In a world where English is now the undisputed leading global communications vehicle, Italian needs to carve out a role for itself. In the following interview, Joseph Lo Bianco, former president of the Australian Academy of Humanities and a language planning expert, explains that a language cannot be protected if it is does not play an everyday role in all spheres of an advanced economy. The best solution, then, is a language policy that sustains Italian within a scenario of global multilingualism, focusing on three key areas: teaching the national language to those arriving in Italy (as a way of conveying a practical notion of citizenship), fostering use of the language within Italian communities abroad, and promoting the spread of the Italian language as a cultural vehicle throughout the world.
How can the use of Italian around the world be championed and promoted?
The interest that the Italian language arouses throughout the world is an extraordinary opportunity that should not be wasted. The fact that English has established itself as the global lingua franca should make us reflect on a pivotal concept of sociolinguistics: no society needs two languages to accomplish the same things. So the starting point is a simple question: what role should Italian play in Italy and around the world? Any language strategy needs to spring from this. The most noteworthy results achieved in language planning suggest that adopting extraordinary measures alone to protect a language is not effective. In fact, any strategy that protects and maintains a language is predicated on that language being in everyday use.
What steps need to be taken to achieve this?
A three-pronged approach is needed: the first step is teaching Italian to foreigners who arrive in Italy; the second is maintaining the use of Italian among Italian communities living abroad, emphasizing how a shared language contributes to a sense of identity and connection; and the third more or less equates to what is already being done today, that is, promoting the use of Italian as a foreign language throughout the world. These three courses of action stem from the same motivation and the same necessity: linguistic growth within the framework of a coherent and forward-looking strategy.
My experience and my dealings with Italian institutions and the diplomatic community have led me to conclude that the importance of having a language strategy is not adequately appreciated in Italy.
There are millions of Italo-Americans in New York, yet there is not one Italian-language newspaper. Furthermore, it is not possible to base the promotion of a language abroad solely on teaching it in schools. Successful language strategies are predicated on the importance and vibrancy of a language in everyday life. In order to understand the effects of a strategy based exclusively on legal protections and language teaching in schools, one need only look at what has happened in Ireland: there are 4 million people who know Irish Gaelic, but only 57,000 speak it. This statistic demonstrates that knowledge of a language and everyday use of it are in fact two distinct things.
Does making language tests a mandatory requirement for acquiring citizenship work?
It doesn’t work because in many cases the tests are not very sophisticated and do not directly impact on knowledge and everyday use of the language. In Australia, for example, such tests are highly criticized and have now become merely perfunctory. Even so, it is clear that immigrants need to have a knowledge of the language to interact at a social level. The focus needs to be on practical – rather than symbolic – citizenship. Since 1948, the government here in Australia has funded an English-language learning program of over 500 hours for immigrants, which addresses everyday communication needs. I am convinced that this is the way to also avoid the increase in racism that we are seeing in many countries, that is: by investing in the linguistic, social, but also entrepreneurial skills of immigrants. In this way, linguistic considerations become part of a forward-looking strategy, designed to support today those who will pay taxes and finance the welfare state within twenty years or more.
At the Polytechnic University of Milan, conducting courses exclusively in English is not permitted. How can internationalization of the Italian education system be reconciled with preservation of the national language?
I am convinced that it is necessary to find a balance working within the international scenario: English is the undisputed global language, but Italian must feature in the country’s cultural and scientific output. Indeed, we cannot hope to play an international role unless we are active players in all spheres of a developed economy. Sweden represents an interesting case in point: in the past, many scholars in advanced disciplines – starting with nuclear physics – were no longer able to share their knowledge and discoveries with the national public. This was because studies and research were carried out exclusively in English and some scientific terms either had no equivalent or were no longer used in Swedish. Sweden thus decided to shift gears: it did not eliminate teaching in English, but included intensive course modules in Swedish for the various disciplines. Similar policies have also been adopted in Denmark and Germany, thereby enabling scientists to influence national public debate, without however hampering their interactions with the international scientific community.
Joseph Lo Bianco is former President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities and Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, University of Melbourne in Australia. Born in Australia to Italian parents, at the request of the Australian Government he formulated the National Policy on Languages in 1986, a document that has since been used as a basis for language policies in other countries around the world. Among the various awards he has received for his work, he was given the Order of Australia in 1997 and was made Commendatore dell’Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana in 1999.
