Italian as an International Language? Cover Image

Italian as an International Language?
Italian as an International Language?

Author(s): Tereza Burianová
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences
Published by: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Fakulta sociálních věd
Keywords: Italian; Italian language; Italian-speaking people; imperial language; Italian as a foreign language; Italiano 2000.

Summary/Abstract: Given the fact that Italian has recently ceased to be included into statistics dedicated to the most significant world languages, the author is contemplating the current position of Italian and its possible development in the future. Considering the Italian-speaking population and the statistical data from “Eurobarometer” and “Italiano 2000” she comes to the conclusion that Italian does not meet the conditions under which it could be defined as an imperial language. Although the number of Italian-speaking people (be it native speakers or not) does not show any significant decrease, the interest in other languages distinctively grows and pushes Italian to the bottom of the list. Only a small percentage of students select Italian as the first foreign language. On the other hand, Italian holds the first position as the fourth foreign language chosen to learn. Today, Italian is the sixth most spread language within the European Union and its candidate states and there is no strong competitor within the European Union thus far who could deprive it of the position. However, the author claims that the situation could change with a prospective admission of Turkey or Ukraine into the European Union.

  • Issue Year: II/2008
  • Issue No: 02
  • Page Range: 25-32
  • Page Count: 8
  • Language: English