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ITALIAN STUDIES
The following subjects are studied in Italian:
- Italian Language Arts
- Literature (History & Geography)
- Mathematics
- Science (beginning in level 2)
Italian is a language spoken phonetically and is the easiest language to read, write, and pronounce because there is only one sound per letter of the alphabet. Italian will not compete with the learning of English, but rather enhance it. Learning Italian will also help with the learning of Latin because it derives diachronically from Latin and unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latin's contrast between short and long consonants. Stress is distinctive and in particular, Italian is the closest to Latin in terms of vocabulary.
Italian is spoken by over eighty million people in Italy and other places of the world such as Malta, San Marino and parts of Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia and France. Most native speakers of Italian are bilingual of both standardised Italian and their regional dialect. Italian is also the primary language of the Vatican City, adopted after the unification of Italy and sealing the importance of the Italian language.
Saint Benedict wrote largely in the transitional Latin of his day; six centuries further on and he would doubtless have written in something like modern Italian.
-- Preface: Rule of Saint Benedict
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