Italian is an official language of Italy and San Marino and is spoken fluently by the majority of the countries’ populations. Italian is the third most spoken language in Switzerland (after German and French), though its use there has moderately declined since the 1970s. Italian was the official language of Eritrea during Italian colonization. Italian is today used in commerce and it is still spoken especially among elders; besides that, Italian words are incorporated as loan words in the main language spoken in the country (Tigrinya).
Like all Romance languages, Italian has a fairly uncomplicated sound system. All words, with the exception of some borrowings, end in a vowel. Initial two-member clusters are limited to Consonant + /r/ or /l/ or /s/ + Consonant. There are a few /s/ + Consonant + Consonant clusters. Italian grammar is Latin-based and, therefore, shares most of its basic features with other Romance languages such as French, Spanish, and Portuguese. Italian vocabulary is mainly derived from Latin, with numerous borrowings from Greek, French, German, and English. In this article, we’ll help you discover some of the ways through which you can get your kid to learn Italian at a young age.