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(Venice) Language

Venetian (Vèneto) is a Romance language that derived from Vulgar Latin. Originating out of Latin in the north-east area of the (Italian) peninsula — Venetian grew organically and developed independently. Also known as “dialeto del mar”, which means “dialect of the sea”, Venetian and Latin were the official languages of the Venetian Republic for a thousand years. The Venetian dialect during the times of the Venetian Republic was used in official documents and was also the lingua franca of the Eastern Mediterranean. With over four million people living in Veneto, most people there can understand Venetian, yet only about half or two million can speak the language. Older Venetians use the language as much as possible, while the youth tend to only speak it with their families. Various regional dialects of Venetian are spoken throughout Veneto; four dialects which developed in Venice can be heard in the city to this day. Dialects in present-day Veneto, with the passing of time, have fused towards Venetian. Speakers of various Veneto dialects mostly communicate verbally — it is not taught in school — children generally learn it in their homes. There is no official Venetian writing system, generally the Italian orthography is substituted for writing. The Veneto region has persistently tried to preserve its linguistic heritage by passing several laws. In 2007 the “Protection, development and promotion of the Venetan linguistic and cultural heritage” was passed.

(Cologne) Religion
Slightly more than half of the residents of Cologne are members of a religion. As of 2015, 35.5% of the population belonged to the Roman Catholic Church, the largest religious body, and 15.5% to the Evangelical Church. Irenaeus of Lyons claims that Christianity was brought to Cologne by Roman soldiers and traders at an unknown earlier date. Though, in the early second century it was a bishop’s seat. The first historical Bishop of Cologne was Saint Maternus — a peer of Constantine. Thomas Aquinas studied in Cologne in 1244 under Albertus Magnus. Cologne is the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cologne. There are several mosques, including the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs run Cologne Central Mosque. Cologne also has one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in Germany . In 2007, there were 120,000 Muslims in Cologne, the most of any German city.