Did you know that?! Italian language

 Dear Friends,

How many Italian words do you know? I bet that many of you know at least 3 words. We use them more often then we think. Words like pasta, pizza or spaghetti have made their way to our vocabulary, and intend to stay there for a long time. 

I used to love Italian ever since I was a little girl. It seemed so beautiful and romantic to me. Just like a melody. And now,  I am really glad to admit that Italian has become my 4th language. Of course, I don't speak it as a native, there is always place for improvement. But i am just happy to be able to learn it. 

So, my post is dedicated to this wonderful and unique language. Don't think i am trying to convince you to learn it too. This choice is yours to make. I am just going to share with you some interesting facts about it.

Here we go: 

1. There are 21 letters in the Italian alphabet "j k w x and y" do not exist in Italian, except for the loan words; 

2. There are many "regional languages of Italy". They have been developed from Latin idependently before the common "Italian language" has been settled. For example: there is the Piemontese language in the region of Piemonte in the North of Italy. Not everyone speaks or understand it,  mostly elder people;

The Regions of Italy

3. The most widely spoken dialect is Neapolitan. More than 5 million people speak it;

4. Italian is an official language in Italy, Switzerland, Vatican City, San Marino and the Sovereign Military order of Malta;

Countries which have Italian as an official language

5. The first novel written in italian is " I promessi sposi" ( The betrothed) by Alessandro Manzoni;

6. Italian has some close relatives langauges. It's vocabulary is: 89% shared with French

                          88% with Catalan

                          85% with Sardinian

                          82% with Spansih and Portuguese 

                          77% with Romanian

7. Italian is the 4th most studied language in the world; 

8 . This language loves double consonants (for me they are a nightmare). 

Example: macchina (car), pizzeria, bello (beautiful), gatto (cat).

9. Americans may be surprised to know that the name of their country comes from the Italians. The name America comes from the latin form of Amerigo Vespucci's name - Americus. 

10. Italian language was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy in 19th century;

11. The longest Italian word contains 30 letters! It Is the word "psiconeuroendocrinoimmunologia" and it means Psycho Neuro Endocrino Immunology.

That's it for today, 

Never stop learning something new! 

Take care,

Alina ❤️