“I don’t speak Italian, but I know some Spanish.”

Ciao amici,

A couple weeks ago, a friend from Italy who does not speak any English visited me for a week. I translated and interpreted for her along the way. When I had to tell people that she only speaks Italian, the knee-jerk response was almost always “Sorry, I don’t speak any Italian, but I know some Spanish.” And it was kinda annoying.

Sure, there are similarities at a basic level between Italian and Spanish, such as numbers, greetings and vino means “wine” in both languages, but how far can you get using Spanish to speak with an Italian? The answer is not very far.

Are you planning to visit Italy? Do you have Italian customers? I can tell you that Italians don’t want to hear you try to get by using your high school level Spanish (or any level for that matter). A centimeter of Italian will get you a kilometer in Italy. It’s not a widely spoken language in other countries, the flattery of taking the time to learn their language will get you far!

Get the upper hand on accessing Italy and start learning Italian. Immerse Italy has 4-class courses and 10-class courses starting in next month – details to come!

Un caro saluto,

Lisa