CORSICA
Language

Cities in CORSICA

Ajaccio

Popular destinations FRANCE

Alsace	Ardeche	Auvergne
Brittany	Burgundy	Cevennes
Corsica	Cote d'azur	Dordogne
Jura	Languedoc-roussillon	Loire valley
Lot	Normandy	Picardy
	Provence

Language

Corsican dialects_{Photo: Maksim CC 3.0 Unported no changes made}

In Corsica the main language is of course French, although with a clear accent. The real, often somewhat older, Corsicans talk to each other in Corsican, which is a mixture of French, especially Italian and Latin. Due to the long Italian rule (Genoa and Pisa), people spoke pre-Latin in Corsica and then New Latin. That formed the basis of today's Corsican. Although the number of people speaking Corsican is declining, it is estimated that about 65% of the population still speaks the language. Since 1974 it has had the status of a regional language and is even taught at the University of Corte.

The following examples clearly show that Corsican is strongly influenced by Italian.

English	Corsican	Italiaan	French
one	unu	uno	un
four	quattru	quattro	quatre
eight	ottu	otto	huit
twenty	vinti	venti	vingt
good day	bunghjornu	buongiorno	bonjour
goodbye	a venicci	arrivederci	au revoir
thank you	grazie	grazie	merci
sea	mare	mare	mer

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Sources

Corsica
Lannoo

Corsica
Lonely Planet

Corsica
Touring/Lannoo

Driessen, J.W. / Corsica
Elmar

CIA - World Factbook

BBC - Country Profiles

Last updated October 2025
Copyright: Team The World of Info