Languages of Italy - (NOT just dialects!)

This video is all about the languages of Italy, including traditional regional languages, recognized minority languages, and Standard Italian. * Learn Italian with ItalianPod101: ►bit.ly/pod101italian ◄ *Black Friday sale: Courses are currently 51% off!
(Full disclosure: if you sign up for a premium account, Langfocus receives a small referral fee. But the free account is great too!)
Special thanks to Giuseppe Addeo, Cristina Casti, and Maddalena Milan for their voice recordings and answers to my questions! :)
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The following map is used under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 license: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi... Author: Sima Brankov. Still images incorporating the above map are available for use under Creative Commons Attribution-Share alike 4.0 license.
Music:
Intro and outro: "Take That Back" by Silent Partner.
Main: "Sunday" by Otis McDonald.

[@Langfocus]

Hi everyone! If you're currently learning Italian, check out ItalianPod101 ►( bit.ly/pod101italian )◄ - one of the best ways to learn Italian. For 33 other languages, check out my review of Pod101 programs in general: ► langfocus.com/innovative-language-podcasts/ ◄ (Full disclosure: if you sign up for a premium account, Langfocus receives a small referral fee. But if I didn't like it, I wouldn't recommend it!)

[@mrcrux213]

In this video you should put at the end of sentence Spanish also. Since they are 75% equal 😉

[@Mr-Fish0]

@@mrcrux213 are you speaking English or German? I can’t tell the difference since they are 75% the same 😉

[@ilgrandepapyrus7202]

As a Neapolitan Speaker I can tell that this video is very accurate Edit: I ca parl napulitan pozz ricr ca stu vid è precis (that's how you say it in neapolitan)

[@robertsyoutubechanel345]

i am learning italian

[@heraldomedrano851]

Sometimes I can understand Italian.

[@clochard4074]

As an Italian, I am impressed because this video is very well researched and accurate. This is a sign of the reliability of this channel, therefore I must subscribe.

[@clochard4074]

About your questions at the end of the video, I can say my experience. I live in Emilia Romagna and I never learned properly the dialect. My grandparents use it only between them, or for telling jokes and proverbs. I usually understand it, but I'm not able to answer. I don't miss it particularly, but as you said the situation varies a lot in each region.

[@oliviaswann4686]

Bill Clod Yep I have to understand dialect as in Puglia my husband's family just slips into it with no notice hehe

[@ZioStalin]

I can teach you Apulian dialects xD I am from Bari.

[@oliviaswann4686]

Federico Spadone hehe thanks but the dialect in Bari - although similar- is still different from Mattinata :-)

[@sofia-ro]

Clover Vaira yeah, indeed in Puglia the dialect is often used, even young people know it and use it. I know it as well

[@aixPenta]

For three years in high school, I followed an italian class without really listening because I hatedmy teacher. But I still badly wanted to learn italian, so I went one month in Turino in a host family. Turned out that the "family" was just an 94 years old woman who didn't know italian and only spoke Piemontese. Since I'm not that social, apart for small chat, I only spoke with this woman and quite a lot actually. When I came back from Italy in France, I went to chat with my italian teacher, but she couldn't understand anything. Turned out that my italian didn't improve at all, but now I know some piemontese vocabulary I'll never use

[@anguineus_vir]

I loved your story, and very nicely told

[@piercewilliams6284]

aixPenta Still a small bonus in my opinion.

[@skytazt7457]

aixPenta we ma ndü l'è ??

[@taino20]

My friend from Sicilia reports a similar problem. His niece lives in Belgium and thinks that she speaks Italian fluently. Actually, she doesn't. What she speaks is Sicilian and not Italian.

[@Odinsday]

You have some shitty luck. lol

[@MRbkkk]

I remember I once visited my friend in Napoli (Naples). We were out drinking and eating all night (although the next day was supposed to be a working day) with 10 other locals. At some point I said, "Wow, Italian sounds lovely." Then all 11 of them got offended and started waving their hands in disbelief and yelling, "We are speaking Napoletano!! How can you not tell?" I guess I must have committed some crime there...

[@ehonda7831]

😀

[@JayGiuriati]

Napoletano is a language in Italy :)

[@senecanzallanute4066]

belquabat you sure did! but we still like you...

[@giuseppemaggio5894]

Neapolitans being overdramatic as usual

[@Razbunyik]

LOL! They were just being passionate, as most of us Italians are.

[@varandilITA]

As a Friulian I want to thank you, because usually even Italians don't know our existence

[@Adriwatt]

Why are you belittling Friuli? We know you are there, dear brother! 🇮🇹

[@panzerkampfwagen_vi_ausf_e]

Nah molise is the one that doesn't exist

[@lucianorosarelli-xr5lr]

@@Adriwatt venti a bevi un taj alore. Came to drink a glass of vine. in venetian lenguage viente a bever un'ombretta

[@duncanlutz3698]

My dad's family is from the Friuli region... a small village south of Udine (Percotto). Sadly, Nonna didn't want him to learn the local language, despite being from the region herself, and would punish him for picking up words from the other kids in the village. She only wanted him to learn standard Italian. I still have some old decorations with Friulian sayings written on them, though. She kept some ceramic plates with depictions of the four seasons written in Friulian I have hanging in the kitchen. I grew up in America, though, and for some reason my father didn't want me to learn Italian as a boy... mother even begged him to teach me when I was young enough to pick it up easily. I've only recently started to learn and he seems happy about that, but the old family from Friuli are largely gone now or moved away (one uncle married a Sicilian girl and moved to Belgium and they speak French mostly. The others moved to New York and never had kids). He still has some friends left in the region, though.

[@lucianorosarelli-xr5lr]

@@duncanlutz3698 percotto in friulian Percût read like doble u percuut

[@NotOrdinaryInGames]

So THAT is why all the hand gestures were invented...

[@radiantsun8493]

this is seriously the actual reason...

[@giulianoroma506]

Hai detto benne

[@martinacalcagno2126]

Ahahahhahaha

[@jingle3330]

I'm from Italy. I really think that's the main reason.

[@sal_strazzullo]

Non ci avevo mai pensato 🤣

[@thulx3997]

"[...] and (Italy) shares borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia and San Marino." Vatican City: *sad pope noises*

[@gaborodriguez1346]

Le Vatican: Alors on sort pour oublier tous les problèmes

[@Cee4yourself]

he added a non-existing border to germany to compensate. :)

[@ilcondottierocartografo6770]

poep smol xd

[@evannesbitt7852]

​@@Cee4yourselfno he didn't

[@mblede]

As an Italian living abroad, I had to explain many times this languages "thing" we have. Next time someone will ask, I'll answer with "wait I have a video to show you". Good work!

[@tihan6]

I am from trentino alto adige and i am natif german speaker. In switzerland everyone is confused why i speak perfect german but no italian

[@tompatterson1548]

@@tihan6 Sie sprichst nur Deutsch und Englisch?

[@clyp3016]

@@tihan6 i'm nativ italian speaker but living in germany, maybe someone swapped our places

[@RP-wk6ge]

@@tihan6isn't it mandatory to learn italian in school?

[@gi1937]

I'm venetan and once I heard a Brazilian speaking Tałian: it was like hearing a neighbor!! amazing emotion. And they protect the language more than we do, it's absolutely a shame. Tanti basi to our Brazilian brothers 🇧🇷🇮🇹💪

[@34521125]

Strucon anca a voaltri vècio

[@anonymoususer855]

Sono un brasiliano che ha studiato italiano, inglese, spagnolo, francese e tedesco. L'italiano è la lingua che mi piace dì più. È bellissima!

[@napoleonfeanor]

Was he from Southern Brazil? The same is true of Germans there, who kept their regional variety. Italian and German culture and influence in parts of South America is generally an interesting topic

[@MacaquitosGames]

Yes, there are many people in South of Brazil who knows how to speak it. My nono and nona knew how to speak vèneto. Unfortunately, I didn't learn it, ma posso capir un pochetin!

[@Nicoponti_]

yeah we dont say just mamma mia...

[@Langfocus]

Haha, certainly not.

[@giuliaverzeletti5621]

non so te, ma io mi ritrovo a dirlo molto spesso

[@thepentium2080]

a typical north-east italy greeting is: Dio Porco va in cueo de to mare

[@andry8925]

@@thepentium2080 ah giusto

[@giannapple]

@@thepentium2080 A Firenze ti si risponderebbe “Elegante te, eh, fine ‘hom’un ciuhin’ a bber’a bboccia!!” (trad: “eccellente, mio buon uomo, la tua eleganza nell’esprimerti é sorpassata solo da un asino che beve a bottiglia”)

[@SirLoinDeRes]

Sono messicano e ho imparato l'italiano perchè il bel paese mi piace tantissimo e spero che qualche giorno possa visitarlo!

[@canale39youification]

Complimenti per la grammatica Antonio, soprattutto per l'uso corretto della particella pronominale alla fine del verbo, quella spesso mette in difficoltà una sacco di stranieri :D (immagino che la maggiore intelligibilità dello spagnolo con l'italiano rispetto all' inglese ti abbia reso il tutto un po' più facile da imparare rispetto agli anglofoni) L'unico dettaglio che vorrei farti presente è che nella frase che hai scritto ci starebbe meglio "ed* ho imparato", siccome la "h" è muta e nel parlato suona male avere 2 vocali attaccate

[@SirLoinDeRes]

MarcusFenix89 Grazie mile Marcus! Quando ho studiato l'italiano l'unica cosa che veramente è stato un problema per me è il congiuntivo ed il passato remoto, perchè i verbi si trasformano e cambiano molto.

[@canale39youification]

Ah guarda su quello pure molti italiani fan casino hahahahah

[@undyne0571]

Se passi, vieni a Bari che ti mangi un bel panzerotto e passa la paura😂😂😂👌🏻👌🏻

[@tonybucca5667]

SALUDOS HERMANO! Soy Italiano, pero creo que tengo la alma Mejicana!

[@guidamauro]

I'm Neapolitan and I would say that Italian is the language I've used at school and I use to comunicate with other Italian but Neapolitan is the language of my heart, it comes out when emotions are strong. Neapolitans are very proud of our language and I think that will never die but rather transform like any other language in the world because is a living language and, as I said our preferred language among standard Italian

[@joan6839]

Would you like to get independence from italy?

[@ltubabbo529]

@@joan6839 there is a part of the Neapolitans who are pro-independence. But they arent numerous outside the city of Naples in the rest of Neapolitan-speaking areas. In Italy, there is very little trust in politics, so even "strong" populations as Sardinians and Venetians dont believe they can obtain independence even if it is what they would like

[@masterjunky863]

@@joan6839 Being proud of your regional identity and culture doesn't means don't feel Italian

[@giannifois8948]

mammt, patt, sort, fratt, figlt, zijt, nonnt

[@Leonard_cz]

Brav mba s propj fort

[@FlagAnthem]

Italy is so much diverse that even dialects have dialects! 😆

[@lucarinaldichini324]

So very true: example: I'm my town, a "chain" is called cadagna, two km away "cadena", 5km even further "cadegna". In Italian it's "catena". Well, crazy. I'm not even joking...

[@franovak2654]

They're not dialects that's why 😅 they're regional languages

[@masterjunky863]

That's because they are languages

[@clotildedecasaantici8065]

Assolutamente vero!!

[@Giulia-dc7ml]

Just think that two little town some kilometers apart speak two completely different dialects and I cannot understand the other dialect they’re so different!!

[@iilcesco]

As a friulian speaker: i live in Trieste, and in the group of friends there are friulian, venetian, apulian and napolitan speakers. We refuse to use standard italian to communicate, so everyone taks to each other in is own language. Then of course nobody is able to understand anything. In these situations we use to suspend the talk and go to drink togheter. After drinking, we still speak our own language but the dialects unexplainably have now become perfectly mutually intellegible to each other. That's the way we defend our identity in North-East!

[@gateret]

hahahahah Splendido!! Più gente come voi ha bisogno Italia! Allore, ci fasim una birra o si gratam els cuglions?? haha :p Salutazione da València!

[@buenvidanadz1969]

That's great!! Preserve your heritagr language!! A lot of people don't have that previlege to speak a less common, unstandardized, heritage language 😭😭

[@robertaalberti9228]

@@gateret hola. una curiosità: in Spagna avete le differenze sociali, culturali e lingustiche come da noi? Francamente credo impossibile 😅

[@gateret]

@@robertaalberti9228 Ciao Roberta! Certo che c'è l'abbiamo! Ma per fortuna le nostre lingue sono riconosciute ed officialli (euskera, catalano, galego) le posiamo studiare a la scuola, ma non tutte ad esempio il asturianu/leonese oppure il aragonese non sono riconosciute! È questo che ad ogni paese parlate un dialetto diverso anche sucede qui: Ad esempio, nella mia zona ci parliamo valenciano (catalano) ma è un valenciano con una forte presenza del dialetto mallorchino (ha avuto una ripopolazione mallorchina nel S.XVI) e non solo questo, ma noi sapiamo de chè paese siamo giacchè c'è l'abbiamo dialetti diversi tra paese a 5km di distanza! (qualcuno non dice le -r finale, un altro dice tx tutte le x...) Ma va bè l'officialità delle lingue fa che ci stiamo convergendo nel standard ed anche c'è avuta una reconquista; a l'essere sotto dominazione musulmana fino a s.XII, cosa che a fatto che soltanto ci sono 8 secoli di divergenza non XX secoli di divergenza come voi)

[@robertaalberti9228]

@@gateret 😊grazie per la precisazione. 😮 Sai, noi siamo abituati a considerare la Spagna unita. d'altra parte voi avete una storia di unità nazionale di secoli, a differenza di noi. O mi sbaglio?

[@antoniorigodanzo9642]

*regional languages are spoken amongst the elderly* Me: *laughs in Veneto*

[@ggehh]

🤣🤣🤣

[@specialfina2007]

Same laughs in Naples ahahah

[@peratattica]

hehehe

[@GiuseppeZetta]

Laugh from Bari

[@lore688]

Porco dioo

[@stefanox2433]

I'm italian (from abruzzo!) and you're the first person that has been able to track and explain clarely to other people italian dialects origins. You gained a subscriber❤️🇮🇹

[@germanshepherd13]

My grandparents are from castlevecchio L'aquila.

[@stefanox2433]

@@germanshepherd13 cool, and you are from us right?

[@SharkJ002]

​@@stefanox2433 la mia famiglia è anche abruzzese, di Tortoreto ma io abito a Torino, voglio andare là qualcun giorno, sono italiano d'Argentina 🇮🇹🇦🇷💪🏻

[@graceplayz4u]

Mia nonna è di Capestrano in Abruzzo🥰 l’abbiamo visitato per il suo compleanno.

[@user-zt9yd9ky4e]

I believe I should mention that there is also a dialect of Greek spoken in South Italy since the ancient times.

[@stefanorossi9643]

In Lecce (Puglia) people speak Grico. While in Calabria (Lungro), in Sicily (Piana degli Albanesi) and in other little towns of South Italy people speak ancient Albanian. In some towns of Molise and Abruzzo, people speak Croatian-Molisano.

[@giannifois8948]

Yes! A variation of Calabrian highly influenced by Greek.

[@misterchansey]

It's mentioned at 3:54

[@nikoking825]

I had ancestors from Calabria who, whole they spoke a dialect of Italian there were still a clear influence of Greek on their speech.

[@albertoluca6155]

It amazes me how I (native italian) have to watch a video made by a foreign guy to learn something about my own language.

[@miraeha6576]

Buon giorno

[@francescausai2058]

Same here... :)

[@lucapreviati5833]

Tra l’altro per uno che l’inglese lo mastica sì, ma non è madrelingua in alcun modo (il sottoscritto), quanto si capisce bene... inglese perfetto spiegato perfettamente!

[@xiuderfan330]

Alberto Lucà Infatti sto tizio dice un botto di cazzate, vai a scuola a studiare

[@frank755]

Xiuder Fan Ignorante sta zitto

[@rodrigorodrighi9098]

I am Italian and I can’t help but be amazed by the details and accuracy of this video. I was born and raised in Veneto and I can assure that virtually all of us, assuming they are actually Venetian and not some kind of immigrants, are able to understand our dialect and use it to communicate to some extents. The problem is that someone who speaks dialect is considered ignorant, since Italian is the official language. This mindset comes from our recent history: not many years ago ( prolly 50?) only highly educated people spoke Italian ( like lawyers doctors etc) and poorly educated people spoke dialect instead. Nowdays elderly are bilingual but they tend to speak dialect only(my grandmother can’t speak proper Italian but she is able to read and understand it perfectly), most people under 60 tend to speak dialect with their parents and with their siblings and friends. The same situation can be found for younger generations but less and less people are really fluent outside small town in the countryside. Most people in big cities are prone to use only a handful of words of dialect fearing to be classified as poorly educated. For example when taking some kind of job interview or oral exam at schooI you would speak 100% Italian in order to make a good impression. That being said it’s interesting to notice how people who can barely speak their dialect will still have a super strong accent that can be easily recognised. The sad true that our dialects are dying: I am in my twenty’s and when my generation will be gone, our language will soon follow us. This is the very same situation for most northern dialects, they should be taught in school like they do in Ireland with Gaeilge. We should be proud of our origins dammit! Ps Wrote in a rush sorry for the spelling mistakes

[@vsabadazh]

Would it be hard to learn a dialect for a foreigner who barely speaks standard Italian?

[@altf4218]

Vasiliy Sabadazh my opinion is that the best way to learn it would be to spend a certain amount of time (maybe even a few months) with a speaker of the dialect. There are some Wikipedia articles written in the venetian language, such as vec.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Łéngua_vèneta. I believe that you should learn firstly the correc pronunciation, and then begin learning new words and phrases. The test will come by itself, with practice

[@sebastiancrenshaw851]

@Vasiliy Sabadazh No, here in Veneto the "dialect" is learned very quickly by foreigners, many people who speak veneto are foreigners today. And speaking in veneto for a foreigner here means to be accepted more easily. In fact, not speaking veneto could means been considerate a "stranger" even for an italian somentimes.

[@davidesegato2080]

Vasiliy Sabadazh I think its almost impossible. Dialects have no "official" rules or grammar codes so there's no way you can study it. The only way is to speak with some locals, the problem is that since you're a foreigner no one will speak to you in dialect, and as soon as you change city the dialect will change too.

[@artemmarkelov3070]

Rodrigo Rodrighi well first if you want to save you idiom you'll be better call it what it is, a language. Second finding a standard language could be useful, because the evergreen justifications "dialects change every 10 yards" and "it has no grammar rules" seems to resist, and they are major hurdles hard to overcome with your current mindset

[@rosannameneghetti7331]

I am very proudly a "veneta" and I always say my native language is Veneto. It's a big identity cultural part. I use the Venetian Language quite frequently with people that can understand it, even at work. That's a very accurate video! Bravo! (even if your italian accent isn't perfect, but you speak so many languages!!!).

[@howardgarfield9790]

I am an American who learned Standard Italian both in college and by living in Florence for a year when I was in college. I also learned the Florentine version of Tuscan. During a trip to Italy in 2003, long after graduation, I booked a hotel near the train station in Florence. When I exited the station, I became a little disoriented and I approached an elderly man to ask for directions to the nearby hotel. I asked in Italian, and he gave me a blank stare. I then asked him in the Florentine dialect of Tuscan, despite the fact that the two versions of my question were very similar, his eyes lite up and he promptly gave me directions in Florentine Tuscan. This illustrates your point about the local language being mainly used with friends and family and Standard Italian among the educated. That was nearly 20 years ago, and I would say that at least in Tuscany native Tuscan speakers are probably few and far between. By the way, I remember that the vowel sounds in Tuscan were slightly different from those in Standard Italian. When I was a student in Florence in 1962, yes, I am that old, we used to describe Standard Italian as "La lingua toscana in bocca romana," meaning, of course, the Tuscan language spoken by a Roman. Would you agree?

[@franceskinskij]

I am a florentine and I usually speak more florentine than standard italian (since my vernacolo is the closest to standard italian)

[@uccio258]

Sono un professore di Italiano e ti dico: MOLTO BRAVO!!!

[@Autogru]

ineluttabile

[@khali7072]

un professore che commenta su KZbin Non può essere altro che epico, grande prof!

[@hellfy.attorney]

Se tu fossi un professore, non scriveresti in italiano ÷(

[@AN-om1qc]

In italiano......

[@user-gc9ei7ed1t]

@@hellfy.attorneyI professori di italiano esistono anche in Italia😂

[@lucillem7706]

"The policy was to italianize people in every region of the country" sounds an awful lot like what France did at around the same time... And that's how my regional language is now almost extinct...

[@mortelano2]

Lucille M wich one do you speak?

[@calebsousa2754]

That is really sad...At least in Spain they have more pride and freedom for speaking their regional languages.

[@lucillem7706]

The language of my region is Norman (or normaund) but I unfortunately don't speak it. Which I find sad. Regional languages are dying in France because of those policies, and it seems like people don't really care

[@gts1300]

As far as I know, before, in the Frankish Kingdom, the fact that people spoke unintelligible dialects from one region to another made the king almost untouchable, as he or any powerful man could con his subjects and/or it was hard for people from all the country to unite. When the republicans arrived to power, they did the exact opposite, they promoted a standard language and let regional languages die. The problem with this is that, non-Gallo-Romance languages such as Occitan and Coriscan, or others such as Breton (which at one point was really thriving and developing) and Basque, are now in danger because no one wants to protect them. It's a shame how once people were prohibited from speaking them at school. Thankfully it is not the case anymore but the damage has been done.

[@mortelano2]

Caleb Sousa Well, as Spaniard, I speak two regional languages plus Spanish. It's true that regional languages have prestige and appear on regional politics, but, it's difficult to use them on big cities or important events, as the immigrants usually don't learn them (I mean, people from other regions of Spain who move to Catalan land) forcing you to speak only Spanish. This creates an idea of useless language among the speakers that is putting in danger it's use.

[@vitorcatoia1560]

In the south of Brazil, there's the Talian, a dialect based on veneto with around 500.000 speakers. Its co-official language in some cities.

[@gi1937]

Parleo il tałian? Mi parle il veneto un sciantin. Ma in Italia no i la reconose mia ancora

[@VRomagnollo]

@@gi1937 El "talian" el ze el veneto, mèdema lengua.

[@Adam.P]

Go Brazil 2024

[@lucianorosarelli-xr5lr]

@@VRomagnollo ​ @gi1937 chi te o ga dito? veneto scjieto ma vecia maniera staca da l'evolusion dea engua.

[@Aquila81]

As an italian (and neapolitan) native speaker, I have to say this video is really accurate!! And don't worry, neapolitan language will never die, for us it's like catalan in Catalunya, where spanish is still the official language, but local people usually prefer to talk "their" language, and it's the same in Regione Campania... Anyway with foreigners, with italians from other regions and within most formal situations, we speak italian of course, not dialect.

[@doerix7778]

In Catalunya catalan is an official language. It's also used formally in Catalunya, the means of communication use Catalan and it's teached in schools. That's how you truly preserve a language. In Italy they don't have official recognition

[@Ardoxsho]

molto più difficile la sopravvivenza delle lingue del nord. non ti dico poi in Liguria. qua la gente si vergogna da tre generazioni di parlare una lingua diversa dall'italiano. c'è quel canale Pasta Grannies, bellissimo, dove si vedono le signore anziane fare la pasta. ebbene, al sud parlano tranquillamente un misto di italiano e lingue locali. guardati i video girati in Liguria, traducono tutto, financo "strofinaccio" e i nomi degli ingredienti locali, le ultime parole che nella vita reale non direbbero mai in italiano. sotto sotto hanno paura di essere prese per ignoranti. e sono signore con parecchie primavere addosso eh. che tristezza. io non ho più nessuno con cui parlare la mia lingua madre purtroppo, e me la sto dimenticando. credo che ormai sia condannata. meno male che almeno da voi c'è ancora orgoglio.

[@ilsalmone7704]

​@@Ardoxsho bo in friuli la lingua sta pian piano scomparendo, cioè io e quelli della mia età (per intenderci 04/05/06) la conosciamo e la parliamo quotidianamente ma quelli nati dopo non sanno neanche dire una parola e alcuni non capiscono neanche la lingua. Questa cosa è vista un pò male da tutti perché si va a perdere una cultura che è radicata secoli fa. Io penso che perdere una lingua che è la lingua dei nostri avi, di quelle persone che ci hanno tramandato le tradizioni e la lingua sia una specie di vergogna delle nuove generazioni e una specie di ricerca per essere più simili alle altre persone allontanandosi da una cultura che era dei loro nonni e parenti.

[@Ardoxsho]

​@@ilsalmone7704 davvero, che tristezza: a parte la musicalità e la bellezza di tutte le nostre lingue regionali, ma poi ci sono concetti che proprio non si possono esprimere nello stesso modo in italiano. è una lingua di servizio, e non c'è dubbio che nella mia lingua madre non ti potrei scrivere con la stessa scorrevolezza e proprietà di linguaggio, ma ci sono situazioni in cui è vero il contrario. a parte che questo sta capitando anche a tutte le altre tradizioni, a cominciare dalla cucina. ormai stiamo mangiando sempre più allo stesso modo, e anche questo è un grande peccato. si parla di sesta estinzione di massa per le specie viventi, ma sta succedendo anche alle culture.

[@totoreGXP]

It is accurate but there are some errors. for example he writes in Neapolitan without vowels

[@miles_kharmushir]

I am from China and I am enthusiastic about Italian culture especially its languages. Similar to Romance languages in Italy, Chinese has more than ten distinctive Sinitic branches, most of which have historically considered dialects. I find it truly exciting to learn a sister language of one you are fluent in, and I hope Italian people can preserve your mother togues better 👍

[@paigescaffidi9587]

I love it! Funny, I am part Italian (obviously, by my last name) and would LOVE to learn Chinese! 🙋💖

[@khust2993]

Same in the Philippines, all regional languages are erroneously called as 'dialects'. I think none is endangered though, but they're pretty susceptible to being mixed with English loanwords nowadays which doesn't sound pleasant.

[@sesclaytpoop8525]

Dialects are going to fade away probably

[@simonepalamini6220]

Hello ! I'm italian🙋

[@desmoMarco91]

I'm from Milan in the north...and I only know a couple WORDS of Milanese, in the south its much different. There is a famous italian TV series based in Naples and the characters speak in Napoletano, I use subtitles to understand LOL

[@obamango4548]

Non so se sia più strano il fatto che tarantino mi stia spiegando la storia dei nostri dialetti o che sappia parlare l'italiano meglio di 1/4 degli italiani

[@dartgerry]

ROFLMAO

[@LucaLindholm]

Io direi anche più di 1/4 degli italiani, si fidi...

[@nickygheda3714]

Infatti, 1/4. 3/4 vomitano.

[@sheiko6863]

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH

[@goodfellas1463]

Si ma si dimentica il genovese belin!

[@genevricella]

When I first began to learn Italian, as a grandson of four immigrant grandparents, I was so happy to begin to understand my ancestors’ culture and language. I remember visiting my grandmother from Calabria (her village is Cerenzia (Crotone province) and when I spoke to her, she lit up! She started speaking to me in her calabrese dialect, and it sounded like nothing I could comprehend. I was shocked that she could understand me perfectly and I could understand only 5% of what she said. I did find that my father’s dialect (from Sant’Arsenio, in the province of Salerno), was a lot easier to understand. It’s very close to napoletano, with a few minor differences. But I learned that the dialect changes from village to village, even 5 kms away they might use different words to describe the same thing. Thank you, Paul. Another amazing, and incredibly well researched video.

[@danielecastellucci8106]

That’s true! Even if some italian dialects are not considered languages they really are with particular grammar form and words. If you don’t know that particular dialects you are not able to communicate. Some dialects are a bit easier than others to understand. As an Italian native speaker I struggle a lot with southern and northern dialects and I can maybe pick up some words

[@yellowglider]

Just stumbled over your video, very well done! I was born and raised in Italy but have been living in the USA for more than twenty years. I was born in Veneto, and when I was a kid (in the sixties) everybody spoke just Venetian, in the family or outside. Almost only “foresti” (“strangers”), or people of really high social level spoke standard Italian, and I actually learnt it at school. Growing up it was a struggle to actually speak a good standard Italian, as Venetian was perceived as “blu collar” language, it wasn’t enough to just know it I really tried (and I think succeed) to make it sound “natural” . As you said, during the years the situation has changed significantly, and I grew my children speaking only Italian in the family, they learned Venetian from the street. (Funny detail: my son ended up using both, he has no problems with Venetian, while my daughter stick with Italian only, she never speaks Venetian even if she perfectly understand it). My grandkids in Italy are been raised speaking Italian, with a big exposure to Venetian from the other grandparents, as well as German and English. Another grandkid here in the USA will be raised speaking Italian in the family, and since me and my wife use sometimes a mix of Venetian I’m sure he’ll get that as well.

[@fartsare2023]

Damn. I didn't realize how different Italic languages can be. Wow. They're almost unintelligible from North to South. Portuguese and Brazilians can still understand each other well and they're a whole Continent away.

[@aduin717]

Yes, and I tell you more. In the same region, there are hundred of differences for a single dialect. For example, in my region, apulia, the dialect is veeeery very different in the different places! In the North of apulia there are many dialects, completely different from southest ones!

[@angelolaurenzaMJJ]

@@aduin717 this because in the north of Apulia people speak neapolitan, while in the south they speak sicilian. As a neapolitan, I can barely understand a barese, but I can't understand leccese

[@FelipeAllison]

not so sure about that, I'm brazilian and a lot of brazilians can't understand the portuguese accent unless they speak slowly and it also happens with spanish from our neighbours, also we have some "brazilian" dialects too, like mine brazilian portuguese dialect called "cearences", we even have our own dictionary, fun fact some years ago an artist from my state, ceará, made a movie and it had to be subtitled so the rest of the county could understant our way to speak

[@dustyrelic239]

But look at how different the English dialects of Great Britain are from each other versus the dialectical differences within the United States, which for the most part are just different accents. It’s not a question of geographical distance as much as it’s a matter of temporal distance. The dialects of Italy (and Europe generally ) have had millennia to diverge and have only had about a century or so to re-converge (due to modern transportation, education, communications, and nations). In the new world however imported European languages have had a much shorter time to diverge and for a greater percentage of that time have been impacted by the aforementioned reconvergent factors.

[@ivan1065]

Actually, there is a research that says Basislicata has the most numbers of dialects more than 135 spread on 131 municipalities, in some town there are more than 1 dialect. I'm from Basilicata and a i can says that in each town people speak different dialects, sometimes this dialect can be similar, but with a lot of different words. There is an example of 2 dialects of 2 near town (8 km distance): What you want? You are an a**hole (this is the first sentence i thought sorry xD) C ghè ca vu? To si nu cgghiaun Che vu? To s nu sort cllon (that's my dialect) As you can see the 2 sentences are really different, except for "vu", "to" and "nu" (want, you, an), but the other words are totally different. Try to think what can happen in 131 towns, that are just few km away eachother. My birthplace is amazing, sometimes when we speak dialect we don't understand eachother because of the different influences.

[@adreeanah549]

I'M ITALIAN AND THIS IS THE BEST VIDEO I'VE EVER SEEN, CONGRATULATIONS, I SUBSCRIBED

[@insertname8889]

Shit mate, not so loud

[@ryz3xcl4py0u7]

IO sono italiano raga sto video e bello

[@bardackthefatherofgoku625]

SUPAHLOLLOH 456 a me fanno ridere quello che commentano solo per vantarsi di essere italiani

[@simonepalamini6220]

Ciao🙋

[@PotoTLP]

BEDDU STU VIDIU

[@diogodavid3557]

"Qualcosa" reminds me of the Portuguese "Qualquer coisa", while "alc" reminds me of "algo". Both mean "something" in portuguese.

[@RP-wk6ge]

In italian you can also say "Qualche cosa"!

[@andreraphael6727]

Exactly!

[@FeloLato]

lo mismo con el español

[@giorgiodifrancesco4590]

No. "Qualquer coisa" derivates from "qualis quaerat causa". The italian "qualcosa" derivates from "qualis(cum)que causa". "Alc" derivates from "aliquis". In Italian we have "alcuno" (aliquis+unu[m]).

[@margaritamariabonafemora9660]

En Català, varietat balear de Mallorca: qualque cosa.

[@andreraphael6727]

Fun fact: the most similar language to standard italian/tuscan I have ever heard is the Corsican language. Actually closer to italian than any other language/dialect(except for tuscan dialects) in the italian state. It's a very beautiful and unfortunately endangered language, absent from the video because Corsica is politically not part of Italy.

[@gabrielwht3418]

That's because corse derivatives from the tuscan dialect spoken around Livorno, which of course is similar to the tuscan dialect of Florence (used to create standard italian). 🙋🏼‍♂️

[@anarmasimli]

That's a very Napoleone Bonaparte fact.

[@aiurea1]

So Etruscans contributed to the standard Italian variant? What a twist!

[@arroe8386]

@@aiurea1 Where do you derive that from?

[@ValeriusMagni]

@@aiurea1 no

[@matteoalberti2729]

omg a video about italy that's not "why i love italy" "how italians speak" "pizza is good" love u man.

[@sesclaytpoop8525]

Pizza is good 😂

[@Konradp68]

I'm Italian and was born and grew up in the Venetian countryside of the 70s. Back then, nearly everyone spoke dialect within their families and also with strangers, with very few exceptions. We learned standard Italian at school and from TV. Now the situation is quite different, very few children can speak dialect: they still understand it, but no longer use it as an active language.

[@RogerRamos1993]

So, Venetian will be dead within 50 years tops.

[@the_unreal_shrock]

Mi go sedaxe anni e parlo veneto ogni di, anca a scoea.

[@peabody3000]

someone probably already mentioned it here somewhere but the friulian "alc" at 11:11 which Paul did not know the origin of, meaning "something," sure sounds a lot like the spanish word for something, "algo"

[@williampawson5476]

That was me.

[@emysimo]

Can we appreciate how at 4:37 he pronounces "Puglia" better than any other previously mentioned 60 millions speakers of Standard Italian?

[@seid3366]

How would they pronounce it?

[@Leonard_cz]

Beh non così tanto

[@bearythepanda6590]

"puliah" lmao 😂 Im italian nd it is *kinda* pronounced right just the gl he didnt get lmao

[@Leonard_cz]

@@bearythepanda6590 infatti

[@bearythepanda6590]

@@Leonard_cz beh... L'italiano è molto bello eh? 826 dialetti diversi......seeeeehhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

[@00Hiromi00]

I'm from Veneto and it's common here to speak dialect instead of italian, especially in rural areas. My family almost never speaks italian, except with me and my younger cousins. I mostly use dialect with my family and friends when I make jokes or exclamations ;) It emphasizes the meaning of what I want to say.

[@markiec8914]

Yeah people of Veneto, Friuli and Ligurian are the most conservative in terms of using their own regional laguages. Almost everyone I know from Veneto speaks a local variety of Venetian.

[@thebenis3157]

Marcantonio H Actually, I live in Liguria and I've never heard anyone under 60 years old holding a conversation in dialect

[@markiec8914]

I think you're right about Ligurian dialects are rather restricted to valleys, cities or areas as in Monaco(Monegasque), Brigasc (Briga Alta) or Zeneise(Genova).

[@kalvincastro9042]

That makes sense, Paul did mention that Venice was the center of trade and culture, so it's interesting seeing them having it out for Italian.

[@pocket2028]

I come from Rome

[@jgp652]

I was born in New York, but I lived in Italy for about 15 years. I learned to speak Italian with a Roman accent (dialect) that could be heavy at times. When I was in Milan, the Milanese heard Rome so strong that it masked my foreign accent. In Rome, they'd speak with me for 10 minutes then say, "Where did you say you were from?".

[@gaporion1973]

daje!!!

[@BazColne]

jgp652 Virtue signalling.

[@simonepalamini6220]

Ciao🙋

[@masterjunky863]

Daje! È bellissimo l'accento de Roma!

[@therealpietro__]

I'm Calabrian, I always use my dialect with my relatives, especially with my grandfather or grandfather 'cause they don't know Italian very well. But with my friends I also speak very frequently the Calabrian language. I can say I speak: 70% dialect and 30% Italian. (You amazed me for the accuracy of this video. I didn't know all this things)

[@masterjunky863]

Non esiste la lingua calabrese, alcuni dialetti calabresi sono parte della lingua napoletana (che non è il dialetto di Napoli, ha solo lo stesso nome) e altri della lingua siciliana.

[@ValeriusMagni]

@@masterjunky863 diletto cosentino fa parte della lingua napoletana e il resto della calabria ed il salento fanno parte della lingua siciliana

[@Adam.P]

OK, First off you can't call it a dialect as its its own language. This Calabrian did not evolve from Tuscany is what I mean. 2nd, there is no such thing as a Calabrian language. In Calabria the bottom 2/3 speak Sicilian and the upper 1/3 speak Neapolitan, albeit with some variations from the traditional languages.

[@stacca5381]

I'm native of Bergamo (Lombardy) and I speak the dialect known as bergamasco/bresciano. As you said, we usually use it with elderly relatives and close friends, but we don't use it a lot because in our culture someone who uses too much this dialect is like someone with a low culture. So we usually use it with close friends but not with every friend because it can sound a bit "out of context". Some example sentences: EN - You're handsome. IT - Sei bello. BG/BS - Ta het (You're) bel (handsome). EN - I'm going home. IT - Sto andando a casa. BG/BS - 'ndo (I'm going) a cà/baita (home). EN - What do you do tomorrow? IT - Cosa fai domani? BG/BS - Ta fet (you do) chè (what) dumà (tomorrow)? EN - That girl is so hot. IT - Quella ragazza è così sexy. BG/BS - Chela (that) sćeta (girl) l'è (is) na fritola (a sexy one)

[@gi1937]

Oddio fritola vuol dire quello?😂 da noi in veneto significa frittella😂

[@andreamazzon3254]

i have to say that is the best video in english about italian languages for foreign people.... it's very accurate... good job man

[@EyjannaSonur]

As a Sardinian (and incidentally Italian) I'm seriously impressed by your accuracy and professionalism in taking on such a topic! First of all, I can confirm I use Italian in every working situation and in my family (my mother side is from Naples, so there would be no chance of understanding each other without the "standard" Italian). However I am also fluent in Sardinian, which I use with friends or in case I don't want to be understood by other "Continentals" Secondly I wanted to praise your guess, absolutely correct, in the second Sardinian phrase: indeed "nau" (literally "told") used here, is the past participle of the verb "narai", which comes from the Latin "narrare", "to narrate, to tell a story". This is even clearer in some present forms of the same verb: tu naras (you tell, you say); issu/a narat (he/she tells) , nosatrus naramus (we tell) etc. Sardinian, due to its isolation (yeah, we are literally and island) maintained more than any other Romance language a distinctively Latin vocabulary and syntax, but at the same time, since we were for more than five centuries under the Crown of Aragon, the language has been strongly influenced also by Spanish (or more correctly, by medieval Aragonese and Catalan). To such a point that nowadays Sardinian will probably sound to a stranger like a bizarre dialect of Catalan with Romanian/Portuguese sounds rather than Italian.

[@TheWildCrue]

Yes I'm from Sardinia too (I will say this in english so that everybody can understand it) and I find that my way of pronouncing words is closer to the spanish language than the italian. I lived for months in Spain and I realized how many words Sardinian and Castellano share

[@arthuryang3004]

Paul didn't mention that Sardinian happens to be the Romance language closest to classical Latin (even closer than the standard Italian).

[@andreaporcherifracasseddu1768]

EyjannaSonur favedda in nugoresu ca non ti cumprendo si negosias gai !

[@MrAbagaz]

EyjannaSonur So i have a question for you...do you feel Italian or Sardinian,or you have a dual identity?I mean in terms of national affiliation do you side yourslef with the italian national identity or is there a Sardinian national identity too? And another question about the language....if you speak Sardinian an Italian that speaks the standar italian language,will he understand you?

[@andreaporcherifracasseddu1768]

MrAbagaz First the Sardinians is a peopole different from Italian and we identify like Sardinians and not like Italians because we have different traditions, language, food, customs and ways of thinking, Indeed there is a party in Sardinia called "Sardos Uníos" translated "United Sardinians" that want the indipendence of the Sardinian the maxim is "Sardigna non est Italia" Sardinia isn't Italy . And second the Sardinian lenguage is different from town to town and in every zone of Sardinia is spoken a different dialect of the Sardinian language these are "Logudoresu, Gadduresu, Nugoresu, Campidanesu, Barbaritzinu and Tattaresu" and for an Italian is very difficult to understand the Sardinian specially the Nugoresu and Barbaritzinu dialects exemples English: "How are you ?, italian: "Come stai ?, Nugoresu Sardinian : "Ite pares ? Quite different !

[@joec3568]

I’m very fortunate in that I grew up in the US speaking Neapolitan and a Foggiano subdialect as my parents were from those 2 different areas of southern Italy. When Italians from outside my parents regions came to visit they would speak standard Italian. All those tongues helped me learn Spanish and I am moving towards conversational fluency in French.

[@diannapantano1270]

I would really love to see you break down the Sicilian language in a separate video :)

[@LoreSka]

Oh yes! I was looking forward to watching this video. I'm a native Italian speaker of the Trentino-Alto Adige region, but I live in Milan and I'm married to a neapolitan woman. So, first of all let me say that, despite what you say in this video, "dialects" are still widely used in many regions of the north east. In Veneto and Trentino most of the population still speak Lingua Veneta and Dialetto Trentino as a first language. In Alto Adige the first language is the Sudtyrolean German dialect for most of the population. My mother works at the DMV and she speaks mostly dialect with her colleagues and even customers! But, as every Italian, she's able to switch to standard Italian anytime. So, usually conversations with strangers start with standard italian and can very quickly switch to dialect. At the same time, dialect is almost prohibited at school, during classes. My dialect is a mixture of Lingua Veneta and Lombardo, with some casual German words. When Mussolini was a journalist, he lived in my town, Trento, describing Trentino's language as an Italian dialect with many German words that were gradually losing importance. Now we can say that most German words have faded, even though we have some words like "Gimpel" (meaning "bullfinch") or "Sgnapa" (deriving from Schnaps, a liquor). In the 1910s the washing machine was called "Wassermachine", now it's called "Lavatrice", just like in standard Italian. When I lived in Trento, my parents were speaking (and still speak) dialect to each other, at home, in the car, everywhere. They deliberately decided to speak only Italian to me, so I grew up speaking Italian at home, but with a complete comprehension of the dialect. I used it with friends living in the valleys and with my grandma, and I still use some words like "mona" (meaning "dumb"), which unveils my origins and it's widely understood by most of the Italian population, since it's probably the most famous word in Lingua Veneta. Now I live in Milan, where dialect is extremely rare. There are some words like "pirla" (again, meaning "dumb") that everyone uses and understands, but generally speaking no one uses it anymore. It's a bit sad, I have to admit. Some 10-15km from the town, in the Brianza area (north of the town of Monza) you can still hear people speaking dialect in informal situations, but they're mostly elderly. Now the fun part: as I said, my wife is Neapolitan. She doesn't speak Neapolitan at home, but when she get mad she erupts like mount Vesuvio and start screaming in her language. Neapolitan, especially the one spoken in Naples, is widely intelligible. So I (sadly) understand everything she says when she's angry. And my poor cat gets called "a fess e mammt" too many times. I won't translate this, but mammt is "your mother", so I let you guess what a "fess" could be. :D

[@pansepot1490]

My parents did the same to me. My father explained to me that he didn't want me to have problem at school so I grew up understanding perfectly Romagnolo but not being able to speak because I never practised. As an adult I decided to start using it and now I am fluent.

[@86424]

Sarò anca cresù a Roveredo, ma el "Gimpel" no lo propri mai sentù. Tropo zoven me sa?

[@angeloriccellpiovischini3597]

to the mamma's ass??? Goshhhhh kkkkkk

[@sofia221b]

LoreSka Napolitan is widely intelligible?? Are you serious? 'Cause I'm from Veneto and I don't understand a single word when I hear them speaking.

[@LoreSka]

Because you don't usually listen to Neapolitan but to some of its variants. Neapolitans from Naples town speak a very "educated" language which is widely understandable. If you listen to its variants - like in Gomorrah - you won't understand a single word. My wife had to read the subtitles too, and she was born and raised in Naples!

[@Rasnafa]

The video is tremendously accurate in every detail. Nothing is left unsaid. Italian (Neapolitan speaker) here.

[@FlagAnthem]

In my family we speak ROMAGNOL not that monstrosity of nonsense

[@RandomLorence]

0:00: The Languages of Italy 0:47: Tuscan Dialect (Fiorentino) 1:00: Modern Tuscan Dialects (Toscano) 1:12: Standard Italian (Italiano) 1:28: Dialect Usage 1:47: Italianization 2:48: Dialects... Not Really 3:47: Historic Language Minorities 4:25: Neapolitan (Napulitano) 5:02: Sicilian (Sicilianu) 5:35: Venetian (Vèneto) 6:04: Lombard (Lombarda) 6:18: Piedmontese (Piemontèis) 6:26: Ligurian (Ligure) 6:33: Emilian-Romagnol (Emilia Romagna) 6:51: Sardinian (Su Sardu) 7:12: Friulian (Friulan) 7:37: Central Dialects (Dialetti Mediani) 8:19: Languages in Neighbouring countries 8:57: Differences between Languages

[@drwaed2343]

4:38 sentite come ha detto bene Basilicata sembra quello del meteo loool

[@raffaeleromeo6065]

la detto benissimo😁

[@theknightoftheblankslate1925]

Sembrava un madrelingua

[@strafrag1]

e Materese di Matera.

[@pasqualinoabbadini5261]

I once met two American guys. When I told them I was Italian, one of them told me: "So in Italy you speak French, right?" and the other one told me: "Wait...so French and Italian are two different languages?"

[@Langfocus]

:O

[@smtuscany]

This is nothing. I have been told by an American guy that he thought everybody in Europe spoke, like, French.

[@ff6605]

God bless America

[@markp6621]

​@Gabriele V Australian here. :) To be fair, we do have a few Eritrean Italians (which might have tricked someone who's geographically ignorant :) ). In my home region of North Queensland there are many people of Italian decent who've been here since the 1890's, with many small communities (Ingham, Ayr, Home Hill etc...) which are of mainly Italian decent. I'm not sure what dialect is spoken, but I've heard old people get surprised that language and traditions have changed even more in Italy than what they complain about in Australia. I'm not sure if the youngest generations still have reasonable fluency however.

[@markp6621]

@Gabriele V I didn't know Atherton also had a significant Italian immigrant population, although if you spent time in North Queensland perhaps you heard of the Australian Italian festival in Ingham (a town which they call "little Italy")? www.sbs.com.au/yourlanguage/italian/en/audiotrack/australian-italian-festa-ingham

[@McPilot_W3DDS]

Hello Paul. I enjoy your videos. Might you have forgotten the Calabrian dialect of Greek, or Grecanico used by the ethnic Griko people in Calabria, and the Italiot Greek dialect spoken in the Grecìa Salentina? Both are remnants of the Ancient and Byzantine Greek colonization of the region.

[@sabbath021180]

That's why as a northern Italian I need subtitles when I am watching Gomorra. Very good video

[@joan6839]

I miss Gomorra

[@henrykstanikowski7049]

Most of the Italian I know is from watching Gomorrah la serie. When I'd try and practise the words I learnt from the show with some of my Italians friends they didn't have a clue what I was saying. Then I realised the actors are speaking Neopolitan

[@raijin2882]

Relatable. As a north italian, i actually had to watch it with subtitles

[@AlessandroGenTLe]

@@raijin2882 Same here (25km from Swiss border)

[@aduin717]

I'm from South and I perfectly understand napolitan dialect (not "neopolitans", but don't worry!

[@veronica-]

Lmao ahahahah

[@giacomorossi8714]

Same here, without subtitles I was able to understand only 2 or 3 words (I'm from Rome)

[@kqueller]

Very nice! A quick note: the Friulian word _alc_ ("something") is almost certainly not related to Italian _qualcosa_ (although the presence of those three letters in the middle of that Italian word, as you note, makes for a handy mnemonic). Instead, it is no doubt cognate with the Spanish (and Portuguese) word _algo_ ("something") -- all of these reflecting classical Latin _aliquod_ ("something"). What we see here is the retention of an archaism at the eastern and western fringes of the dialect continuum, which has been supplanted by neologisms like It. _qualcosa_ / Fr. _quelque chose_ [< Vulgar Latin *QUALIS-QUIS CAUSA "some kind of thing"] in the more central dialects. (Just a fun observation -- I hope not too pedantic!) : )

[@MsHipple]

The qual and cosa both have a similar meaning in Spanish, however. If you said cual cosa to a Spanish speaker you would be asking, which thing or what thing of these many things. Cual meaning which and cosa meaning thing. So, very similar in that respect.

[@jtinalexandria]

Yes, and it's also related to the Italian words "alcun", "alcuno" and "alcuna".

[@robertoriggio117]

@@MsHipple "Quale" is the Italian equivalent of the Spanish "cual." Same meaning, more or less exactly. The "qual-" in the word "qualcosa" is short for the word "qualche," which is more or less equivalent to the Spanish "alguno/a," although "alcuno/a" is a more direct equivalent, as it can be modified to indicate gender and number. "Qualche" can only be used to modify singular nouns, but implies plurality, and it does not change to indicate gender. "Qualcosa" is roughly equivalent to the Spanish "algo," and can be translated as "something," but "qualche cosa" could also be translated as "some things." "Qualche" can be used to modify many different things, always modifying a singular noun, but implying possible plurality: "qualche albero," some trees; "qualche persona," some people; "qualche problema," some problems. It is vague in that it could also be singular. I suppose the English word "something" is also a bit vague like that, in that it could also mean "some things," though it seems to suggest a singular thing. Like "There's something blocking the road." It sounds like there might be one thing blocking the road, but anyone could surmise that, upon detailed investigation, there could be more than one thing. It's interesting to think about.

[@danielhertzmaybe]

I am glad someone pointed out this fact. Although I didn't know the Latin root, I can tell by my own experience that this is true. In Catalan, the standard translation for "something" is "quelcom" but nevertheless people in informal situations use "algo" (pronounced algu, depending on the region)

[@agostinosepe9159]

Right. Alc is related to latin aliquod and variations such as aliquis, aliquid etc. We do have this word in italian, it takes the form "alcuno", (gender and number variations: alcuni, alcuna, alcune), meaning anyone, anything or any. Differences between these and "qualc-" beginning words is pretty much the same as in english for some- and any- related pronouns and adjectives.

[@nicoscaspor]

‘Dialects’ are also widely spoken in the destination countries of the Italian diaspora and were at times the lingua franca in areas with large populations of Italian origin. They have also heavily influenced local languages such as Spanish in Argentina. For example, my grandparents speak/spoke Piedmontese and no standard Italian, even though they were not born in Italy.

[@TheAirsoftman246]

As a recent learner of the italian language (three years ago) having spent a semester abroad. The use of local dialects is definitely hard to differentiate with italian. having no exposure to the language what so ever, hearing a dialect and italian for the first time was the biggest obstacle.

[@mattias9771]

I'm Italian, I'm from Sicily. I appreciate very much this video, it's very interesting, accurate and it's evident there's a study behind! Thanks so much cause it made me discover something about other dialects that I totally don't understand (since they have different roots from mine, Sicilian, as Friulan or Sardinian). Actually Italian is the official language of Italy, it's well explained in the video, but almost everyone speaks it mixed with his own dialect. Obviously in serious circumstances (work, school, university, with people you don't know) you speak Italian, but in more informal situations, with friends, family, with elders (who usually feel more comfortable speaking dialects than Italian) you speak your dialect. Generally dialects from south have the same roots, so if someone from Naples talk to me in neapolitan I could get 60/70% of what he says; but if someone from the north talk to me in his own dialect, I don't get anything. Thanks!! 😊

[@claudiocalanna7446]

Ou mbare, cumi semu cumminati?

[@martinacantarella4058]

Il Siciliano non è un dialetto , Catanese , palermitano , messinese etc sono dialetti siciliani lo ha pure spiegato

[@mattias9771]

@@martinacantarella4058 la differenza tra dialetto e lingua è puramente una convenzione sociale. Linguisticamente è inconsistente questa differenza

[@martinacantarella4058]

@@mattias9771 il Siciliano è lingua perché proviene dal latino influenzato da altre lingue arabo spagnolo greco ecc ... I dialetti siciliani sono tali perché provengono da quella lingua , lingua e dialetto non sono la stessa cosa se fosse stato così non ci sarebbero studi . Linguisticamente non è per niente inconsistente proprio per la derivazione di tale lingua ... forse una ricerca a differenza di lingua e dialetto dato che hanno un diverso peso , dire che il Siciliano è un dialetto è atrocemente sbagliato e riduttivo anche perché il Siciliano proprio ha un valore unico nel suo genere, fonte di molti studiosi

[@calebe9060]

There's a venetian accent in Brazil called Talian. It's a arcaic venetian with portuguese influence. Actually 500.000 people speak Talian

[@mexicounexplained]

Also in Mexico, there are a few thousand speakers of Veneto.

[@imelonidigiorgia]

@@mexicounexplained that's because in the late 1800's/early 1900's Venetian people, during a crisis, moved to South American countries (mainly Brazil, Argentina and a bit of Mexico) because there were some people of Italian descendance.

[@MiThreeSunz]

This video was very impressive, informative and educational. I’ve always been interested in the Romance languages and have researched their origins and evolution on my own time. I am a second generation Italian-Canadian. I grew up speaking English in my household; however, when visiting my paternal and maternal grandparents’ houses, I was exposed to Marchegiano and Calabrese and learned to converse in these regional languages. In university, I took a standard Italian course and continued to learn Italian on my own in my adult years. I was also exposed to Abruzze from my first wife’s family. Since then, I married a first generation Sicilian-Canadian, so I’m exposed to my wife’s regional language on a frequent basis. Thank you for creating and sharing such an amazing video!

[@lightningrumor]

i am an italian student from america, but I have lived briefly in northern italy and had southern italian roommates while in america. I was near milan when I lived there for a month, and I rarely encountered a dialect, and when I did it was just slang words/colloquial terms. However, my roommate from Calabria used a dialect to speak with her friends and family all the time, and I couldn’t understand most of it unless they switched to standard italian. In class, we don’t learn any dialects but we do occasionally do exercises involving them, like learning a nursery rhyme in standard italian that originally was in Sicilian and then looking at the dialect version for comparison. I think that the dialects of italy are a great way to illustrate how old and complex the history of italy is, and that it’s important for every italian learner to at least know a little bit about them.

[@JediAncient]

I'm from Emilia Romagna, and I use dialect only for fun or when i talk to elderly people. This video was spot on, very very accurate. Bravo!

[@mrchocoslave7859]

Tes un po' dio can va là

[@mrchocoslave7859]

🎶A nueter as pies la pasereina, agom la cassa dalla sira alla mateina. Alla mateina fino alla sira, la pasereina nueter la s'attira. Sia quando è ferma che quando vola. Agom al colp seimper prunt in la pistola. Nei campi, deinter li boschi e nel capaaaan. Som seimper all'erta con la pistola in man🎶

[@Hossain0x]

Ciao io sono Icee - Roblox (Means Hi I am Icee - Roblox)

[@ethan3986]

Grazie per continuare a parlare la sua lingua nativa! È importante non dimenticare una parte della cultura.

[@eyedropsforyourmind]

Pure io sono dell'Emilia-Romagna (Bologna) e purtroppo non conosco molto il dialetto... Lo uso solo per frasi del tipo "Eh bän bän!" o magari "Sochmel!", ma poi nient'altro. Solamente che, secondo me, questa è una grande perdita per il dialetto e la diversità del nostro paese... Non so, credo che potrebbe essere interessante imparare il dialetto locale a scuola, ma sarebbe anche complicato e con tutti i problemi che ci sono adesso figurati se pensano ad una cosa cosi stupida...

[@DrGreg212]

In Naples everybody speaks neapolitan everywhere, except at school and few other places. I personally mix them when I talk, and I use italian mostly at school and with unkown people.

[@jatorresh]

good, keep neapolitan alive

[@betomarcelo8695]

Giorno Giovanna

[@masicbemester]

@@betomarcelo8695 I was waiting for a JoJo like you *JoJo intensifies*

[@IlFanDElGUeRcIo96]

I am from hungary, i know the word "uanm" Which is really fun

[@taperhyperion4441]

@@IlFanDElGUeRcIo96 ahahahahahahahah

[@DanSolo871]

When traveling in Rome with my wife, we asked a local for directions. While she spoke her own language and we spoke in English, we were able to understand where she was telling us to go. Partly because location names are obviously mutual. And with the hand gestures Italians are known for, it was easy to figure out how many blocks down and over we needed to go.

[@genevricella]

When we did the same thing (and I speak fluent Italian), everyone always seemed to say, “Sempre diritto!” waving their hand 👏🏼 up and down. [overgeneralization] Italians are not great at giving directions! 💚 🇮🇹 ❤️

[@thegameshunters8478]

I'm Italian and I come from Sicily. I often use the "dialect" to talk to my friends and my family. I use it because it's more direct and sometimes more aggressive or even funnier. It depends on the situation.

[@MirkoFranceschi]

Hi, I'm Italian and I'm new to this channel. It's an unexpected well done analysis on our languages! I'm from Piedmont (north-west of Italy at the border with France) and we usually don't speak our dialect. I live in the countryside and only old people try to talk using dialect.

[@Langfocus]

Thanks, Mirko! And welcome to the channel. I hope you find some other videos that interest you too. :)

[@penand_paper6661]

Learn it ASAP. I beg of you.

[@nicolelee255]

I live in Piedmont too, and it all depends on the area. If you're from Turin city, which is mostly inhabited by southern Italians, you don't speak Piedmontese. In southern Piedmont the dialect is spoken. I live in northern Piedmont (not Turin) and although everybody but the elders speak dialect in the city, I know many young Piedmontese who speak dialect. I know some Venetians living here who speak Piedmontese.

[@MirkoFranceschi]

I understand your point. I don't live in Turin city, but in the countryside and even if there are small towns near me in which elders speak Piedmontese, the majority doesn't (especially young people). Southern Italians usually know better their dialect, but I really don't know many of my age that speak Piedmontese or other Northern dialects (beside some words).

[@RenatoRamonda]

My dad is from Piedmont too (Dronero, in the Cuneo province, right at the border with Occitan speaking lands): it used to be that almost everyone spoke Piedmontese... I'm 40, and when I was a kid, visiting during the summer, even the people in their 20s spoke mostly Piedmontese with each other. I had a super hard time understanding anything. And my dad always spoke Piedmontese with his relatives, and with shopkeepers, and so on. Italian was used to interact with non-locals, basically. I have a relative there in her sixties and for the longest time she had a talking myna (merlo indiano)... even the bird spoke only Piedmontese (it was hilarious). Nowadays, I think less and less young people speak Piedmontese. Some words here and there, a proverb, a couple of swearwords, but very little conversations.

[@DavideRemondi]

I am a native Italian speaker, I live in Brescia (Lombardy). I can perfectly understand dialect because my parents and grandparents are fluent dialect speakers, but I am not that good at uttering sentences because I have always replied in Standard Italian. I use dialect only in informal situations and just for brief sentences, most of the times for fixed expressions and exclamations. We perceive dialect as being more effective than Standard Italian, especially when it comes to complaining or insulting.

[@pile333]

Totally agree.

[@theatomixgaming5520]

Davide Remondi I am from brescia too, but since my parents or my grandparents don't speak the dialect, I know nothing of it, so I'm quite in the opposite case ahah. I also haven't felt the need to learn it, since it's not really spoken anymore, as said in the video.

[@pile333]

Because you are probably 20 years old or younger.

[@theatomixgaming5520]

pile333 yep

[@pile333]

In fact you're just the prove that our assumption is correct.

[@nadzienka696]

I really like the way you explain languages, their differences and similarities, your English diction and knowledge of grammar, history, etc. I am a speaker of a few languages and a lover of a well-spoken one, so I appreciate your videos.

[@KerrieAnneMusic]

This was fantastic! So clear and comprehensible. Thank you for making this information available to us.

[@emmepiemme]

Hi, I'm italian. I was born and live in Venice. I speak venetian whenever I can, passing to standard italian if the interlocutors do not understand, or I presume they don't. (I mean: If I have to speak with a neapolitan, I use standard italian from the beginning). Among the dialects of north-east Italy, the "venetos" resist in use more than any other northern italian dialect even in formal and not just familial contexts. (example - when I have bought my house, the notary has read the act in venetian, although it was written in italian). I hope my English is sufficiently understandable, excuse me if not. Last but not least: Your videos are excellent. Thank you.

[@imelonidigiorgia]

ciao, mi so padoan :)

[@jaomachado5102]

Hi, I am descendant of venetians and I am very interested in your language. I really want Venetian will ever keep active and used in Veneto!

[@alvisejensonbusetto]

@@jaomachado5102 we too, but italian state not.... Our Regione Veneto recognise Veneto as language, but Italy doesn't want it. Why? eheheh because we ask more "indipendence" from Italy. Most of Veneti want autonomy from Italy... ....

[@marinasimbula3506]

In tutto el Triveneto semo affezionai ai nostri dialetti

[@simonepalamini6220]

Ciao😅

[@Danny_6Handford]

My parents immigrated to Canada from Friuli in 1957. I am a first generation Canadian and was born in Toronto. They wanted me and my brother to learn Italian and the rule at our house when we were growing up was to speak standard Italian with our parents and English to everyone else. When my parents spoke to each other they spoke in Fiurlian. When they spoke to their Fiurlani friends they spoke in Fiurlian but when they spoke to their Italian friends that were not Fiurlian they spoke in standard Italian. My parents did learn English and of course would speak English to their English speaking friends and to anybody that was not Italian. Most of the Italian immigrants in Toronto were from the southern parts of Italy and just about all my Italian friends when I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s where from the southern parts of Italy. As a young boy, I remember being at my Italian friend’s homes and when their parents spoke Italian to me in their southern dialects, I would have trouble understanding them. Because my parents always spoke Fiurlian to each other, I could understand most of it but could not speak it. I could only speak standard Italian. Whenever I get the opportunity to meet up with some of the old Italian immigrants that are still around here in Canada, I speak standard Italian to them and they are always impressed that I can speak such good Italian for being born in Canada.

[@FreeSilio]

It's funny that you say "Fiurlian" in their dialect instead that in italian :-) Some of my friends from Friuli would write that as "furlàn". (in italian it would be "Friulano")

[@davide6520]

the cousin of my dad also went to canada (vancouver, penticton), and now he know little italian, but slowing he's losing it

[@SuperRip7]

That is interesting. I like it.

[@MC-qc9iz]

Açje jo o feveli furlàn! Mandi

[@mr.g812]

All my family was born in the south of Italy, I'm part of the first generation born in the north (Milan). I only use Standard Italian, but I can understand Calabria's dialect, but not Milanese one and i can't speak any of that. In the south they use their dialect every time, in the north is very different because no one use it.

[@annamariatassone7904]

This video was very interesting. I'm Italian, so I can answer your question. I live in southern Calabria and I'm 15, I speak dialect every day, with my family and my friends, but I mostly speak italian, because it's considered more "formal". Here in Italy we tend to mix dialect and Italian a little bit, let me explain: I'm at the supermarket, and I'm speaking Italian with the cashier, suddently a friend of mine arrives and I say hi to him with a dialect greeting, then we start speaking in Italian, but the cashier tells us to go away in dialect and we answer her in dialect. When we are out we start speaking about something in dialect and then in italian again using some dialect expressions. I feel bad for who comes to Italy to learn italian and ends up with mixed random knowlege of the local language and the official one 😂

[@genevricella]

Fascinating “code switching” as linguists say. Un esempio perfetto della lingua italiana e del dialetto calabrese parlati contemporaneamente

[@amguardi]

these are the clearest 17 minutes about languages of Italy I've ever listened to. Kudos! A few, very minor points: 1) Neapolitan also includes words of Greek origin, such as the verb "pazzià" [to play] from "paîzo" or the noun "purtuallo" [orange] from "portokalós". 2) While you correctly say that Neapolitan is not standardised, there are more and less common spellings, and the one in the video is more similar to the spoken than the original written form (most Neapolitan diachronic linguists who would consider it incorrect). In 'classical' Neapolitan some words are written as in Italian, such as "leggere", but pronounced differently. Trivia: an interesting sentence to compare, especially with Neapolitan, would be one containing possessive adjectives. For example: "Mio padre" [my father] is "pat'm" or "patemo" in Neapolitan: because of Greek influence, the possessive goes after the noun instead of before, as it does in Italian. Finally, as you mention, most of the largest regional languages are not considered as endangered: to me, this is a shame, and honestly I have never understood why Italian authorities would rather protect Catalan or Friulian but not Neapolitan or Venetian.

[@matteobraso]

in Tuscany we can't speak Standard Italian, only our dialect, because we can't pronounce well some consonants like p, t, c every time they are preceded by a vowel->we use instead ph, th, h. There is a famous phrase in standard Italian many tourists ask us to say, because we always fail to pronounce it correctly and we end up making funny sounds pretty similar to wheezing: [IT] la Coca Cola con la cannuccia corta corta (a Coke with a short short drinking straw)-> [TUSCAN] la Hoha Hola hon la hannuccia horta horta

[@lorenzopassero8509]

Ma infatti il toscano è un dialetto nel vero senso della parola, in quanto ci sono alcuni termini regionali e qualche differenza di pronuncia. La struttura grammaticale, la maggior parte dei vocaboli dell'italiano comunque derivano dal toscano medievale. Il napoletano, il veneto, il sardo e il friuliano sono lingue regionali perché hanno una grammatica propria, una fonologia totalmente diversa, e per ogni parola italiana c'è una traduzione. Spero di essere stato chiaro Ciao👋🏼

[@emanuelegiacomelli3787]

conosco un ragazzo toscano, qui in nord italia, che, stufo di essere preso in giro, ha iniziato nei locali che sapeva avevano la coca-cola, ha iniziato a chiedere la pepsi, così gli rispondevano che avevano la coca e diceva che andava bene.

[@bexyr]

It's true that tuscans don't speak italian. I'm from a part of Tuscany where we don't talk tuscan at all, actually we don't talk a proper dialect either (at least the younger generations, but I'm born in 1986, so I'm not that young), just some words and some inflections. When I was at the university in Pisa, they didn't understand where I was from (same with my dad 40 years ago when he studied in Florence). We tend to drop the double consonants and have a peculiar rhythm, so we recognize us among ourselves, but it's not a recognizable dialect for others. My mom is from Veneto (Jesolo) and I understand the venician dialect because she use that with her sisters, but I can't understand as well my dialect because almost nobody use it in my area. P.S. I'm from Carrara

[@bexyr]

I'ts tue that tuscans don't speak italian. I'm from a part of Tuscany where we don't talk tuscan at all, actually we don't talk a proper dialect either (at least the younger generations, but I'm born in 1986, so I'm not that young), just some words and some inflections. When I was at the university in Pisa, they didn't understand where I was from (same with my dad 40 years ago when he studied in Florence). We tend to drop the double consonants and have a peculiar rhythm, so we recognize us among ourselves, but it's not a recognizable dialect for others. My mom is from Veneto (Jesolo) and I understand the venician dialect because she use that with her sisters, but I can't understand as well my dialect because almost nobody use it in my area. P.S. I'm from Carrara

[@lorenzofumagalli1518]

Ma he tu dici?

[@GoFeri]

Such diversity, such beauty.

[@lawrencesumblin3325]

Yes. And the country is BEAUTIFUL!

[@malaakalabri978]

This channel blows my mind every time

[@FrancescoRogai]

As a Roman, I speak Roman dialect also called "dialetto Romano", even if Roman is more just a slang than a real dialect, I have to admit that I'm not able to speak the royal Italian, even if I try I can't

[@lexmole]

Imagine how good I am at speaking standard Italian as someone who left Italy at the age of 6 and just spoke Sicilian with the family. I actually have to *learn* standard Italian with books about grammar and vocabulary. 😅

[@kseniiabondarets7373]

moved to Campania recently from abroad and it seems like im going to have to perfect my neapolitan sooner than italian

[@SunyataManji]

Good luck with Napoletano! Napoli is an amazing city c:

[@LittleSparrow.]

I love italia with Italian people and everything about italy, my favorite country in the world🇮🇹, from Curdo🌹

[@TheSicilianMelody]

biji kurdistan ;P

[@furrball]

uh, well... food's pretty good. You sure you don't want to pick another favorite?

[@heavenly4298]

❤grazie🇮🇹

[@Black1ose1Immortal]

you're beautiful sei bellissima

[@Niky00788]

Grazie from Italy!!❤️

[@AD-hj7cw]

Im from Chipilo Puebla, here we speak Veneto but with a Spanish and Native American influence we call chipileño, more than 5000 ppl

[@andreraphael6727]

Molto interessante! Mi son mezho vèneto e parle anca el dialetto. Sarìe bel véder se podòn capirse! Scrìveme qualcolsa in Chipileno!

[@piadas804]

Same in Brazil but with Portuguese influence. I can't speak it because it was banned in Brazil.

[@andresmora5192]

Sono Messicano 🇲🇽 la mia lingua madre è lo Spagnolo Messicano. Nel mio paese, in Messico, c'è un caso singolare, dovuto alla colonizzazione italiana di alcune regioni messicane in passato, una variante della lingua Veneta, chiamata Chipileño, è parlata nella comunità Chipilo nello stato di Puebla, e anche da alcune persone dallo stato di Veracruz. Alcuni linguisti dicono che è un dialetto dell'italiano. Ci sono dati stimati che mettono il numero di parlanti veneti a circa 6000 nella comunità di Puebla di Chipilo, la maggior parte dei quali è bilingue con lo spagnolo, il Chipileño è compreso e parzialmente parlato da circa diecimila abitanti della zona di Chipilo. CHIPILEÑO: taliani ESPAÑOL: italianos ITALIANO: italiani VENETO: tałiani TALIAN: talian kzbin.info/www/bejne/qGnQh2yshql9atk

[@Okkeeey]

ANDRES MORA it’s a Venetian dialect in the province of Vicenza

[@mattiaaiello8268]

Interessante! Scrivi benissimo in italiano :O

[@Aleronx90]

Very interesting, I knew about Talian dialect in Brasil which is a variant of Venetian but didn't know there was something similar in Mexico! Saludos desde Venezia ;)

[@riccardousai9973]

This happened also in Brasil

[@marcotesser9446]

c'è un bel libro, disponibile solo in versione soft su amazon, su Chipilo scritto da Francesca Cazzaniga Alvarado che narra questa vicenda della migrazione da un paesino veneto a Chipilo (ci sono pure dei video su youtube in cui la gente ha conservato il dialetto). Parlando io veneto, mi ha incuriosito.

[@ScottMtc]

Man, the Sardinian speaker in this video has a very strong southern accent :D Her dialect is slightly different from mine (I'm from Northern Sardinia), but if I understood correctly, "ia" (dia in my dialect) is not the subject. it's an auxiliary verb. In Sardinian, "ia"/"dia" corresponds to English "(I) would". "Bolli" means "to want" in Southern Sardinian. So, "ia bolli" literally means "(I) would want" ( = I would like). The 1st person pronoun in sardinian is deo (deu in southern dialects), so without omitting the subject the sentence would have been "deu 'ia bolli cancua cosa de liggi". So this also answers your question - yes, you can omit the subject in Sardinian (in fact it's almost always omitted). Also, yes, "cancua" by itself does mean "some" (it corresponds to Italian "qualcuna")

[@NicolaMela1]

Since I'm from North Sardinia I can confirm that our "version" of sardo is very different from the southern version in this video. I can barely understand what the girl is saying. There's also a complete different language which is "gallurese" that is widely present in North Sardinia.

[@andreaporcherifracasseddu1768]

Nicola Mela Il più puro è il dialetto nuorese

[@andreasiragusa5063]

I write from South Sardinia.. the first person is not Ia but Deu/Deo..

[@lo8393]

I'd say that in Veneto most of the adults (about 80%) speak venetian at home and with their friends, but communicate in italian at work and with strangers. Probably this percentage would drop to about 40% in big cities such as Venice, Padua, Verona, ecc.. Not so many kids and teens speak venetian, but they obviously understand it. I'm 20 yo and I speak venetian only with my grandparents and old people; my parents talk to me in venetian but I always answer in italian, but for example some of my friends daily speak in venetian with their parents/siblings/friends, so it depends on the family.. Sometimes it can be quite tricky for older people with lower education to talk in italian (for example when they are speaking to authorities), because they're used to communicate in venetian all the time.

[@penand_paper6661]

Speak it to your children, and only it. Otherwise, the ways of old will be forgot...

[@theatomixgaming5520]

Penand_Paper There's a reason dialects are disappearing, and that is that they are becoming less and less useful with the passing of time. Of course, the loss of culture is a bad thing, but I feel like in this case it is better that a nation has its own, universally spoken language.

[@giorgioj4557]

Theatomix Gaming couldn't agree more...

[@nicolelee255]

My experience is that many young Venetians still speak Venetian. Unfortunately I don't hear many young people in big cities to speak Venetian, if you move to a minor city or a village you can hear children to speak it. It always surprise me when a Venetian says something like your comment as I would say that most people all ages speak Venetian.

[@lo8393]

Probably your experience was not so accurate. I've been living for 20 years in a small village (3k inhabitants) and I can assure you that right now almost 90% of kids speak italian all the time. When it comes to teens/young adults I would say that 60% of them daily speak italian, at home and with their friends.

[@fifi3649]

I am from Friuli Venezia Giulia and only around a year ago I realised how deep the process of Italianisation went. My family from my mum's side is an example of this. My great grandparents spoke Friulian as their native language. They (specifically my great grandmother) had little schooling, so it remained their main language for their entire life. They also knew standard Italian and spoke it in formal situations or with their grandchildren (who mainly spoke that), but it was kind of a second language to them. As a demonstration of this, my mum says that my great grandmother progressively stopped speaking Italian as she became older and sick, and only expressed herself in Friulian. I guess for her Friulian was her mother tongue and required less effort than Italian. My grandma grew up in a Friulian speaking household, but she went to school till high school and they listened to the radio at home, so she was more exposed to Italian. Additionally, she grew up during Fascism, and children were forbidden from speaking any other language than Italian in public settings. Those who spoke their local language or dialect were ridiculed or punished, so Italian became increasingly perceived as the "worthy" language to use. As a result, when my grandma had children she raised them in Italian, thinking that this would better prepare them for their future and avoid being ridiculed. Furthermore, that was the beginning of the television golden age, and all TV programs, as well as books, magazines, radio programs and comic books, were in Italian. My mum still learned Friulian, as it was still widely spoken in her family, especially by the elders, but she was not able to speak it properly for many years. She only started using it when her grandma (the above mentioned great grandmother) stopped speaking Italian and only used Friulian. As someone whose first language had always been Italian, my mum didn't even question raising my brothers and me with Italian only. At that point, it felt like the most natural thing to do. I listened to Friulian while growing up, as my mother and grandma had started using mostly it to communicate with each other, and many elderly people spoke it around me. However, I have never learned to speak it. Sadly, I used to make fun of my grandma for speaking Friulian instead of Italian and told her "It's not even a real language! Only ignorant elders use it!". I feel so sorry about it now. It probably broke her heart to hear her granddaughter speak like that about her parents' mother tongue. My attitude started changing a few years ago, when I moved abroad to study and started re-discovering my origins out of homesickness. I now wish to learn Friulian. I asked my mum to talk Friulian to me so I can pick it up and start speaking it, and she was happy about it. However, we are so used to communicate in Italian that it just comes natural to use that, and we forget to use Friulian most of the time. I must add that I live on the border of Friuli, and probably because of that, as well as the strong Italianisation process, the Friulian we speak in my hometown is closer to Italian than the one used in other parts of the region.

[@johnfrusciante85]

What a great video! So accurate. I'm from Naples and I speak neapolitan only with my family and some friends. And I often mix neapolitan and italian. I love both italian and neapoltan. Italian is a really "deep language", full of "warm feeling", Neapolitan is a truly colorful language, very funny to speak!

[@manualofalternativemusic]

Man I once looked up on internet to see what could I find about Italy different languages ,it was so hard to find something! Now I know how hard your work is.. Amazing video body! And thank you for bringing us just a little taste of the cultural variety in Italy! (I'm Brazilian, and my parents are Venetians and they loved the video.) Amazing job!

[@Langfocus]

Yeah, there was very little information in English. There were more sources written in Italian, so I used both. I improved my Italian reading skills while making this video!!

[@pansepot1490]

I agree, I think I never saw a video so well researched. Btw, my local language is Romagnol and I speak it with my older family members. I am not a linguist but I have always been fascinate by its differences from Italian. For instance there's a lot of nasal sound, so much so that when I took French class I found it incredibly easy to pronounce and understand. Also in Romagnol the plural is not made by changing the final letter or adding an s, rather changing the word like in tooth, teeth. My favourite word in English is artichoke, because it sounds and means exactly the same in Romagnol, while in Italian is quite different (carciofo).

[@penand_paper6661]

Hey paul, I see you saw my thing on Dalmatian. Thanks for defending me.

[@lulupandalife8258]

if you want some help about this stuff please ask :D the video is very well done, you miss some languages, however it's well done.

[@sitizenkanemusic]

The wiki page of "Languages of Italy" has been there for well over a decade now.

[@rensoo2502]

I'm from Italy... I use Italian mainly at school. But I use my Venetian "dialect " speaking with friends, family and in many cases when I'm in a bar.

[@Rob46373]

Po me fo isé,so de Bresa.

[@jeewanbhandari3065]

You are ac milan fan bro

[@bigmez83]

Vi invidio, seriamente, da me son solo capaci di auto distruggersi

[@leonardomagro7108]

boia can anca mi so veneto de origini hahahaha

[@Su33oProduction]

Dio can

[@dan_leo]

This is an amazing video! So accurate. I am a great fan of Italian dialectology, so I really appreciated it. Grazie mille 😊

[@SMeur49]

As an Italian from the north, on the border with Switzerland, I can affirm that although I live in areas considered rural, I’ve never heard the dialect spoken by 90% of the people I know. maybe even more. I think it’s quickly disappearing while new generations grow up.

[@ems4884]

What a shame it is being lost

[@masterjunky863]

​@@ems4884Yes, a true cultural auto-genocide

[@ancientdarkness3102]

Not in Aosta Valley, where in many Villages kids still speak fluent patois

[@gazbradster]

I watched Johnny Stecchino last night and my word for today is Minchia

[@maximiliansalvetti5386]

alberto roveda però deriva dal siciliano

[@albertoroveda5135]

Tubular ahaha certo che sì, però ormai si usa in tutta Italia direi, perlomeno qui a Bologna si usa

[@alessiocataldi2434]

Don't you dare to catch bananas in Palemmmmmmoh

[@a.g.styles3500]

Remember to get the medicine for diabetes before you get a piece of cake.

[@jacopiro]

I hope yuo've seen "The Life Is Beautiful" (La vita è bella).

[@mbrenner1972]

the word "alc" (11:22) is probably related to the Spanish/Portuguese "algo" (something), which originated from aliquod, neuter accusative form of the latin pronoum aliquis, aliqua, aliquid /aliquod (somebody, someone, something) which formed with the root alius (other) and the pronoum quis, quae, quid/quod (who, what, which).

[@rachel_Cochran]

Thank you for making this, it's an extremely interesting subject!! Can't wait to learn more

[@pietropetralia7600]

My family is originally from the west tip of Sicily. We always spoke Sicilian at home. Boy, did I get a surprise when I brought my daughter to the “old country”. We took a day trip to Rome, and the game was on! I could barely understand anyone! (Definitely take a Roman taxi cab ride! It’s better than an amusement park ride!) I show up in Sicily with my daughter speaking Siciliano with the local dialect and no one had ever seen me before. By the way, I stick out like a sore thumb, long hair and beard and jeans, and speaking the local dialect??? It was a strange first day until they figured out we were “cousins”. When we woke up, we were getting free this and that, getting invited to all kinds of places! My daughter was like,” Dad, what’s going on?” Once I explained it to her, that we were related to half the town, she just smiled and had a great time. Even in Sicily there’s local dialects. We’re from Selenunte.

[@MT64MT]

Thanks' , really well explained. I was born and grew up in northern Europe with Venetian parents. At home they spoke Venetian with each other and when visiting my family in Venice the only thing i heard was hard core lagoon-Venetian. Since i didn't hear any other Italian i grew up thinking i was speaking Italian, which gave me a major chock when i moved to Rome to work for a few years and they didn't understand anything i said. This was a wake up moment which made me start looking at Italy with new eyes and it gave me a pride of my heritage. The things i appreciate most with Italy are the differences in language, culture, food and mindset. I love it, and i hope it will not be lost.

[@ericcarlson3746]

"hard core lagoon Venetian". I love it. Wikipedia describes Venetian as a standalone language

[@fabiolagiorgio839]

Your story breaks my heart, how adorable

[@hpvspeedmachine4183]

Veneto libero!

[@fabiolagiorgio839]

@@hpvspeedmachine4183 ma perché?

[@fabiolagiorgio839]

@@giorgiomacchi6428 è così che l'ex Yugoslavia è caduta in disgrazia, sai. Poi non è che solo i veneti abbiano una particolare identità etnica, sappiamo benissimo che esistono diverse culture in Italia.

[@mihalishatzaras930]

Hi, I am from Greece and I try to learn Italian. We have so many common words! Also, the sound of the Italian language is most clear for me and I think for the majority of Greek people.

[@luischeccacci4301]

Yes, Standard Italian is a mix of Latin and Greek. If you are a student in the high school called Liceo Classico you learn latin and ancient greek. Only then you can see how deeply theese two languages influenced the birth of Italian.

[@luischeccacci4301]

You can see this in the italian scientific/medical words. For example: the word "tricomicosi" is a mix of "trico" (in Greek thrìks- thrikòs, in English HAIR) and "micosi"(in Greek mykès, In English FUNGUS)

[@mattiaciani1]

We are brothers..do you remember?! ;-)

[@emixware]

W la Grecia!

[@n3r0n3]

we also study greek at school, we consider greek people our closest relatives really

[@albertos.1476]

Congratulations for the accuracy of your presentation: davvero bravo!

[@Langfocus]

Thank you for the kind words! Sorry to reply to your comment so late. I just saw it now. :)

[@mustertherohirrim7315]

Perfect. I've always wanted the dialects and Italian comparisons presented cosí.

[@gaetanomazza5412]

Hi Paul, Sicilian is my first language, Messinese dialect specifically. I use it at home and with my friends. In Sicily we use it even in formal situations, for example speaking with professionists like doctors. It's considered almost universally more practical than Standard Italian. Sicilian Italian is very influenced by Sicilian Language (a pidgin in practice), for example using intransitive verbs in a transitive way, or using sicilian words that are lacking in Italian, so sometimes someone could forget that some words are not italian. Finally, I am in a team of students who are developing a Standard Orthography for Sicilian Language.

[@davideschinelli2766]

Gaetano Mazza I need to know more about this standard orthography you're working on!

[@taino20]

Gaetano Mazza How do you say "eggplant" in Sicilian? I've heard it referred to as "patlican. At first, I was very surprised, because "patlıcan" is Turkish for eggplant. But the Turks, apparently, got this word from the Arabs, "badhnajan" is Arabic for eggplant, and I know that there are Arabic influences in Sicilian.

[@langbard4261]

e fate bene a conservare i vostri dialetti! io sono bergamasco e anche io parlo correttamente il mio dialetto ma purtroppo i miei coetanei (ho 22 anni) non lo parlano tutti o lo parlano poco...

[@AntonioBarba_TheKaneB]

in sicilian eggplant = milinciana (you might find different spellings, as there are around 10 different dialects of the sicilian language)

[@gaetanomazza5412]

Hi Davide, work's in progress; Sicily has circa 10 major dialects and hundreds subdialects. We're working on an orthography who could satisfy all these diatopic variations, so you could imagine that Italian Alphabet is not sufficient. Maybe this year we succeed to publish our studies!

[@matteobergantin7972]

Omfg, the most accurate video about languages of Italy

[@maryreilly5092]

My Mom is from Lombardy and her Mom came to Italy from Yugoslavia. When Nonna Albina married my Nonno and moved to Lombardy province, she was teased relentlessly because even though Nonna spoke Standard Italian very, very well, as well as she could read it and write it perfectly, her spoken word came with a definite Slavic accent that I couldn't discern but the folks in Lombardy could hear loud and clear! Nonna didn't take the insults too badly, she kept on trying to be kind and friendly to her new neighbors and friends!

[@johnpappas686]

I think you made a great omission. No Mention of Greccani in Grecia Salentina and Grico in Calabria.These are Greek related languages and slowly becoming extict. Overall a very good work done, Congrats!..