Standard Italian is spoken by Italy's 57 million residents, and is a minority language in Switzerland and Austria, as well as in Somalia, Libya, and Ethiopia, which were once Italian colonies. However, pronunciation of the national language varies greatly from region to region. In Tuscany, for example, the hard "c" is pronounced like an "h". Thus, "Coca-Cola con la cannuccia" (Coke with a straw) sounds more like "Hoha-Hola hon la hannuccia." These regional linguistic traits are easy identifiers of a person's hometown.

The modern language spoken in Italy today developed in the 13th and 14th centuries. It arose out of Latin and the numerous dialects of the region, and was heavily influenced by the works of Dante, Boccaccio, and Petrarch. Those literary giants wrote mainly in the Florentine dialect, which evolved into the so-called "Standard Italian" that is recognized today as the national language. In fact, Florence is the only Italian city today that does not have a distinct dialect separate from Standard Italian. In all other regions, it is common to hear dialects spoken, particularly among residents who have lived in the same town for generations. These dialects, vaguely similar to Italian but often unintelligible to people not born in the area, are living reminders of Italy's feudal past and the isolation of its various regions prior to unification.

Many words of Italian origin have been incorporated into the English language over the years. Some of these include gondola, regatta, fresco, vendetta, broccoli, volcano, basilica, stucco, terracotta, and inferno. In music, one finds numerous Italian words, such as concerto, sonata, tempo, aria, allegro, staccato, andante, and lento.

With some studying and a good sense of humor, English speakers can usually pick up Italian with relative ease. One thing to watch out for, though, is false cognates. Cognates are words that have approximately the same spelling and meaning in two different languages. There are many true cognate words in English and Italian, but there are also a number of Italian words that can fool you by their false resemblance to English.

For example, the Italian word camera is not something you take pictures with; it actually means room. If you use the word morbido to describe something gruesome, you are really saying that it is soft. And if you ask for confetti at a party, you may be surprised when you are given sugar coated almonds. Above all, don't ask for peperoni on your pizza-- unless you want hot peppers!

In speaking, as well as in writing, there are two forms of address in Italian: formal and informal. The formal is used to show respect and should be used when speaking with people outside of your circle of family and friends. For example, store clerks, waiters, bank tellers, teachers, and acquaintances should be addressed with the formal "lei" form. Friends, family, children, and pets, on the other hand, may be addressed with the "tu" form. It is also customary for students and young people to use the "tu" form among themselves, even if they are only passing acquaintances.

Italian is pleasing to the ear, even to those who do not understand a word of the language. It has a highly musical quality, which springs from the fact that all words end in a vowel, with the exception of a few articles, prepositions, and foreign words. Italian is also completely phonetic, meaning that every letter corresponds to a specific pronounced sound, making pronunciation and spelling relatively easy to learn.

Other aspects of the language are far more challenging for non-native speakers, including complicated verb tenses and a multitude of irregular nouns and verbs. Additionally, the rules regarding capitalization in Italian differ somewhat from those in English. For example, the days of the week and names of months are never capitalized. Also, when addressing someone formally in writing, personal pronouns and certain direct object pronouns are capitalized when they occur in the middle of a sentence-- conveying respect for the person addressed.

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