No English please, we’re Italian

ITALIANS have launched a campaign against the use of English in everyday life. An online petition calling on Italians to eschew the increasing adoption of English words has gathered nearly 70 000 signatures.

Campaigners are appalled at the incursion of English, citing the recent example of a recruitment campaign for the Italian navy that used as its slogan “Be cool and join the navy”— written in English.

They argue that their countrymen should refrain from adopting English words and phrases when there are perfectly good Italian equivalents.

They point to the fact that the government of Prime Minister Matteo Renzi called a key piece of legislation recently passed through parliament the “jobs act” rather than “la legge sul lavoro”.

Particular criticism is reserved for the business world, where English jargon is the norm for many managers, who use terms such as “market share” instead of “quota di mercato”.

“From Dante to Galileo, from [the Romantic poet Giacomo] Leopardi to Fellini, the Italian language is the way in which we articulate our thinking and our creativity,” the campaigners wrote in their online manifesto.

The petition, called “Dillo in Italiano” or “Say it in Italian”, was launched by Annamaria Testa, a communications expert.

It has the backing of the Ac- cademia della Crusca, an Italian language research institute that is based in Florence and was founded in 1583. “We don’t want to declare war on English, but we do want to remind Italian speakers that in many cases there are convenient words in Italian that can be used,” said Claudio Marazzini, the academy’s president.

“It’s not a question of imposing choices, but of finding a wide consensus and the active participation of Italians and all those who love our language.”

This week, the academy launched an initiative to defend Italian with a website called VivitVivi Italiano, which aims to quash the use of English.

“Our language is an asset. Studied and loved around the world, it is a powerful means of promoting our country,” it said. — © The

In many cases there are perfectly good words in Italian