Friday,
September 12, 2008
Italians Fighting Corruption of Language by
English
The
ANNOTICO Report
Italian Called to Use Less
English
BBC
News
September
10, 2008
Italians are
quite used to feeling "lo stress", looking forward to "il weekend" or trying to look "cool".
But now an
influential cultural institute has asked Italians to protect the language and
reject "Anglitaliano".
The Dante
Alighieri Society asked people for examples of over-used foreign words and
"il weekend" emerged as the worst offender.
The society said
the results showed that Italians want their language to receive more
respect.
For four months,
the society asked visitors to its website, 70% of whom were Italians, for
inappropriate examples of foreign words being used in everyday Italian, either
written or spoken.
"Who would
have thought it - Italians protesting against
The least popular
word was found to be "weekend", receiving 11% of the votes.
"Too
short?
No, just not Italian enough," the society adds.
They said it was
pointless to use an English word, however elegant, when the Italian expression
"fine settimana" means exactly the same
thing.
The second least
popular word was "OK", which respondents to the survey thought was
too informal and unprofessional.
LEAST POPULAR ENGLISH WORDS
weekend 11%
OK 10%
welfare 8%
briefing 5%
mission 4%
location, bookshop, devolution 3%
computer, know-how, privacy,
shopping 2%
Several unpopular
terms came from business and politics, with "briefing" gaining 5% of
the vote, "mission" 4% and "devolution" 3%.
"It is clear
that the Italians are asking for more respect and more protection for their
language," says the society.
Italians,
however, are divided on whether they want to throw out English terms in favour of flawless Italian.
Alessandra, a
secretary at a travel agency in
"I don
"Often it
However her boss
Maria disagreed, saying she would prefer to speak either Italian or English,
not a mixture.
"People
think it
The society
conducted the survey as part of its campaign to ensure Italian remains a key
language in the workings of the EU.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/7608860.stm
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