French vs Italian: which should you learn?

Estimates for a native English speaker, following the US Foreign Service Institute’s groupings. Languages the Institute does not rank are placed beside their closest relatives. Your own pace will differ.

• You want a language of diplomacy, cooking, fashion and film, and an easy bridge to Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
• You will use it in France, Belgium, Switzerland, Canada and a large part of West and Central Africa.

Watch out for: spelling and sound are far apart, so listening and speaking need more attention than reading.

• You want music, food, art and travel in Italy, with a spelling system that matches how words sound.
• You will use it in Italy, Switzerland and San Marino, with communities around the world.

Watch out for: double consonants and verb forms need steady practice.

French. Reading comes faster than speaking. Silent letters, linked words and the French r take time, so most of your effort should go into listening and saying sentences aloud.

Italian. Fairly friendly for English speakers. Pronunciation follows the spelling closely. Verb forms and prepositions are the long part, and they stick better when you meet them in full sentences.

In both, the quickest fix for pronunciation is the same: hear a whole sentence, say it out loud and check how close you were. That is the loop 4ToSpeak runs on every sentence.

French and Italian are close relatives, so a lot carries over. Learn one, and the second takes noticeably fewer hours than starting from scratch. Start with whichever you will use sooner.

If you cannot decide, start both for a week at 15 minutes a day. After seven days you will know which one you look forward to, and motivation matters more than the difference in hours.

Start French or start Italian, both free with no card.

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