Very similar to English.

My Italian true love would make a good travel agent. I trust her implicitly when it comes to booking us. At a good hotel or bed and breakfast place. She hardly ever misses. Maybe never. And that goes for our recent five-day stay in Rome. We stayed at the Hotel Aurelius. Which I assume was named after Marcus Aurelius, the last of five 'good' Roman emperors. He served from 161 to 180 AD. The accommodations were excellent. We paid a little over 200 Euros. Not bad for a 4-star hotel. And that included breakfast. The best breakfasts I've had so far in Italy. They remind me of breakfasts in America. With scrambled eggs and bacon and sausages. Real hearty. Rather than the skimpy ones that Italians tend to eat. Made a pig of myself. With croissants, cereal topped by sliced peaches, cappucino. Virutally everything my heart and stomach could desire. Not the least being the inspiring company of my true love. Of course, I put on weight. Three pounds. But it could have been worse. I've already lost half of it. By eating smaller breakfasts, skipping lunch and exercising diligently. That's my modus operendi. I'm trying to impress everyone with my knowledge of Latin. Which helps disguise my shortcomings as an Italian linguist. I'll never master Italian. Maybe it's my defeatist attitude. And the fact that my true love speaks English. She's making an effort to teach me Italian. But I'm a slow learner. She accuses me of being pigro, Italian for lazy. At least, mastering a word is a start at learning Italian. I don't want to be taken for stupido. Another word I know. Easy to guess the meaning of that word. Goes to show that some Italian words are very similar to English. --Jim Broede