Your Italian ancestors didn't speak Italian. Not in your grandparent's generation and not before. So what language were your family speaking while gesticulating so wildly at the dinner table? This week UNESCO honours mother tongues in International Mother Language Day 2016. 85 Million people speak Italian the world over.

The language of ‪‎Italian is spoken mainly in ‎Italy, ‪‎Switzerland, ‪‎San Marino and the ‎Vatican City and is a second language in ‪‎Albania, ‪‎Malta, ‪‎Slovenia and ‪‎Croatia. Despite this, when Italy became a country, less than 5% of the population spoke what we now know to be the Italian language.

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Source: http://www.panoramitalia.com/