English is a Germanic language, and Italian, a Romance language. English, especially Old English, is structurally closer to the Scandinavian languages, German, and Dutch. However, because of the Norman Conquest, a large number of French words were absorbed into English (today, over 60%-70% of English words come from French). As a result, because French and Italian both derive from Latin, by "transitivity," in terms of vocabulary English shares many similar words with Italian.