Anglicisms in the Italian Language: A Choice That Matters

From the turn of the 20^th century, and especially since WWII, a process of increasing cultural and linguistic influence from American English began, intertwining with the global dominance of the United States in the economic and technical-scientific fields. While this happened on a global scale, such influence was particularly striking in Italy. From a historical standpoint, the prohibition of foreign words by fascist propaganda, together with the fervour regarding the culture of the liberators of the Italian peninsula, started incentivising the use of anglicisms in the Italian language.

Using an anglicism, or its Italian equivalent, therefore became a choice; one that had to do with social factors. Literary and cultural trendsetters would often choose to enrich their language with English terms as a way of keeping up with modernity, expressing social prestige and charm. Opting for the Italian equivalent, meanwhile, would supposedly be perceived as backward and narrow-minded.

At this stage, and until a few decades ago, anglicisms were filtered through the printed media, introduced into the Italian vocabulary by the most educated and finally adapted to Italian morphology and grammar. In recent years, however, this interference phenomenon has evolved into one that is mostly determined by means of the globalised media, which are fostering a bottom-up diffusion of loanwords and their quick propagation. In this new phase, the use of anglicisms stopped being a prerogative of the literary elite and spread more quickly, whilst losing accuracy and —therefore— prestige in the process.

Terms and expressions like meeting, performance, make-up, outfit, casual, and customer care are now used on a daily basis by most Italian speakers. But while some terms are filling a lexical void, particularly in specialised sectors, others end up competing with their existing Italian counterparts. Here lies the root cause of the debate. The yearning to recourse to loanwords has even led Italian speakers to invent their own preposterous anglicisms, by replicating or adapting English expressions to the Italian syntax (“pseudo-anglicisms”). Italians would watch a reality (reality show), cheer after a dribbling (dribble) during a football match, they would even apply for a stage (using the English pronunciation of what is actually the French word for internship).

As a result, another perception of the use of anglicisms is developing in academia, one that sees in its frequency and inaccuracy a bastardisation and impoverishment of the Italian language. According to this view, English terms are discouraging the use of their Italian equivalents on one side, and suffocating the natural renewal of the language on the other. A corollary to this argument is that opting for the local option has now become the choice that carries the most prestige and cultural value, as it is perceived as a way of enriching and preserving the language.

Though it is out of the scope of this post to pick a side, what should be taken away is the knowledge that when localising into Italian, this peculiar cultural element needs to be addressed. Opting for store ufficiale over negozio ufficiale, aftershave over dopobarba or effetto gloss over effetto lucido is a choice that needs to be made based on the reference brand, industry, and target audience. Therefore, businesses willing to target the Italian market should take into due consideration that either choice might affect potential customers’ perception of their brand.

Sources:
http://www.accademiadellacrusca.it/it/scaffali-digitali/articolo/social-network-lingua-italiana-neologismi-anglicismi
https://www.internazionale.it/opinione/annamaria-testa/2016/04/11/italiano-anglicismi-treccani
http://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/anglicismi_%28Enciclopedia-dell%27Italiano%29/