Eight reasons to learn Italian

In Six reasons to learn a foreign language I talked about some of the reasons why you should start learning a foreign language. Today, I want to share with you eight reasons why you should learn Italian.

1- If you plan to visit Italy, knowing Italian can come in handy. Indeed, not many Italians speak English fluently. And speaking Italian with locals might help you discover beautiful places to visit or good restaurants that tourists usually do not know.

2- Did you know that Italian derives from Latin? And that about 60% of the English vocabulary comes from Latin? Learning Italian can help you to have a deeper knowledge of English.

3-  Knowing Italian might be a good investment for your future. In Italy there is always a great demand of EFL teachers. However, one of the requirements to be hired and to survive in Italy is usually to have at least an intermediate knowledge of Italian.

4- Learning Italian is a good idea if you want to astonish your friends ordering in an Italian restaurant with a perfect Italian accent, while also knowing what you’re actually ordering.

5- Learning Italian might be useful to avoid being ripped off. When travelling to Italy, generally in big cities, you might come across some people that treat Italians and tourists differently. Indeed, it might happen that these people try to charge you more than what they usually charge Italians for the same items, just because you’re a tourist. If you can speak Italian fluently you can complain about unfair treatment and/or even avoid these situations.

6- If you know Italian, you can go to a theater, sit comfortably and enjoy opera because you actually understand what singers are singing.  

7- If art is your passion, in Italy you can find the highest number of UNESCO sites. Giotto, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Raffaello are just some of the artists Italy has had. Knowing Italian allows you to better understand their art, not to say to attend the faculty of Culture and creative arts in Italy.

8- Finally, knowing Italian allows you to read and understand Italian literature, even books that have never been translated into other languages: Dante, Boccaccio, Petrarca, Machiavelli, Verga, Pirandello, and so on.

What about you? Do you speak Italian? What was the reason that made you choose this language?
Do you know other reasons why someone should learn Italian?