English) - so I would think you could intuit a lot of the basics.

StCirq

Spanish:

It's the most useful, here in the USA and obviously in Spain.

It's easy - has the smallest vocabulary of any romance language.

BUT, hardly anyone in Italy, France, or Monaco will speak it. And Italian is SO much prettier, though virtually useless outside of Italy.

eliza3

We live in southern spain and very very few people speak English, including in large cities like Seville. In Italy, even in smaller towns, we found most people spoke enough English or we could get by with the little italian we knew. I agree italian is a prettier than spanish, but french is the prettiest!

travel_buzzing

between spanish and italian, spanish is a more useful language to learn (3rd spoken in the world) and from it you will be able to understand more italian.
on the reverse, italian is easier to pronounce and being closer to latin it is easier to learn and understand.
interestingly i've seen spanish and italians talking: one way spanish-the other way italian and generally understand each other.
I would go with Spanish, although I prefer Italian

hopscotch

Every Amsterdamer is fluent in English. Dutch is very similar to German, but don't use German in Holland. The Dutch are still very mad at the Germans for their WWII atrocities.

Italian and Spanish are almost interchangeable. You won't find anybody in Spain who speaks English. A few Italians do speak English. I would learn Italian because it is such a beautiful and expressive language.

laurie_ann

I would have voted for Spanish even before I read the rest of the posts for the following reasons:

1. it is one of the easiest languages to learn especially on your own as spelling and pronunciation are uniform and so you will probably get "farther" in learning Spanish than you could in Italian

2. it is more widely spoken around the world than Italian

3. I have been to both Italy and Spain and would say that Spain seemed to have much less Italy available in English for tourists like printed signs and guides in museums than Italy did and fewer people seemed to speak English in Spain if needed.

In any case, please tell me even if you choose Spanish over Italian you will learn at least what I call the "ten magic words" in Italian. These have gotten me a long way in many countries (not in Italian but in the actual language of those countries

please, thank you (start or end every conversation even if the rest of it is in English)
yes, no
hello, goodbye
beautiful, delicious
where is, do you have (then you can point in a guide book or phrase book)
excuse me, excuse me (most languages have two versions, one for more like "may I please interrupt you to get by or ask you a question" and one for more like "sorry I just stepped on your foot&quot

Have fun. Learning the language and the cultural nuances that go with it I think greatly enhance your overall experience in any travels.

logos999

>The Dutch are still very mad at the Germans for their WWII atrocities.
utter nonsense, imho!

alanRow

3 weeks, 4 (and a half) countries. Oh dear. Taking off 3 days for Nice / Monaco that means 18 days less travel time for 3 countries