Italy’s far-right ruling party Brothers of Italy, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, wants to ban the use of English or other foreign words in official communication through legislation that would make it punishable with fines from €5,000 to €100,000.
The proposal is meant “to defend and promote the Italian language”, but it has received wide condemnation in Italy, including from the prestigious Academia della Crusca, Euronews reports.
The bill is supported by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and was put forth by MP Fabio Rampelli. It applies to foreign words in general but makes special mention of the "dangers" that Anglomania poses to Italian society.
Rampelli wrote that in the past 23 years, the number of English loan words has increased by 773%, with the respected Treccani dictionary now containing 9,000 words of English origin and 800,000 Italian words.
Enforcing such a rule may be difficult, critics point out, as many English loanwords are tied to novel concepts, such as technology and Internet vocabulary, or pandemic-related words like Long Covid. Anglicisms are in fact so popular in Italy that even Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni uses them. Last year, after she assumed power in Italy’s most rightwing government since the end of the Second World War, she gave a speech in the Italian Parliament where she called herself an “underdog”, using the English expression to suggest she had overcome great adversity.
The draft claims that the use of English words “demeans and mortifies” the Italian language and that it is unjustifiable in the European Union especially since the United Kingdom left the bloc.
Restrictions on schools and foreign companies
The legislation would make it mandatory for anyone holding public office to have “written and oral mastery of the Italian language” and foreign entities would have to draft Italian versions of internal documents and contracts, according to CNN.
Education would also be restricted. Courses in foreign languages would exist to be targeted towards foreign students. Under the law, any other language than Italian would be banned from any class that is not aimed at teaching a foreign language.
The Ministry of Culture would also establish a committee to promote the “correct” pronunciation of Italian words in education, media and commerce.
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The proposal is part of a larger campaign by Meloni’s party, which has neo-fascist roots, to ‘safeguard’ Italian culture. It also backed a bill that would prohibit synthetic food in order to protect Italian heritage and the Mediterranean diet.
Also worth mentioning, is the Italian Ministry of Economic Development to the Ministry of Business and “Made in Italy” (Ministero delle imprese e del made in Italy) - a title which would be punishable by law if Rampelli’s legislation were to pass.
