Where in the world do people speak Italian?

Answer 1

Wherever Italian is the official language and wherever there are substantial Italian immigrant communities are the main locations where Italian language speakers may be found. Italian is one of the official spoken languages in Europe, at:

1. coastal Slovenia;
   
2. the European Union;
   
3. the Holy See/Vatican City;
   
4. Istria, Croatia;
   
5. Italy;
   
6. San Marino;
   
7. the Sovereign Military Order of Malta;
   
8. Switzerland, especially in the Grigioni and Ticino cantons.
   

Substantial Italian language-speaking communities may be found on the following continents:

1. Africa, in the former Italian colonies of Egypt and Eritrea, with some knowledge and use consequently in Ethiopia, Somalia and Tunisia;
   
2. Australia, where Italian is the second most spoken language as of the 2001 census;
   
3. Europe, in nearby Albania, Greece and Montenegro;
   
4. North America, especially in Boston, Chicago, Miami, New York City, Philadelphia and various cities and towns in New Jersey in the United States of America and particularly in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada;
   
5. South America, in the greatest numbers in Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay and Venezuela.
   

Research and statistics suggest around 70 million native speakers of Italian and about 125 million second-language speakers of Italian. Those figures will increase with consideration of the popularity of the language as one to be learned, as the fifth most taught language worldwide, after English, Spanish, French and German.