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- Italian is the second most widely spoken community language in Australia. More than half a million Australians speak Italian.
- Almost 40 000 Italians travelled to Australia in 1996.
- 53 100 Australians travelled to Italy in 1996.
- Italian and English belong to the Indo-European family of languages.
- There are many Italian and Latin based words used in English, for example al fresco, allegro, cappuccino and ciao .
- Italians have made an important contribution to Australian economic and social life in areas such as food, sport, fashion, music, architecture and design.
- With the world wide popularity of Italian cuisine, speakers of Italian have employment opportunities in the hospitality industry.
- Many Australian towns and cities have sister-city relationships with places in Italy.
- Italy is one of the 7 economic powers, and as a member of the European Union is an important trading partner for Australia.
- Hundreds of Italian companies operate in Australia, for example Benetton, Fiat and Alitalia.
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