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When Italy was unified as one country, the majority of its citizens were still illiterate. And communicated only in their regional language (Sardo, Lombardo, Siciliano, and so on), with only around 3% of the people speaking a standard language in Italy – Italian.
But where did the Italian origin begin, and how has the Italian language become such a popular choice for learners today? Italian is a Romance language that belongs to the Indo-European language family, meaning it is a direct descendent of Latin.
. Fun Facts About the Italian Language. Did you know that Italian is spoken in over 30 countries around the world? Even though the majority of speakers reside in Italy, Italian also holds official language status in Switzerland and in the states of San Marino and Vatican City.
May 16, 2024 · Italian, a language as vibrant and captivating as the country it hails from, has its origins in the Latin spoken by the ancient Romans. Known for its musical rhythm, it’s not just a means of communication but a gateway to the rich cultural tapestry of Italy.
Standard Italian, as a written administrative and literary language, was in existence well before the unification of Italy in the 1860s. However, in terms of spoken language, Italians were slow to adopt the parlance of the new nation-state, identifying much more strongly with their regional dialects. Emigration in the late 19th and early 20th ...
Italian is the least divergent Romance language from Latin, together with Sardinian. Spoken by about 85 million people including 67 million native speakers (2024), Italian is an official language in Italy, San Marino, and Switzerland, and is the primary language of Vatican City.
The Italian language adopted by the state after the unification of Italy in 1861 is based on Tuscan, which previously was the language spoken mostly by upper class Florentine society. In fact, the poet and writer Dante Alighieri is still credited with standardizing the Italian language by writing most of his work in Florentine.
