Hi Emanuela.

I would agree that almost any European language is easier to learn, both syntactically and grammatically, than English. As you say, Italian is spelled pretty much as it is spoken, and that's a real bonus for you. English, unfortunately, does not always, and in some cases, hardly ever, has a one-to-one correspondence between spelling and pronunciation.

I understand your comments about the contrast between your educational opportunities and those that your grandmother didn't have. Italy had centuries of class division, city-state warfare and foreign invasion to cope with.

In New Zealand, education has been pretty much available to all for nearly 150 years. And apart from the days of the gold rush, most of the immigrants who came here were literate to some degree and prized it highly.

I'd venture to suggest that the standards of written English in New Zealand today are worse than they were 100 years ago. However, I have no proof of this except for the evidence I see on a daily basis.


The idiot also known as Capfka ...