Romance Languages

You might remember that one of my New Year's resolutions was to learn Italian this year. The BBC has an online course that will teach you conversational Italian in six weeks. I haven't started yet and now I'm wondering if Italian is really the way to go. They also offer a course on French and I'm trying to decide if that would be better. I thought I'd offer a list of pros and cons and open the comments to suggestions.
Italian pros and cons:
  • The pronunciation rules are simple to understand and to hear.
  • It is closer to classical Latin, making it an easier crossover.
  • It would make traveling in Italy (a dream of mine) easier.
  • It's one of the sexier languages and I think the FP gal would agree.
  • I can teach Relia and then she and I will have a 'private' language.
French:
  • I took it in high school some twenty years ago. So did the FP Gal, so we could speak with each other to some extent. Maybe it would be our private language from Relia.
  • It's spoken by about four times as many people as Italian so it would be more useful worldwide. (Including travel in France, also a dream.)
  • A new segment of my job has me working with some French-Canadians and it could be useful.
  • I've got a fine eye for languages but a terrible ear. I always had trouble hearing the silent letters and contractions that are common in French.
I've got materials for learning both of them (years of scouting used bookstores has paid off). I'm just not sure which way to go. Any suggestions?

Comments

Hans said…
Learn Hittite. Almost no one speaks that - you and the family would be good if you needed to pass confidential info to each other in public.
11:30 PM
MamaD4 said…
I was going to say Tagalog. It would be useful if you ever shop at any military installation.

Seriously, though, French seems a LOT more difficult than Italian, which is so much more phonetic and close to Spanish.

But if you ask me, French is the sexier of the two languages. Actually, Portugese is very nice, too.

Good luck!
12:19 AM
Alfred T. Mahan said…
As someone who only took French to pass the U of M's ridiculous language requirement (seriously, both sides spoke ENGLISH in the American Civil War!), I recommend Latin. It was the language of culture and learning for a millenium, after all, and you can curse very effectively without anyone knowing what you're calling them.

Italian, BTW, is not as similar to Latin as you might think. Just sayin'.
10:15 AM
Kate said…
My sister learned italian. And my most favorite word was for spoon which phonetically looks like this. kookie I oh. I even made up a song about the place settings. But we all know how weird I am. I say go for the French. Especially if it could help with your job. Who knows, if you get a good start, your job might pay you to take more classes.

Oh, and the Latin I took in highschool? I STILL REMEMBER IT. It's fantastic now that I work for a doctor. I know all kinds of medical terms off hand.
11:07 AM
carrster said…
I vote for Italian. Just because. I like Italy. I probably like France too but I haven't actually been there.

I'm trying to learn Swedish.
2:55 PM
Meigan said…
Oh! French! Then you can help me translate what my kid is saying all the time.

From what I've seen so far, I don't think it would be the most difficult. Just get the accent down & you can say a lot with just a few lines & some good body language. My favorite sentence is "Le Cochon est content" which means the pig is happy but sounds like hey baby baby.
10:47 PM
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