What are the motivations to learn Italian?

Italian, Italiano or lingua Italiana is a Romance language of the Indo-European language family. Italian is, by most measures together with Sardinian, the closest language to Latin, from which it descends via Vulgar Latin. Italian is the national, or de facto national, official language in Italy, Switzerland (Ticino and the Grisons), San Marino, and Vatican City. It has official minority status in western Istria (Croatia and Slovenia). It is the second most widely spoken native language in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries (such as Switzerland, Albania and the United Kingdom) and on other continents, the total number of speakers is approximately 85 million.

Italian is a major European language. It is one of the official languages of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe and one of the working languages of the Council of Europe. Italian is the main working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca (common language) in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

It is generally understood in Corsica by Corsican speakers (in fact, many linguists classify it as an Italian dialect), spoken by large expatriate communities in the Americas and Australia, and included under the languages covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages in Bosnia and Herzegovina and in Romania, although Italian is neither a co-official nor a protected language in these countries. Many Italian speakers are native bilinguals of both Italian (either in its standard form or regional varieties) and other regional languages. It is also widely spoken in Luxemburg, Germany, and Belgium, United States, Canada, Venezuela, Uruguay, Brazil, and Argentina; and used to be an official language once upon a time in Albania, Malta, Monaco, Montenegro (Kotor), Greece (the Ionian Islands and the Dodecanese) and in the former Italian East Africa and Italian North Africa, where it still plays a significant role in various sectors.

• The demand for foreign language specialists, in particular, has risen sharply in recent years all across the world including India. 
• Knowing a foreign language sets you apart in your employment search and gives you a competitive edge over so many qualified others. 
• Florence was a major European centre of trade, commerce, and business.
• As per a study by Ethnologue, a research centre dedicated to language, Italian was found to be the most studied languages in the world, coming in fourth place after English, Spanish and Mandarin, and right before French.
• Knowledge of Italian will help you learn other Romance languages.
• Learning Italian will help you familiarize yourself with Italy’s rich cultural past, literature, archaeology, religion, art, music, architecture, design and history to deepen your understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the enthralling culture of Italy.
• Did you know that Italy is the birthplace of Opera? Italy produces incredible operas throughout the year. Mozart wrote more operas in Italian than his native language, German? Over the centuries, numerous well-known and renowned composers wrote several incredible Italian operas, including Giuseppe Verdi, Niccolò Paganini, Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini, Gaetano Donizetti, Pietro Mascagni, Vincenzo Bellini, and many more. If you love hearing breathtaking music and compelling songs from Bocelli, Luciano Pavarotti, Ramazzotti, and Mozart’s likes, learn Italian.
• With a nominal GDP of $1.93 trillion, Italy is the ninth-largest economy in the world and the third-largest in the Eurozone after Germany and France. 

• Italy is also the ninth-largest exporter, the sixth-largest producer of industrial groups in the world, one of the world’s largest producers of consumer goods and the third-largest market for luxury goods. 
• A recent study by KPMG has shown that “Made in Italy” is the third most recognized brand in the world after Coca-Cola and Visa.
• Italy was the 2020 winner for World’s Leading Culinary Destination declared by the World Travel Awards.
• It is the world’s largest wine producer. 
• Risotto, pasta, lasagna, gelato, latte macchiato and pizza, are all culinary contributions by Italy to the World. Whether you like Italian cuisine or doing any course in culinary arts, wine, or hotel management, Italian skills will undoubtedly be a high value-add to your repertoire.
• Learning Italian will allow you to get familiar with Italian products in interior design, graphic design, furniture, robotics, fashion, culinary art, space engineering, shipbuilding, transportation equipment, machinery, construction, and more. 
• Brands like Ferrari, Armani, Gucci, Prada, Benetton, Ducati, Barilla, Maserati, Fiat, Diesel, Lavazza, Versace, and countless more are Italy’s contributions to the world. 

• Globalization has increased the number of outsourcing, ITES, offshoring jobs.
• The Italian language serves multiple job opportunities by giving language specialists in BPO, KPO, ITES, MNC, and Call centres more than any other sector or industry is concerned. 
• Benetton, Bisazza, Alitalia, Piaggio, Ferrari, Gucci, Banco, Pinnacle, Marconi, Fiat, and Lloyd operate out of multiple offices around the world and learning Italian gives you an edge to stand at a better chance of getting employment.
• The fluency in Italian sets you apart in your employment search and is hugely beneficial in various career fields and professions. You can be employed as an interpreter, translator, as a linguist tour guide, be a content writer (freelancing), a proofreader, work in the Italian embassy, or in the Export and Import sectors in their International sales and marketing department besides being employed for so many different things.
• Italy is among India’s top 5 trading partners and export markets in the EU and the 12th largest investor in India. 
• According to the Italian Embassy in India, there are approximately 600 Italian companies currently operating in India. The increase in bilateral trade between India and Italy has made tremendous progress in recent years and shows new signs of growth. Italy has recently identified India as one of the top five priority countries for the internationalization of business. Indian exports to Italy have been increasing consistently since the late ’90s. Indian exports to Italy include textiles, leather products, carpets, iron ore, chemicals, agriculture products, gems and jewellery, coffee, Pharmaceuticals, etc. 
• Knowing Italian is a vital skill, given the relevance of India-Italy growing bilateral relations.

• Italy’s Milan is acknowledged as the world’s fashion capital. Italy has hoarded the fashion world with names like Gucci, Valentino, Dolce & Gabbana, Prada, Versace, Giorgio Armani, and Benetton, to mention but a few. If you speak Italian, it will allow you to follow your favourite fashion trend better. Moreover, you can even get better deals if you are interested in investing in the sector.
• Learning Italian can help you enjoy the classics of Visconte, Tornatore, Pasolini, and the more intriguing masterpiece by Benigni and Sorrentino.
• Italian is an excellent complement to Spanish, French, or even English due to the lexical similarity that includes tenses, vocabulary, and grammar rules.
• Italian is considered the most romantic and beautiful spoken language of all the romance languages.
• Having some Italian language skills under your belt before travelling, will not only enrich your holiday experience but also save you a few euros.
• Italy has several top-ranked colleges and universities. If you are aiming to do any course best done in Italy, learning Italian is going to give you an awesome sail through.

Becoming perfect in another language is a long journey: Look for tips, resources and strategies that will encourage you and keep you motivated — particularly when you’re just getting started. Stay away from boring irrelevant, fake, subject materials. Keep your learning light and engaging! Watch movies once in a while, sing Italian Songs, do whatever it takes to maintain your rhythm and learning consistency. Do not give up, take a break if something pushes you to discouragement; and approach it again with an alternate well-informed strategy. 

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