Learn whether Italian is spoken somewhere else than Italy
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Intro |
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| Michael: Where is Italian spoken? |
| Ofelia: And how many varieties of Italian are there? |
| Michael: At ItalianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. |
| Let's imagine the following situation. Emma Esposito is meeting another college student, Federica Fontana, for the first time. On hearing Emma speak Italian, Federica asks, |
| "Where did you study Italian?" |
| Federica Fontana: Dove hai studiato italiano? |
| Dialogue |
| Federica Fontana: Dove hai studiato italiano? |
| Emma Esposito: In Svizzera. |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Federica Fontana: Dove hai studiato italiano? |
| Michael: "Where did you study Italian?" |
| Emma Esposito: In Svizzera. |
| Michael: "In Switzerland." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Italian, or |
| Ofelia: Italiano, |
| Michael: is used as an official language not only in Italy, but also in Switzerland, |
| Ofelia: Svizzera, |
| Michael: and the two small countries of the "Vatican City State," |
| Ofelia: Stato della Città del Vaticano, |
| Michael: and the "Republic of San Marino," |
| Ofelia: Repubblica di San Marino. |
| Michael: The last two countries, however, can be easily entered via Italy, and do not really require going through customs. For example, by simply walking into the famous St. Peter's Square, one would have already entered the Vatican. For this reason, apart from Italy, one can say that Italian is only an official language in Switzerland. |
| Having said that, there are other regions were Italian is also spoken, such as in Istria, or |
| Ofelia: Istria, |
| Michael: which until the beginning of the 20th century was an Italian territory — but is now split between Slovenia and Croatia. |
| In addition to regions where Italian is spoken as an official or co-official language, it's worth mentioning the large Italian-speaking communities around the world, a result of the "Italian diaspora," or |
| Ofelia: Emigrazione italiana, |
| Michael: an emigration which took place in massive proportions twice during history, once at the end of the 19th century and once after World War II. One of the biggest resulting communities, for example, is in the U.S. It may be interesting to note that the language spoken within these communities is often heavily influenced by the dialects that the emigrants used to speak as their first language. |
| Lastly, it's worth mentioning that Italian is the main language of music theory. People from all over the world use the same Italian words to refer to musical terms, such as |
| Ofelia: allegro, |
| Michael: which in modern times means "joyful" and in music indicates a fast tempo. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Michael: Let's practice the opening dialogue. Respond to the prompts by speaking aloud. Then repeat after the native speaker, focusing on pronunciation. |
| Do you remember how Federica Fontana says, "Where did you study Italian?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Ofelia as Federica: Dove hai studiato italiano? |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Ofelia as Federica: Dove hai studiato italiano? |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Ofelia as Federica: Dove hai studiato italiano? |
| Michael: And do you remember how Emma Esposito says "In Switzerland?" |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Ofelia as Emma: In Svizzera. |
| Michael: Listen again and repeat. |
| Ofelia as Emma: In Svizzera. |
| [Beep. Pause 5 seconds.] |
| Ofelia as Emma: In Svizzera. |
Outro |
| Michael: Now you know what places to visit to practice your Italian. Do you want to know more? Be sure to download the lesson notes for this lesson at ItalianPod101.com — and move onto the next lesson! |
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