Hi Chris,

I’ve been studying Spanish regularly with teachers on here and practicing with natives as the opportunity arises for a little over a year now and I feel relatively capable at communicating most things in Spanish. I’m by no means perfect at grammar and I’m always trying to improve my vocabulary but now I’m at a point with Spanish that I can read books and watch TV to help practice and learn new things so I can incorporate into my daily life.

However, during most of that time I’ve also been studying Japanese, which is a completely different mindset for me. After my trip to Japan last year I slowed down on Japanese a lot and let Spanish take priority again. But my Japanese speaking skills definitely have suffered for it.

This spring I started Italian lessons because I’m going to Italy in September. And three languages sounds a little crazy for someone working a full time job, and I think it is! But Italian has been so much easier to grasp and start reading right away because of Spanish and I did know some French once upon a time.

I think my biggest hurdle with all of these is finding time. Working full time it’s a little difficult. If I could I would dedicate time every day to Italian and Japanese and then continue using Spanish material in my every day life while also setting aside time to practice writing a bit more.

All of this to say, I think Latin is such a good base for Italian that if you have time (& it sounds like you do) you just have to dedicate time to what you need to focus on! It’s possible to study two things at once & I think it’s easier when they complement each other the way Latin & Italian do. But I will say sometimes I get a mind-block where I can only think of the word in one language & not the other. Sometimes it works against me but overall I think Spanish helps my Italian & vice versa (some of the grammar points I missed when I started learning Spanish, I’m revisiting now in Italian & its clarifying some things).

Good luck!