Lex Icon is back to tell us about Italy and its languages! Thank you for giving us this interview, Mr. Lex Icon! Let’s dig into some interesting Italian language facts.
A: That is true. Italian didn’t become a single official language until the 19th century. There are texts all over just a thousand years old that use it, though. Maybe age is more about perspective than a number.
A: I think it is interesting there are only 21 letters in it. If you were to compare it to English, than the letters J, K, W, X, and Y are missing. If you see a word containing these letters in writing, than you know this word was borrowed from another language.
A: It happens quite often. Italian is the official language of classical music. So the terms musicians learn when playing a piece all come from Italian. I know I love a good “crescendo” every now and then.
A: You have a good ear. Italian shares almost 90% of its vocabulary with French. It also shares 92% similar to Spanish and Portuguese. And 77% similarity to the vocabulary of Romanian. That is why it tends to be a lot easier to learn all these languages together.
We are forever in debt to you for these awesome interviews, Mr. Lex Icon! We didn’t know all of these facts about Italian! We can’t wait to have you again.
Did you like this interview about Italian language facts? Check out our other interview with Lex Icon on some of his favorite language facts!