Vatican Languages

Though Italian is the dominant language of the Vatican, the presence of people and tourists from various nationalities diversifies language in this state. The Swiss Guards normally get their instructions in German while different popes have used different languages during official duties. Since the state receives linguistically diverse visitors, residents grow up speaking many languages including English. A good number of people speak Latin at the Vatican although the language use is decreasing globally.

Although Latin is the official language of the Catholic Church, spoken Latin is quite rare in Vatican City. However, written Latin appears in various places around Vatican City, in use as casual as ATM machines.

As many of the most prominent buildings in Vatican City existed before Vatican City as we know it today was created in 1929, many inscriptions on buildings are in Latin.

Minority languages include Portuguese, Arabic, and Chinese among others. Generally, tourists and official visitors constitute those who speak minority languages within the Vatican. There is no data clearly indicating resident minority language speakers.