We have good news: The Foreign Service Institute (FSI) considers Italian to be one of the easiest languages for English-speakers to learn. In fact, they estimate that you just need twenty-four weeks (or 600 hours) to acquire basic fluency.
They estimated that the training required for the Italian language is 23-24 Weeks (575-600 Hours). This might sound intimidating but compared it with languages in Group 5 (like Chinese, Japanese, and Arabic) that can take up to an estimated 88 weeks to learn and you'll feel relieved.
The Italian language is not at all difficult for those who speak English. Quite the opposite: it's one of the easiest languages to learn. This is true because Italian and English share a rich vocabulary of common or very similar words; as soon as you start noticing them, you'll be surprised how many you already know!
On Babbel's internal ranking of the easiest languages for English speakers to learn, Italian ranked in seventh place, and French was eighth (out of nine). All in all, difficulty probably shouldn't be a major factor in your decision, because they're fairly equal in that regard.
Pretend you are learning Italian as a full-time job — actively studying for 8 hours a day. You would reach the necessary 480 hours of study at this pace in 60 days, approximately 2 months. For a group 2–4 language, you would be looking at around 3 months to reach basic fluency.
Every minute of learning the Italian language and culture will definitely be worth it. If you truly want to live the good life, and if you're looking to learn a language that will serve you well in the years ahead—Italian should be on the top of your list.
It seems that you're never too old to learn Italian. Perhaps you won't learn how to speak Italian without an accent. But, with the right amount of practice, you will learn how to communicate and express complex concepts.
To sum up, while Italian is easier in terms of pronunciation, Spanish is simpler in terms of grammar. It seems this Italian vs Spanish thing is not as easy as we thought it would be. If you speak English, Spanish will be definitively easier than Italian for you because there are more similarities.
To boost your career prospects? Spanish is a top business language thanks to how widely spoken it is, but if you're working in, say, fashion, it might make much more sense to learn Italian.
Under this theory, if you were studying in the classroom for twelve hours a week for 50 weeks, you would reach basic fluency in Italian. If you went to Italy for an intensive course where you studied 24 hours a week, you would reach basic fluency in just 25 weeks.
There are all kinds of apps and Italian learning games online if you're an interactive learner. You can even just download any game and switch the language to Italian to learn words and phrases from context as you play. Another great way to learn Italian on your own is by reading Italian books.
If you are actively learning Italian for 8 hours a day, you would finish the required 480 hours of study in 60 days, or approximately two months.
Sumerian can be considered the first language in the world, according to Mondly. The oldest proof of written Sumerian was found on the Kish tablet in today's Iraq, dating back to approximately 3500 BC.
The main difference is in pronunciation: French pronunciation is considered to be the most difficult among the Romance languages, because it has some very unusual sounds we don't have in English. The Italian “r” and the French “r” are very, very different: they are both difficult for a native-English speaker.
The easiest languages are our old buddies, the Romance languages: Spanish, French, and Italian, among others. Most of these languages are in the same language family as English. And, according to the FSI, the hardest are Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, and Mandarin.
There are Italian speakers living in almost every corner of the world, from Canada to Venezuela to the Philippines. If you learn Italian, you'll be able to communicate with 63 million more people than you could before. That's 63 million more potential friendships.
This is especially true when it comes to learning languages. You might have heard people say that language is best learned during childhood, and that adults beyond the age of fifty stand no chance of gaining fluency. If so, know that these statements are false.
You are never too old to learn Italian. One of the most damaging myths in learning Italian is the idea that once we reach a certain age we are too old to learn the language. This is simply not true. To the contrary studies have proven that there is not a critical age range when learning a new language.
When enrolling in a university in Italy, you should prove your proficiency in Italian. However, if your desired degree is not taught in Italian, then you will not have to prove you Italian proficiency. There might, however, be other requirements, depending on the course you are applying for.