This is a classic question that I get all the time. If you’ve been thinking about learning Italian as a second (or maybe even third) language, the difficulty of doing so is always a concern. Most people think, how hard can it be, really? To most people, it simply sounds like a sing-songy version of Spanish (seriously, I’ve heard this said).
While perhaps true on a completely superficial level given the Romance language connection, it’s a poor comparison. True, knowing some Spanish might provide a helpful base, but Italian has its own challenges. Yet, it’s one of the more approachable languages for English speakers to pick up in my opinion. So, is Italian a hard language to learn? Let’s dive in.
Why Italian Is Easier To Learn Than You Might Think
For one thing, Italian is a Romance language, closely related to English in terms of vocabulary. Though English is technically not a Romance language, thousands of Italian words closely resemble their English counterparts—thanks to their shared Latin roots. Words like banana, radio, elegante (elegant), and difficile (difficult) are almost identical, and you’ll see tons more “cognates” that make Italian vocabulary acquisition feel surprisingly easy.
Also, unlike languages such as Arabic, Russian and Mandarin, Italian uses the same alphabet as English, so there’s no need to learn a whole new set of characters. Plus, the phonetic sounds that letters make are very similar.
The Challenges of Pronunciation and Grammar
However, it’s not all good news. Italian poses some fairly unique obstacles. Pronunciation, for one thing, can be tricky. This is especially true with respect to the double consonants that give Italian its musicality. If you’ve ever tried rolling your R’s, you’ll understand why getting the sound just right takes a bit of practice.
Plus, there’s grammar. Italian has a more complex verb system than English, including conjugations for seven different subject pronouns, a variety of tenses, and the infamous subjunctive mood that throws a lot of learners off (you may recall this topic if you’ve learned Spanish).
Of these topics, verb conjugation is likely the toughest concept. Conjugation in Italian is based on person and number, resulting in numerous forms for each verb. For example, the verb “to speak” has different conjugations for “I speak” (parlo), “you speak” (parli), and “they speak” (parlano). This complexity is amplified by the existence of multiple verb tenses, as noted above.
Moreover, Italian nouns are gendered. This means they are all classified as either masculine or feminine, which requires you to memorize the gender associated with each noun (i.e. more work). Plus, Italian articles can combine with prepositions, forming articulated prepositions that complicate sentence construction.
If you’re head is spinning, keep this in mind: even native Italians sometimes struggle with the finer points of their grammar (seriously). So don’t let it intimidate you.
Listening Challenges
A lot of people struggle with listening comprehension due to the incredibly fast pace of spoken Italian, as well as the presence of regional accents. This can make it very difficult to understand even basic conversations without prior exposure to the language.
To be honest, this was one of the biggest challenges for me in learning to speak Italian. Italians just speak so darn fast. You will need to ask them to slow down. Per favore, rallenta.
The Advantage of Consistency and Immersion
One of the best things you can do to mitigate these various challenges is to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible. Luckily, Italy has a super rich culture of art, music, cinema, and food, all of which can help keep you motivated and engaged.
Watching Italian movies, listening to Italian music, and following Italian recipes are great ways to practice. Plus, Italian is known as one of the most beautiful languages in the world, making it very pleasant to listen to and speak. When you surround yourself with Italian in these ways, you’ll find it starts to feel more organic.
Making It Manageable
A key part of the learning process is to break it down into manageable steps. Start with basics like greetings, essential phrases, and common verbs, then build up gradually from there.
Language apps like Rosetta Stone and Babbel are helpful for daily practice, while other programs like Pimsleur and Rocket Italian can boost your listening and speaking skills with their heavy audio emphasis.
My Opinion: Italian Is An Easy Language To Learn
Though Italian can seem daunting to learn with its rapid spoken pace and multiple tenses and verb forms, it’s really not too bad. In reality, Italian is one of the easier languages for English speakers to learn in my opinion, due to its shared vocabulary, relatively simple grammar, and straightforward pronunciation rules.
Learning Italian does pose some challenges, including the rapid pace at which it is typically spoken and complex verb conjugations, but at the end of the day, there are much tougher languages to learn.
Italian is one of the easier languages for English speakers to learn in my opinion, due to its shared vocabulary with English, relatively simple grammar, and straightforward pronunciation rules.
