Should you learn Portuguese or Italian? Both are getting more popular as foreign languages by the day, so much so that many students have a hard time deciding which they really want to master.
If that resonates with you, worry no more. This guide will make things way easier for you and let you decide once and for all between learning Portuguese vs. Italian. I’ll highlight five major guidelines that you should use to base your decision.
Should you learn Portuguese or Italian? Here are 5 criteria
1. What’s your motivation?
Now the first thing to do in order to make up your mind is to ask yourself why you want to learn a new language. After all, your decision will be consequential in that you’ll need to commit a few hours a week for at least a couple of years to master either Italian or Portuguese.
Most folks want to learn a language for practical matters, be it doing business or studying in a country that speaks that language. If this is your case, point no. 5 should help guide your decision.
There are also language buffs who study foreign languages just for kicks. Here, your assessment should revolve around which language sounds nicer to you and which culture seems more interesting.
For instance, are you passionate about art history? If so, then Italian might be the best choice. If you’re crazy about music instead, pick Portuguese — I don’t mean to brag, but Brazil is famous for its contagious beats.
And bear in mind that even if you don’t necessarily consider learning Italian or Portuguese for work, you never know what the future holds. I say that from my own experience: I started studying Italian for fun and eventually went on to use it to make a living — and still do after about eight years.
2. What’s your background?
This point would make a lot more difference if we were comparing, say, Russian and Chinese. That’s because Italian and Portuguese share the same origin and have an overall similar structure and vocabulary.
Still, words in each are slightly closer to those in other languages. For example: while Spanish and Portuguese coincide 86% of the time, Spanish and Italian are only 61% alike. English, in turn, is 9% more similar to Italian (37%) than to Portuguese (28%).Â
Yet the fact that your background can make it either easier or harder to master a language isn’t the only reason why it’s important.
Your location should be taken into account too; chances are Portuguese will be a lot more useful to a Colombian than Italian, whereas a Slovenian will probably get to speak Italian more often than Portuguese.
However, if you’re from somewhere in Asia or Eastern Europe, you may struggle to apply this guideline, as these areas are far apart (geographically and culturally) from both the Portuguese- and Italian-speaking worlds.
3. Which language is more widely spoken?
When it comes to the number of native speakers, Portuguese has the upper hand: about 275 million people speak it as a first or second language worldwide.
It has official status in nine countries (Brazil, Portugal, Angola, Mozambique, Guinea-Bissau, Equatorial Guinea, Timor-Leste, Cabo Verde, and SĂŁo TomĂ© and PrĂncipe).
Italian, in turn, is spoken by 85 million people and is the official language (at least de facto) in Italy, San Marino, the Vatican, and Switzerland, besides small portions of Slovenia and Croatia.
As for which language is more popular among foreign students, the answer is trickier because there are no reliable rankings available. Italian is historically bigger, especially in places like western Europe and the United States (where it ranks sixth).
Portuguese on the other hand is pretty popular throughout South America (due to Brazil’s major influence within the region) and in the countries around Angola and Mozambique across southern Africa (though to a lesser extent).
4. Which is harder to learn?
“Is Portuguese easier than Italian?”, you may be wondering. Well, for an English speaker (not necessarily a native), luckily they’re both as easy as it gets.
Italian and Portuguese, like most other Romance languages (e.g. French, Spanish and Romanian) and a couple of Germanic ones such as Dutch, Swedish, and Norwegian, should require 575 to 600 hours worth of dedication to master.
For comparison purposes, it may take you 1,100 class hours to become fluent in Greek, Russian, or Turkish. And Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean should need twice as much.
Granted, Portuguese might turn out to be a little more challenging, as it’s spoken across four continents and, as such, has way more dialects.
In addition to that, the gap between written and spoken language in Portuguese seems to be a lot wider than in Italian. Yet overall the impact of this on your learning shouldn’t be too big.
5. Which language is best for business?
This will of course depend on your goals. We’re not talking about some obscure language from a tiny country, but languages that are spoken in a few of the largest GDPs on Earth!
It’s true that both Switzerland and Italy have two of the most diversified economies (2nd and 14th, respectively), so learning Italian may be somewhat more productive.
Portugal and Brazil lag behind in that regard (33rd and 49th), yet they’re in desperate need of IT professionals and engineers, for example.
Plus, setting up a business in either Brazil or Portugal is considerably cheaper than in Italy, where the cost of living is higher as well.
There’s also the fact that Brazil is expected to become even more central on the global stage over the next few decades, provided it manages to escape the so-called middle-income trap.
Finally, because more non-natives speak Italian than Portuguese, it may turn out to be a more valuable asset on your resume, especially if you’re applying for a multinational company with business interests all over the world.
Why is studying Portuguese important?
To begin with, Portuguese is spoken on almost every continent by hundreds of millions of people. Mastering it will open the door to stunning cultures that share common traits but are each unique, from Portugal to Mozambique and from Brazil to Cabo Verde.
What’s more, Portuguese is a poetic and sweet-sounding language you’ll never get sick of, thanks to all the great music, movies, and literature you’ll fall in love with in no time and all the amazingly different accents that are one of its distinguishing features.
Though it can be a bit challenging when it comes to pronunciation, Portuguese is similar to English where sentence structure is concerned. That means it’s far easier than all Eastern European and Asian languages for an English speaker to become fluent in.
Finally, because Portuguese is still less popular as a foreign language than Spanish, French, and Italian, it can look fantastic on your resume. With the booming economies of Brazil, Portugal, and Angola, it’s guaranteed to be wonderful for business too.
Why is studying Italian important?
Making the case for learning Italian is even easier. The most direct descendant of Latin is widely considered the most romantic language out there (alongside French) and has always been essential to the history of art, from painting and architecture to music, fashion, and cinema.
Italian is also the first or second language of 80+ million people. While the bulk of them lives in western Europe, you’ll find Italian-speaking minorities across the Americas.
Italian is among the easiest languages to learn for an English speaker and is known for being consistent in terms of spelling and pronunciation.
Italy has a dynamic economy and has given us instantly recognizable brands like Ferrari and Versace, which are the absolute best in their fields.
So learning Italian can work wonders for your career as well, whether you’re looking to study in Italy (or Italian-speaking Switzerland), apply for a job, or start a business.
As one of the most livable countries on the planet, it will quite easily make you want to move there once you’ll have mastered the language — just wait and see!
Final thoughts on learning Portuguese vs. Italian
So should you learn Portuguese or Italian? Honestly, I believe the right question is rather “should I learn Portuguese or Italian first?”.
Both languages are beautiful, extremely useful in terms of business and job opportunities, and relatively easy for English speakers.
It’s fair to say Italian is more relevant where the arts and food are concerned, while Portuguese will be ever more promising over the upcoming years thanks to Brazil’s role on the global stage.
That said, you should decide based on your background, goals, and personal preferences. When you do, let me know in the comments which language you’ll be studying after all!
I’ll be learning Portuguese! (The music is what got me interested in the first place after learning Spanish and French.) Thanks for this incredibly helpful information!