Standard Italian, which is based on Florentine (the dialect of Florence), belongs to the Romance language group and is spoken by 30 of the 58 million inhabitants of Italy; the rest (roughly half!) speaks a regional dialect. Those dialects differ so much that it is often difficult for people from different regions to understand each other. Before the arrival of mass media, most people only spoke their own dialect. Today, most people are also proficient in Standard Italian.

Phonetic

Italian is the official language in Italy, San Marino, and Vatican City, and one of the official languages of Switzerland. It is also a recognised minority language in Croatia and Slovenia. Worldwide, approximately 66 million people speak Italian. Italian is written in the Latin alphabet and has 21 letters: the letters J, K, W, X, and Y only occur in loan words. The fact that Italian is pronounced phonetically is great for those who want to learn it. If only all languages were like that…

Not a world language

The fact that Italian did not rise to become a world language is because Italy did not start colonising other regions until the late 19th century. Until the unification in 1870, Italy consisted of many small states which fought each other and other countries. Christopher Columbus, who was born in Genoa, was Italian by today’s standards. His bold plan to reach Asia by crossing the Atlantic Ocean in the western direction was financed by the Spanish queen Isabella of Castile. Would Spanish have become a world language if Columbus had found Italian funding, or would Latin America now be speaking Italian?

In-country translators

Languages, habits, and customs are subject to constant change. To ensure that translations are accurately tailored to their target audience, it is important that translators have their native language and culture all around them every day. We call such translators who live and work in their country of origin ‘in-country translators’. We love working with these kinds of translators, in this case, Italian translators who live in Italy and are native speakers of Italian.

Top quality

We are in possession of the highest achievable European quality standards for translation agencies: ISO 9001 and ISO 17100. Everything from our business operations to the quality of our translators is subject to strict quality requirements. In addition, a lowest price guarantee and our 100% satisfaction guarantee apply to all of our translations. This means you do not run any risk. If you want to know how it’s possible for us to deliver top quality at such competitive rates, you can find out here. For reviews from our clients, you can visit this independent website.