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?".

[TDAS04]

"Ano" means "year" in Portuguese, but in Spanish it means "anus." "Año" is the Spanish word for year, so if you want to text someone "how old are you?" in Spanish, better be careful not to ask "how many anuses do you have?" instead.

("Anno" is the Italian word for year. And the Latin word is "annus.")

[Red Velvet]

"Ano" means "year" in Portuguese, but in Spanish it means "anus." "Año" is the Spanish word for year, so if you want to text someone "how old are you?" in Spanish, better be careful not to ask "how many anuses do you have?" instead.

("Anno" is the Italian word for year. And the Latin word is "annus.")

So, if I ask a Hispanic “Quantos anos você tem?” (How many years do you have?) they will understand it as “Quantos ânus você tem?” (How many anus do you have?).

Interesting. I know lots of these ~same words but with different meanings in each country~ curiosities between Brazilian Portuguese vs European Portuguese but I’m much less aware of Portuguese vs Spanish ones.

[Battista Minola 1616]

"Ano" means "year" in Portuguese, but in Spanish it means "anus." "Año" is the Spanish word for year, so if you want to text someone "how old are you?" in Spanish, better be careful not to ask "how many anuses do you have?" instead.

("Anno" is the Italian word for year. And the Latin word is "annus.")

And "ano" also means "anus" in Italian; in Latin unsurprisingly it was "anus", hence also the English word. (Originally it just meant "ring" - from its diminutive "anulus" come the Italian/Spanish/Portuguese words anello/anillo/anel.)

[jamestroll]

Can we stop discussing anuses?

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?

yes, my biggest problem is pronunciation even if written vocabulary is very easy for me. But apparently, I am getting better.

I was given this feedback

Tivemos uma ótima aula! Jaime evolui muito bem no português e mostra uma compreensão incrível. Trabalhamos a pronúncia dos sons de LH , R e NH e seu desempenho foi muito bom, com um pouco mais de prática será perfeito!

[Mike88]

yes, my biggest problem is pronunciation even if written vocabulary is very easy for me. But apparently, I am getting better.

I was given this feedback

Tivemos uma ótima aula! Jaime evolui muito bem no português e mostra uma compreensão incrível. Trabalhamos a pronúncia dos sons de LH , R e NH e seu desempenho foi muito bom, com um pouco mais de prática será perfeito!

To practice those "Rs": Repeat "O Rato Roeu a Rolha da Garrafa do Rei da Rússia"

[Red Velvet]

NH in Portuguese is not that different from the Ñ in Spanish imo.

R can sound like different things. As the first letter of a word it usually sounds like what an Anglo person understands as a non-mute H, like in the word “Hard”. The name “Rita” would be pronounced as “Hita”; “Rafael” sounds like “Hafael”. The R is strong and necessarily comes from the throat and not from the mouth/tongue like Anglos sound. It’s not a rule though, but it’s what’s most common.

In the middle of a word it can honestly sound like different things depending on the region. The word “Porta” for instance, here in Rio de Janeiro the R in the middle also comes from the throat but in many regions people talk this R with their tongue instead - it’s something I associate a lot with São Paulo, especially interior regions with what we call caipira accent (“hick accent”).

LH in Portuguese is kinda like the Spanish LL, sound-wise.

Brazilian regional accents were very impacted by the different immigration trends each place received. Rio de Janeiro accent main stereotype nationally is that we usually turn the S into X very often. “Gostoso” in Rio sounds more like “Goixtoso”. Not by coincidence, it is a way of pronouncing it inherited by the Portuguese (which established the capital in Rio, a city that received strong Portuguese influence), who are known for doing the exact same thing turning the S into X even harsher than people in Rio: “Fascista” in European Portuguese sounds more like “Faxista”.

Even the way in Rio we pronounce the R in the middle of words that I mentioned (stronger and coming from the throat” is associated to French influence, how French pronounce their Rs. The French had lots of cultural influence in Western Europe, so when the Royal family arrived in the Rio capital to settle, that way if speaking also came and regionally defined how Rio citizens speak.

Meanwhile, the “hick accent” São Paulo speaks their Rs comes from the fact there were more interactions between Colonizers and Indigenous people in these interior areas not in the litoral of the country and they were also more isolated. Indigenous people weren’t able to pronounce the same hard-R from the elites, so they spoke differently and it “caught on” regionally.

Those are some curiosities about how people in Rio speak but each other region in Brazil has their accent traced to the immigrant influences they received more strongly.

This video talks about some other regional influences (for Portuguese speakers only) and it’s fascinating to realize how all these different global influences from everywhere reflect on the diversity on how Brazilians speak differently from region to region:

[Mike88]

Interesting. "Faxista" is more a Lisbon accent. In the North, it sounds more like "Fázcísta". Another curious, and sometimes used as a "derogatory" way to talk about the capital, is the way Lisbon is said in the south: "Lesboa", while in the North we put strong emphasis in the "i", "Lísboa". The "Rs" also have diferent tones: In the North is more scratchy and coming from the throat, while in the South/Lisbon it has a lot of tongue.

[Deep Dixieland Senator, Muad'dib (OSR MSR)]