Adelphi Language Database: Italian

Native Name: Italiano
Number of Speakers: 70 million
Official language of: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, Malta, Croatia, Slovenia
Script used: Latin

Sample of Italian

Nell’ambito delle indagini connesse all’omicidio di Fabio Lorenzon, rinvenuto cadavere il 2 ottobre dello scorso anno a Fiumicino, in località Maccarese, in un’auto, in un canale di irrigazione del Consorzio di Bonifica Tevere e Agro Romano con la testa fracassata, i carabinieri del Nucleo Investigativo del Gruppo di Ostia hanno arrestato un amico della vittima, S.Z., cittadino italiano di 39 anni, ritenuto responsabile dell’efferato delitto.

Italian Translation, Typesetting, Websites, Voice-Overs and Subtitles

Adelphi Translations Ltd. work translating Italian to English and English to Italian. We also produce voice recordings and subtitles for video in Italian as well as translation and localisation of web sites into Italian. We are based in Sheffield, UK and handle language projects for local clients in commercial centres such as Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow and London but also have many International clients from around the world.

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Italian translation and typesetting

Italian translation and typesetting

Italian website translation sample

With expert knowledge of (X)HTML, XML and server-side technologies such as PHP and ASP, Adelphi can convert your existing website into any target language. Read more. Adelphi does not charge extra for converting your website into your required languages.

tourism website translation - English to Italian

tourism website translation - English to Italian

Italian language information

Italian is the closest to Latin in terms of vocabulary and keeps the difference between long and short consonants unlike French, Spanish and other languages derived from Latin.  Vernacular Italian, distinct from the Vulgar Latin which preceded it, first started appeared in legal documents during the 10th century. For a long time there was no standard written or spoken version of the language and writers tended to write in their own regional dialects. In northern Italy, which was often ruled by the French, French and Occitan were used as literary languages.

The author Dante Alighieri (1265-1321), is credited with turning his local Florentine dialect into the standard Italian of the whole country through the popularity of his work.  By the 14th century the Tuscan dialect was being used in political and cultural circles throughout Italy, though Latin remained the pre-eminent literary language until the 16th century. During the 15th and 16th centuries both Latin and Italian were used for technical and scientific texts. The Italian used was full of Latin words and over time Latin was used less and less as Italian became increasingly popular. After the Sapnish invasion of Italy in the mid-16th century Italian grammar was simplified. Under the dictatorship of Napolean the unification of Italy gave Italian the status of a national language.

Today the Tuscan dialect is known as Italian (Italiano) and is the official language of Italy. It is the main language of literature and the media. Each region of Italy also has its own dialect, some of which are so distinct from standard Italian that they are mutually unintelligible. The Sicilian dialect for example, is sometimes regarded as a separate language and has a literary tradition older than Italian itself.