Which language would you rather learn? Italian or Portuguese?

[100% pro-life no matter what]

Tough one.  I'm going to Italy tomorrow (!), so I'd love to be able to fully communicate with the locals, but I have several Brazilian friends, so I have to go with Portuguese.

[Battista Minola 1616]

I am actually curious if anyone here is conversational in both languages (I wouldn't count myself just yet; unfortunately unlike with Spanish I encounter Portuguese speakers very rarely so I cannot get a proper assessment).

[Santander]

Northern Italy is the best region in the world.

[jamestroll]

I have had an interesting language experience last year or so.

I have become 100% comfortable in Spanish.. partially due to having a beautiful latino boyfriend with brown skin, brown eyes, and black hair and always watching media in Spanish.

I wanted to learn a "hard" language and found Arabic the only realistic one due to having an alphabet and being phonetic. I was making great progress and in 2025 plan to study it intensely.

A plan to travel to Brasil came up for me this fall.. (my fall) so I put arabic back for a bit to attempt to learn some portuguese. It has been extremely difficult for me. Like really difficult. the similarity to Spanish DOES NOT help me.. and I should have known that before because the Spanish words that resemble english the most I always have the most trouble with. even today.

But I am getting better and with practice.. I am confident I will travel to Brasil just fine.

Portuguese has been a complete nightmare for me so far. Learning similar languages is not always easy.

Brazil is an incredible country.. preparing for it learning travel portuguese has been insanely tough for me.

No use in getting mad at myself though: I am extremely old and I am only going to get better not worse. And I do not need to be fluent in it.

[Red Velvet]

It shouldn’t be hard to communicate here for whoever has good knowledge of spanish. Some words here and there but in general it’s quite similar.

I met with an Argentinian colleague recently and we talked with each other in our own languages, understanding each other. It’s harsher on 1st contact, but once you get used to it’s easy to understand each other.

The bigger problem IMO is the pronunciation, because sound-wise it sounds very different even if most words at least resemble each other when written. I kinda always was able to read spanish better than hearing it even without interacting with it. But after my ears were trained (lived in Spain for a year), I can understand it quite well.

Talking in Spanish is still harsher for me because of this though.

PORTUGUESE

Bom dia, tudo bom? Quero ir a praia hoje, beber água de coco e sentir o mar gelado bater no meu tornozelo.

Depois, vou almoçar ao ar-livre de chinelos. Gosto de comer bacalhau ou outros frutos do mar como camarões; ostras ou lulas.

De noite devo curtir um cinema com os amigos, comendo pipoca e bebendo refrigerante. Não é uma boa ideia?

SPANISH

Buenos días, todo bien? Quiero ir a la playa hoy, beber agua de coco y sentir el frío del mar golpear mi tobillo.

Después almorzaré al ar libre en chancletas. Me gusta comer bacalao o otros frutos del mar como gambas; ostras o calamares.

Por la noche debería disfrutar de una película con amigos, comiendo palomitas y bebiendo refrescos. No es una buena idea?

[Battista Minola 1616]

PORTUGUESE

Bom dia, tudo bom? Quero ir a praia hoje, beber água de coco e sentir o mar gelado bater no meu tornozelo.

Depois, vou almoçar ao ar-livre de chinelos. Gosto de comer bacalhau ou outros frutos do mar como camarões; ostras ou lulas.

De noite devo curtir um cinema com os amigos, comendo pipoca e bebendo refrigerante. Não é uma boa ideia?

SPANISH

Buenos días, todo bien? Quiero ir a la playa hoy, beber agua de coco y sentir el frío del mar golpear mi tobillo.

Después almorzaré al ar libre en chancletas. Me gusta comer bacalao o otros frutos del mar como gambas; ostras o calamares.

Por la noche debería disfrutar de una película con amigos, comiendo palomitas y bebiendo refrescos. No es una buena idea?

ITALIAN

Buon giorno, tutto bene? Voglio andare alla spiaggia oggi, bere acqua di cocco e sentire il mare freddo battere sulla mia caviglia.

Dopo pranzerò all'aria aperta in infradito. Mi piace mangiare baccalà [merluzzo] o altri frutti di mare come gamberi; ostriche o calamari.

Di notte dovrei guardarmi un film con degli amici, mangiando popcorn e bevendo delle bibite. Non è una buona idea?

Obviously similar, but not nearly as similar (although context dependent - for instance if you replace your almoço/lunch with a jantar/dinner then suddenly Spanish is a lot more like Italian than Portuguese). However as you pointed out that would be levelled out by differences in pronunciation.

[Mike88]

Bom dia, tudo bom? Quero ir a praia hoje, beber água de coco e sentir o mar gelado bater no meu tornozelo.

Depois, vou almoçar ao ar-livre de chinelos. Gosto de comer bacalhau ou outros frutos do mar como camarões; ostras ou lulas.

De noite devo curtir um cinema com os amigos, comendo pipoca e bebendo refrigerante. Não é uma boa ideia?

Slight differences between Brazilian and European Portuguese:

Bom dia, tudo bem? Queria ir à praia hoje, beber uma água de coco e sentir o mar gelado bater nos meus pés.

Depois, vou almoçar na esplanada, de chinelos. Gosto de comer bacalhau ou outros frutos do mar como camarões; ostras ou lulas.

De noite gostaria de ir ao cinema com uns amigos, comer pipocas e beber um refrigerante. Não é uma boa ideia?

When greeting, we in Portugal also use the "Tá tudo?".