Italiano is spoken in more than 30 countries around the world, it is the 20th most-spoken language and, at the moment, is the world’s fourth most studied language.
Furthermore, the popularity of Italian as foreign language is growing: actually, the italiano is used in the commercial, it means that it is very attractive and that it will be important in the future.
The italiano around the world
Italiano is useful in many economic areas. And, even if it is less spoken than English, Spanish or French, lots of Italian speakers live in different countries. More or less 63 million people in the world are Italian mother tongue. While 3 million people speak it as second language.
In the United States about 700,000 people speak Italian at home, and Italiano is the fifth most studied foreign language. While, in Europe it is very popular in other countries, in addition to Italy.
Why are people choosing to learn italiano?
Foreigners want to study Italian as a way to reconnect with their roots. Someone needs to speak it because of their husband’s or wife’s family. Others in order to speak with their own monolingual relatives living in an Italian rural areas, where nobody speaks English. Others need Italian because they are fascinated by Italian culture and use to visit the Bel Paese every year.
Actually, there are lots of people who really love Italian literature, art, music and opera, they think that studying Italiano it could be very useful to pursue their interests.
Moreover, there are people who appreciate the cucina italiana, and learning Italian language allowed them to understand it better.
Finally, there are students who choose to study in Italy for a term or more and need to learn the language before leaving.
Italian is supposed to be simple to pick up for an English speaker. Furthermore it is a beautiful, poetic and romantic language. There are lots of Italian words in the English vocabulary especially related to the cuisine, such as mozzarella, pizza, or to classical music and opera (where Italian words are often used), such as violoncello, crescendo, solo. People know the meanings of these words, and use them daily in their own languages.
At the end, learning Italiano is not a necessity, people choose to learn it for fun, for love or for a simple whim.
Are you planning to learn Italiano?
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Would you like to practice? Enjoy the video.