2 - Growing Power of the Italian language

The increase demand for the study of the bella lingua reflects on culture around the world

The starting point is some research conducted by Tullio De Mauro among the Istituti Italiani di Cultura around the world. It revealed that the diffusion of the Italian language is constantly expanding, and the language ranks among the top five most studied abroad. The report also delved into the reasons for attending the courses (students increased by 38.2 percent in the last five years): not just because it is the language of art, music, great literature, but also because of its good "social usefulness", meaning that it entails good job opportunities. Other reasons are linked to tourism, new industrial products (fashion, cars, furniture), lifestyle, gastronomy, or an Italian or Italian-heritage partner.
But even among the reasons for this success, two elements stand out. Italian is studied abroad because it is the language of a trendy country and of a community that has won respect and authority wherever it settled.
Among many positive elements, De Mauro did not hesitate to underscore a negative one. "In comparison to the remarkable increase in the number of students and courses," he wrote in his closing report, "teachers increase less: only 8.4 percent more than in 1995."
"This is one of the dark spots in the success of the Italian language abroad," says Massimo Vedovelli, Pro-rector of Siena's University for Foreigners and leader of the research team that worked with De Mauro. "In fact, teachers are few and they cannot meet the demand. The solution requires additional financial resources, additional investments. But the problem is more complex than that, because the potential for expansion of the Italian language abroad is subject to many variables."
Could you list some of them?
"The scarcity of teachers is one of the major ones. Another one is the attitude of the directors of the Istituti Italiani di Cultura, where De Mauro's research was carried out. Well, not all of them managed to do what Carlo Coen did in Toronto, quadrupling the number of students enrolled in Italian courses. Other directors do not deem the study of the language to be a priority in their cultural policy. Language courses are held where there are many potential students: Canada, for instance, Japan, Mexico; but Africa is an island of absence from this standpoint. Cultural promotion is not homogeneous all over the world."
What should Italy do in order to achieve a better and more organic diffusion of its language abroad?
"It should devise a strategy of intervention, and not a minimalist one. Massive investments are needed, but many people in Italy say that the time of fat cows is over. Well then, let's create foundations with public and private capital and have them deal with this problem. The diffusion of a language abroad has important returns back home, and not merely in terms of outlook. Just think how that would facilitate export for small- and medium-sized enterprises, so often penalized because of their difficulty in corresponding in the language of the country they export. This way Italian can become another lingua franca, in addition to English. Anyway, at least one trend has been reversed."
What do you mean by that?
"I mean that the University for Foreigners in Siena and the Ministry of University created the Observatory on the Diffusion of Italian among Foreigners. That's the right way to learn about the real situation and be able to devise a strategy with realistic chances of success. The Observatory can monitor foreigners studying Italian both in Italy and abroad."
Let's think for a moment of Italian immigrants to Canada, say in the early Sixties. Their linguistic background consisted mostly of their dialect. The question is whether, in a strategy diffusing the Italian language, the linguistic knowledge of these people will be lost.
"Not at all. An organic strategy promoting Italian must also valorize the dialects. This not only means safeguarding an important cultural patrimony, but also dispelling the image of dialects that many children and grandchildren of those immigrants have. They feel dialect is a second-class language, so that, despite sometimes knowing it much better than Italian, they are ashamed of speaking it. However, we should not think to one board handling the diffusion of Italian abroad. This strategy must have unity, but be enacted by several subjects employing different resources."
This is less complicated than it sounds. The Italian Constitution is changing: a referendum held on October 7, 2001, reformulated article 117, putting the State, the Regions and the other Local Authorities (Provinces and Municipalities) on the same level. The result is that now all these organisms make up the Republic of Italy without the hierarchic relation that in the past saw the State above everybody else, issuing rules and laws that lower levels of government had to carry out. A Federalist reform has thus been launched.
"This includes the fact that now the Regions have ample legislative powers in international relations, which strengthens the promotion of Italian in the world," says Chiara Abatecola, an official working for the Office of Italy's Prime Minister, who has been studying the diffusion of Italians among foreigners for years. "Until recently, this task was entrusted to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the assistance of the Ministry of Public Education and the Ministry of Cultural Heritage."
But if the State and the Regions can all legislate on the same matter, don't you run the risk of overlapping initiatives, and also fragmenting the strategy as far as diffusion of the language is concerned?
"Yes, that risk does exist," replies Chiara Abatecola. "That's why Minister La Loggia tabled a Bill governing the various aspects of the new relations among the State, the Regions and the Local Administrations. Without clear rules we risk chaos. As you see, we are handling the matter. There is another problem, though..."
What is that?
"Our Constitution lacks any reference to Italian as the official language of Italy. It clearly states that minority languages are to be protected and promoted, but there is not one mention of promotion and protection for the common tongue. Of course we have never had great problems with this, because the official status of Italian has always been taken for granted, but this can make you understand the scope of the work that needs to be done and that we are doing, also in order to prevent some weird things, which I call hyperboles."
Can you list some for us?
"For instance, a few years ago the MPs elected for the Party of the People of Trentino-Tyrol and for the Venetian League asked to address the Parliament in their respective language. Also, the autonomous province of Bolzano tried to pass a law favouring the local language (German) over Italian. Hyperboles, as I said, but stemming from the lack of explicit reference in the Constitution to Italian as the official language. I concur that a comprehensive and organic strategy for promoting Italian abroad is needed, but the indispensable premise is that we must untie old and new knots first. Not just those related to the redefinition of relations among State, Regions and Local Administrations in a Federalist framework, but also what I call the new emergencies."
Such as what?
"The European Union is a fact, and we are in it. Therefore we have to tackle and define our relation with the other cultures that give depth and significance to Europe. Then we have to clarify our relation with English, the lingua franca of the world. Finally, we cannot underestimate the language of information technologies, which is changing how everybody talks, not just youngsters chatting via SMS. Believe me, the situation is rather complex. We are optimistic, though."
Optimism is indispensable, but so is action. What is being done in the meantime in favour of the study of Italian abroad?
"We are far from twirling our thumbs. The Istituti Italiani di Cultura are doing an excellent job, as are the Regions that already launched their own activities for promoting their culture in Italy and abroad. Tuscany, for instance, has created a council that promotes the teaching of Italian to foreigners who reside in that Region's territory. Similar initiatives have been taken by Lazio, Calabria, and Emilia Romagna. It is not just a matter of teaching buongiorno and buonasera, but also the language of trade, administration, or music. Let's not forget that the promotion of Italian is also supported by numerous universities, in addition to Siena's and Perugia's Universities for Foreigners that pursue this activity as their main institutional purpose. Also, let's not forget the efforts of the Società Dante Alighieri and Enciclopedia Italiana. So, we are already hard at work."
Somehow you seem to be doing so in a rather haphazard fashion.
"Perhaps that's the way it looks, but rest assured that a huge amount of work gets done. The results reported by De Mauro prove it. However, things will definitely improve when the new relations among State, Regions and Local Authorities will be clear and strong. It's not just a matter of constitutional architecture: when the responsibilities for the promotion of Italian abroad are exactly identified, the necessary resources will also be found. After all, didn't Siena's University for Foreigners and the Ministry of University create the Observatory of the Diffusion of Italian among Foreigners? The data that it will collect will be extremely important, as it will tell us where and how money is to be spent."
Massimo Vedovelli, who silently followed the conversation, opened his arms. He's the person who runs the Observatory. "We shall do our best," he remarks.
You don't expose yourself, do you, professor? "It's still too early. But if you want a juicy bit of data, I'll tell you that in Switzerland immigrants of different languages, e.g. Rumanians or Turks, use Italian as a lingua franca. Do you know why? Because it is the language of a community that succeeded."
Nowadays, saying that Italians succeeded in Switzerland is easy. In order to succeed, however, they had to overcome a century of derision, referenda invoked for sending them away, exploitation. Thousands of Italian children were kept hidden at home by parents who were forbidden from keeping them, in accordance with the laws of the time. Kids under cover for years because if they had been seen, their parents would lose their jobs and be sent back to Italy to starve. Those kids are now company managers or successful professionals, and the immigrants of the Third Millennium speak their tongue, wishing for their same luck. Little do they know about the price tag of that luck.

This is part two of a series on the Italian language in the world.

Publication Date: 2002-12-08
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2117