Around 60 million people live in Italy, with the majority of people living in Rome and Milan, and the rest of the population mainly residing across and around the various stunning cities within this beautiful, vibrant country.
If you’re interested in targeting customers in Italy with your business, or in speaking the language for a trip across the country, it’s important to understand that Italy has a rich and diverse selection of languages and dialects that extend far beyond standardised Italian. Commissioning a voice over agency to create an Italian voice over, for example, would need to account for the specific regional language and dialect used by the target audience. There could be multiple languages and dialects to be aware of, and to utilise in order to make a real impact on potential customers. The same goes for travelling across Italy where in order to make the most of your trip it makes sense to have an idea of different dialects and languages you’re likely to come across on your travels.
Italian language developed from Latin very slowly after the Roman Empire fell in the 5th Century. Before that point Latin was used across the empire in different forms, but in a dominant form that was present in religion, education and more. Some say that Italian that is spoken today comes from the Tuscan Dialect, although it has evolved hugely since it was used in the 1300’s by famous poets and writers. Still, Tuscan was united in the 1860’s in the decision to have Tuscan as the official language of Italy, and today, standard Italian is based on Tuscan and more specifically, the Florentine dialect of Tuscan.
Even when Tuscan Italian was chosen as the main language, lots of Italy continued to be illiterate until the 50’s. This was mainly in the countryside where access to education was simply not possible for many living in a rural location. Because of this lack of access or learning of standardised Italian, dialects have been used predominantly by those unable to become literate with the official language. Dialects in all communicative aspects have been used so that people have continued to communicate together still, just in a different way to those in highly populated areas.
When it comes to the use of dialects in Italy, the situation is somewhat interesting and differs to the use of dialects in other countries. In many countries dialects are used by older generations who keep versions of the main language alive. In Italy, though, dialects are common in all age groups across the country. They are used informally and passed down to younger generations who feel able, and willing to express their feelings and needs in the dialect their family uses. At the very least they are likely to be able to understand what the dialect means, if they can’t speak it. To further complicate things, accents impact local dialects greatly in Italy. There are multiple accents of multiple dialects within different parts of Italy. This can literally mean that a person speaks a dialect in one area and only a few KM away, someone speaks it but sounds totally different.
Sadly, dialects in Italy have for a long time been viewed in a way that suggests they are less than standard Italian. This is despite the fact that regional words and terms from various areas have been officially used within standard Italian. Yet, dialects have been the subject of prejudice, and those who used them seen as lower in education and class, compared to the richer people in towns and cities using standard Italian.
These days, luckily, there isn’t the same prejudice against dialects, and even in highly developed areas, they are still used and enjoyed and respected.
There are a huge range of minority languages used in Italy, including:
There are further languages spoken in Italy, but they are more rare and even considered in danger of dying out. These include:
Many of these languages have less than 1000 speakers and are very specific to certain regions of Italy.
Dialects are common in Italy and there are some main dialects that can be commonly heard, as well as some much rarer types that aren’t heard much at all.
Here are the most common Italian dialects:
Tuscan is a dialect from Tuscany and can differ within the area, too.
Venetian has a reputation for being difficult to understand and is fairly distinct in how it sounds, compared to other Italian dialects.
Apulian is incredibly difficult for those who speak standard Italian to understand because it sounds so distinctive. There are also various dialects within Apulian depending on where you travel.
Calabrese is an Italian dialect spoken in the area of Calabria in Italy.
Sicilian has been influenced by Arabic, Greek, Latin and many older European civilisations.
Neapolitan is recognised as a language but can be termed a dialect by some. It’s got Greek influences and sounds different to standard Italian, and is even considered challenging to understand by those who know of it.
Ligurian is spoken in LIguria and is easy to distinguish from other dialects.
Sardinian is an official language that is considered to be endangered. There are also many different dialects within Sardinian, including a version that is very similar to Spanish because of immigration from hundreds of years ago.
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