Italian Language Class

Italian Language Class

Italian is a Romance language is spoken mainly in Italy, San Marino, Switzerland and Vatican City, and in other countries like African country Ethiopia. It is the mother tongue of 65 million people in the European Union only and is one of the official languages spoken in the EU.

Italian language is derived mainly from Latin. Italian vocabulary is characterized by a high percentage of words and verbs from Latin. The Italian alphabet consists of 21 letters (5 of which are vowels), plus the letters j, k, w, x, y used in loanwords only. Stress is a very important feature that can be decisive in understanding the meaning of words that are written and read in the same way.

Italian language presents as a wide variety of regional dialects and accents. Modern Italian is based on the dialect used in Florence during the 13th and 14th centuries by Dante Alighieri, Francesco Petrarca, and Giovanni Boccaccio, who are considered the fathers of Modern Italian. They created the foundations over which other authors added new layers over the centuries.