Does anyone here speak Italian? I have a question about the language. You can respond here or to me privately.
I got my answer from an Italian in a private message. Thanks, everyone.
Does anyone here speak Italian? I have a question about the language. You can respond here or to me privately.
I got my answer from an Italian in a private message. Thanks, everyone.
"How Many People Speak Italian, And Where Is It Spoken?
Did you know Italian is spoken in more than 30 countries around the world?
BY DYLAN LYONS
January 10, 2018
Ever wondered just how many people speak Italian around the world? It's found in more countries than you might think. Keep reading to find out more!
A Brief History Of The Italian Language
Italian, like Spanish, French, Romanian and Portuguese, is a Romance language rooted in Vulgar ("Common") Latin. The first documents that were written in some form of Italian popped up in the 10th century, but Standard Italian didn't begin developing until the 13th and 14th centuries. It began as a dialect in Tuscany or Florence, and it gained in popularity possibly either because of Tuscany's central location, the importance of Florence as a key city of commerce, or the similarities between the Tuscan dialect and Latin. In fact, Italian is the Romance language that most closely resembles Latin.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, the Tuscan dialect of the 14th century was codified as classical Italian. The local dialects still reigned supreme until the unification of Italy in 1861, when the modern form of Tuscan became the official language.
Where In The World Is Italian Spoken?
Italian is the official language of Italy, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican City. It's also the official language of some parts of Croatia and Slovenia. There is a relatively sizeable number of Italian speakers in Albania, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Croatia, Malta, Egypt, Eritrea, France, Germany, Israel, Libya, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Paraguay, Philippines, Puerto Rico, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Slovenia, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, the United States and Venezuela.
How Many People In The World Speak Italian?
Approximately 63 million people in the world speak Italian as their first language. An additional 3 million speak Italian as a second language. Various sources differ slightly, but Italian is around the 20th most-spoken language in the world.
How Many People In Europe Speak Italian?
Unsurprisingly, Italy is home to the most Italian speakers in the world — nearly 58 million of them. The language is popular in other parts of Europe, as well. For instance, Italian is the official national language of San Marino (25,000 speakers), Switzerland (666,000) and Vatican City, along with some local areas of Croatia and Slovenia that have also made it their official language. Significant contingents of Italian speakers also reside in Albania, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Malta, France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Romania and the United Kingdom. It's difficult to find exact numbers for all of Europe, but there are approximately 64 million native Italian speakers in the European Union.
How Many People In The U.S. Speak Italian?
Large numbers of Italians immigrated to the United States in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, about 709,000 people in the country speak Italian at home, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The most recent data available (from 2013) found that Italian was the fifth most-studied foreign language in the United States. New York and New Jersey are the states with the largest number of native Italian speakers, with around 294,000 and 116,000 speakers, respectively.
How Many People In South America And Central America Speak Italian?
South and Central America have more Italian speakers than you might imagine. The most live in Argentina, which has 1.5 million speakers, making Italian the second most-spoken language in the country, after Spanish. Italian is also the second most-spoken language in Venezuela, which is home to about 200,000 speakers. Brazil has a pocket of Italian speakers — about 50,000 — based primarily in the city of São Paulo. There are also Italian-speaking minority groups in Paraguay, Costa Rica and Ecuador, and Italian has influenced the Spanish dialect spoken in Argentina and Uruguay.
How Many People In Africa Speak Italian?
There are at least some Italian speakers, or at least people who understand the language, in Africa. They are found primarily in the former colonies of Italian Libya (now just Libya) and Italian East Africa (now part of Eritrea, Ethiopia and Somalia). Descendants of the colonizers still speak Italian in these areas, and Italian is used in some forms of commerce. Exact numbers of speakers in these countries are not readily available.
Why Learn Italian?
First of all, Italian is relatively simple to pick up. In fact, it made our list of easiest languages for English-speakers to learn! English and Italian share plenty of cognates, and a number of Italian words have already broken into our vocabulary by way of the delicious and ubiquitous cuisine.
And don't forget the incredible travel opportunities. Italy is a beautiful country, and knowing the language would make a trip there even more memorable.
Still not convinced? Check out more reasons to learn Italian here."
But it points you at 64 mio people able, if not willing, to help you.
Does it include contact information for them?
Does it include contact information for them?
And they have to speak English.
I used to find people on wattpad. Any language I needed. But their forum is gone.
Seriously, put a note up in your blog that you need help from an Italian. Would be strange if none of your readers was willing to help.
That doesn't help me. :(
The Grinning Dick very seldom ever actually helps anyone with his posts. He's never paid any attention to the saying "better to be silent and thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt."
The Grinning Dick very seldom ever actually helps anyone with his posts.
The Grinning Dick must work for Microsoft Tech Support.
His answers, when he isn't just making puns, are completely accurate and at the same time totally useless.
Italian is the official language of Italy, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican City.
According to my sources Italian is one of four official languages of Switzerland since 1938. Swiss German (a dialect of German no longer spoken in Germany or Austria)is the language spoken by the largest group of Swiss (just under 63%), Swiss French is spoken by about 23%, Swiss Italian is spoken by about 8% of the population, while less than 1% speak Romansh. The remainder speak other languages. It is to be noted that most Swiss children are taught German in school
It is to be noted that most Swiss children are taught German in school
And the other language speakers grumble that's useless in daily life, because the German taught in school is standard German and won't help them understand their Swiss German speakers.
HM.
(typo edited)
And the other language speakers grumble that's useless in daily life, because the German taught in school is standard German and won't help them understand their Swiss German speakers.
Of Necessity.
There is not one "Swiss German", there are a fair number of different dialects. I was chatting with a local on a ski lift around 10 years ago and he said there were areas where he had not even recognised what they were speaking as German. Although I have never lived in the country, there are dialects which I can understand and those which are impenetrable.
Teaching a standardised Swiss German means people from different areas have a common language they can communicate in, although English can also fulfil that role.
Teaching a standardised Swiss German
If they would do that the French and Italian speaking Swiss wouldn't complain, but they teach High German aka German German instead.
I lived about 12 years less than 20 miles north of the Swiss border near Schaffhausen, and after that I worked freelance for a Swiss company for more than 10 years, visiting Switzerland three to six times a year.
While living there I got German, Austrian and Swiss TV and for news and background reports I preferred Swiss TV.
BTW, Swiss TV used – back then – a somewhat 'standardized' Swiss German.
HM.
Eventually the federalists who rule the EU are going to accept that the bloc needs a single principal language for the purposes of efficiency. Unfortunately the language with the strongest case is currently probably English: it's the lingua franca of science and the principal second language of the former Warsaw Pact countries.
AJ
The federalists just need to channel their inner Jorj X. McKie and accept that "eternal sloppiness is the price of liberty" (I think that was from The Dosadi Experiment).
Unfortunately the language with the strongest case is currently probably English: it's the lingua franca of science and the principal second language of the former Warsaw Pact countries.
Why unfortunately? If this were to happen I hope it will be English. Unfortunately there's a good case for French since that language is already European and offers way better linguistics for laws. There's a history of French being used (also outside France) for law and court cases because it has a much larger vocabulary which enables more precise wording.
Currently there's another precedence for which language to use: https://curia.europa.eu/jcms/jcms/Jo2_10739/en/, see the last paragraph.
Me, I would prefer English way over French or German.
Why unfortunately?
Firstly, the UK is very unpopular with the EU right now (nul points).
Secondly, English is a pig of a language to learn.
English has a larger vocabulary than French, partly because French has become ossified. Hence the constant drip feed of English words across the Channel (eg le weekend).
AJ
Secondly, English is a pig of a language to learn.
Easy compared to German or French. For non-German or non-French people those languages are very difficult to speak too, compared to English anyway. I'm Dutch, should be close to German, but English is still a lot easier and I had both in (≈high) school.
Firstly, the UK is very unpopular with the EU right now (nul points).
Hmmm, but that would be in favor of English if the EU decides
on strictly American English in vocabulary, grammar and spelling. That would piss of the UK, wouldn't it?
HM.
I'm sure the UK media would spin it as a stunning success for the British Empire ;-)
Thinking futuristically, I reckon the second best choice of a principal EU language would be Mandarin.
AJ
second best choice of a principal EU language
I remember from many years ago the saying that optimists were learning Russian and pessimists, Chinese.
My connections were to Dürrheim and the Singen area - pretty much where you were. An eye-opener was speaking with an old man in (and from) Dürrheim whose dialect was very close to Schaffhoosie.
You will need someone who does more than speak Italian. You would need a person who knows how to read and write in Italian as it is possible to know how to speak the words and know what you are saying yet have no clue in how they are spelled or placed in a sentence.
I myself can communicate with someone in Spanish but I have no clue in how to read or write what is being spoken.
You will need someone who does more than speak Italian.
It very basic. Has to do with feminine and masculine nouns and making them plural.
Speaking is one thing, communication with it another. You need video for the accompanying hand and face jesters to be fully fluent.
Speaking is one thing, communication with it another.
It was an exchange between a teacher and student in an Italian class about gendering (is that a word?) of nouns and exceptions to the rules.
IIRC, Italian follows the same norms as Spanish in that regards. It's been a very long time since I contracted with Vinci or had any call to use the language.
Italian follows the same norms as Spanish in that regards.
In Italian:
egg = uovo (masculine noun)
In Italian, to make a masculine noun plural, it typically ends with an 'i' so it should be uovi.
But it's not. The plural of uovo is uova (what! feminine nouns end with an 'a'!). It's an exception that must be memorized.
I remember ending words in "o" and "a" in Spanish for masculine and feminine genders, but I don't remember the "i" thing for masculine plural or those kinds of exceptions. But I knew very little Spanish back then and almost none now.
Italian language roots are vulgar Latin. You could likely look it up round about that way.
words in "o" and "a" in Spanish for masculine and feminine genders,
It applies in the Philippines, where guys are filipinos and girls are filipinas. Of course that may be years that the Philippines were ruled by Spain.