Languages

My evening Skype conversation with my Costa Rican friend was concluding, and I said, "Good night." 

"Te amo," she replied.

Recalling some Hollywood-movie Italian, I said, "It's the same in Italian."

She shook her head. "In Italian, it's ti amo."

"Of course!" I said. "Can you say it in Portuguese?"

"Eu te amo," she replied.

"Do you speak Portuguese?" I asked.

"When I was young, I lived for a while with a Brazilian girl. I love the language. I know it somewhat but I don't speak it." 

When I was a boy I found a book in the attic. It was printed in Portuguese. It must have belonged to my mother or father, but I never knew which one. And why did they have it?

I didn't ask my friend how she came to know some Italian, or how many other languages she "knows somewhat." Of course, Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese are all Romance languages. (Romance as in Roman.) They're all derived from Latin. So it's not surprising there are similarities. Although the same phrase (te amo) in French (another Romance language) is "Je t'aime" so the similarities go only so far.

I like languages and I wish I had an aptitude for learning other languages, but I don't. I've studied Spanish and though I'll never be fluent in the language, it's still fun to learn some of it.

According to dictionary.com,

Over 60 percent of all English words have Greek or Latin roots. In the vocabulary of the sciences and technology, the figure rises to over 90 percent. About 10 percent of the Latin vocabulary has found its way directly into English without an intermediary (usually French).

Many Spanish and English words are derived from the same Vulgar Latin words and are therefore similar. Does that make Spanish easier to learn for English speakers? I would think so. But then, I haven't attempted to learn Chinese yet. When I do, I'll let you know if it was harder to learn than Spanish. I haven't decided which Chinese dialect I should learn, but I'm leaning toward Mandarin. As I explained in a recent blog post, I'd like to know what those Chinese restaurant waiters are saying about their customers. 

"Foolish round-eyes, eating sweet-and-sour cat and don't know it!" Tell me they're not saying that! I enjoy Chinese food too much.