A petition is circulating to halt the increasing use of English words in Italian commerce and legislation. The petition, ‘Dillo in Italiano’ (‘Say it in Italian’), is the brainchild of Annamaria Testa, an advertising consultant.
Testa and others argue that Italian words should be used in public communication in order to ensure wider understanding among Italians, and as a means of promoting the country.
The petition points to the fact that the current government opted to name recent key legislation ‘jobs act’ rather than ‘legge sul lavoro.’
In just over a month, the petition has had nearly 70,000 signatories and the backing of the Florence-based Accademia della Crusca, the world’s leading authority and research centre on Italian language, which in late February held a conference in Florence, ‘The Italian Language and Romance Languages faced with Anglicisms.’
A letter from the president of Accademia della Crusca, Claudio Marazzini, published on the petition website explains, ‘We don’t wish to declare war on English, but we would like to remind Italian speakers that, in many cases, there are Italian words that can be used, that are convenient and clear [in their meaning]. We would like to try to suggest them to everyone as a possible alternative, to promote the great lexical and expressive riches of our language.’
To view the petition, visit theflr.net/dilloinitaliano.
