USE OF ITALIAN FROM PAST TO PRESENT

Abstract

The aim of this study is to investigate the use of Italian in the world and in the European Union from past to present and to make determinations about its place among the widely used languages. Italy was established in the very center of the empire as one of the three kingdoms of the Roman Empire. Italian, which is among the Romance languages, is a language developed from folk Latin. It is considered to be the closest language to Latin, which was once the most powerful language in the whole world. In addition to Italy, it is the native language at regional level in countries such as Switzerland, San Marino, the Vatican, Malta, Monaco, Albania. On the other hand, it is an official language at the national level in Italy, Switzerland, the Vatican, San Marino and Slovenia, and at the regional level in Croatia, Albania, Monaco and Malta. With approximately 68 million speakers, Italian is among the top 20 to 30 most widely used languages in the world. Italian, a language used in the European Continent, is the 4th most spoken language in the European Union after English, French and German.