From Bello to Biùtiful. What is happening to our Italian language? | Annamaria Testa | TEDxMilano

Communication Consultant: Annamaria is an expert of communication and creativity. She is a journalist since 1988 and founded the company “Progetti Nuovi” in 2005. She collaborates with various newspapers and several media companies, including Italy's national public broadcasting company–RAI. She has taught at major Italian universities and since 2007 she has been teaching at Bocconi University. In 2012 she joined the Hall of Fame Italian Art Directors Club, as the first woman working in the advertising sector over twenty-five years of activity of the Club. Since 2008 she has been managing the “Nuovo e utile” website, a no-profit initiative devoted to theory and practice of creativity. Since 2012 she has been writing every week for the weekly newspaper “Internazionale”. Since 2013 Annamaria is a member of the Board of Directors of “La Permanente” located in Milan. She wrote a book collecting short stories and several essays about creativity and communication.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx

Words are important.

They connect us,

they shape our mind.

The words of our language
are extraordinary,

they are musical, evocative, rich,
full of history, vibrations, emotion,

they are resounding, evocative,
they reverberate with our history.

About the beauty of our language,

and about the fact that such beauty
is to be defended, preserved, perceived,

anew, I will tell you about.

I will talk to you about
the rising tide

of "Italenglish",

the provincial, unjustified,
often unclear mixture

of Italian and English words, which,

in the past few years,
has become quite common.

But I will take a wide approach,

and will start by showing
you some Latin mottos.

The greatest universities in the world
bear Latin mottos on their emblems,

and they show them with great pride.

Here we have Australia,

and Hong Kong, with a Latin motto,

and Ghana, Corea, Russia, Sweden,

and the United Kingdom
with London's King's College, and Oxford,

and Chicago, in the United States.

Harvard says "Veritas" on its emblem.

It's not just universities taking pride
in expressing themselves in Latin,

the city of London bears a Latin motto.

Paris has a Latin motto,
Canada has a Latin motto,

Queensland, Australia,
has a Latin motto.

Not only that: The U.S. Navy says:
"Semper Fidelis",

you certainly heard it
in a thousand movies!

The British Navy speaks Latin,
and even NASA, an institution

far from being a past aficionado,
lends a Latin motto to Apollo missions.

Why am I going on and on with Latin?
And why Latin mottos?

Because if there's one place in the world
where a Latin motto could make sense,

it's this one. Here.
The crib of Latin.

But no! Have you seen
the recent touristic brand for Rome,

approved and promoted
by the City of Rome?

It's this.

We don't even know how to pronounce it,
"Rome, me and you?"

"Rome and you?"

What is this second-rate wink?

What is this contamination,
this short-circuit between two languages,

which deprives both of any meaning?

What are those five balls up there?

(Laughter)

(Applause)

One has to wonder, "But, why?"

Why, when we look at all the touristic
brands of all the cities in the world,

no one senselessly mangles
its own name for self-promotion.

Nowhere.
Only in Rome.

Talking of mangling, let's take
a look at the touristic portal...

(Applause)

just launched by the
Ministry of Cultural Heritage

"VeryBello"? What?

(Laughter)

Not "MoltoBello" or "VeryBeautiful".

Let's make Italian and English
collapse senselessly!

We don't like that,
the Anglophones don't like that either.

That's the curious thing.

"Du ui still spik italian?"

Do we still speak Italian?

We're talking about Italian.

The most romantic language
in the world, speaking of "Rome & You".

The most romantic language in the world,
according to 320 Anglo-Saxon linguists.

The fourth most studied
language in the world,

and nobody studies Italian
for business!

They study it because they love it!
For the cuisine, the fashion, the Opera,

the art, the history, for Dante!

That's why they're studying it.

We're talking about
the language of angels

said Thomas Mann.

And yet, for example,
pizza has conquered the world,

and its name is still "pizza".

Here you can see pizza restaurants
in the US compared

with restaurants selling hamburgers
or hot-dogs: pizza wins.

If the whole world eats, and says pizza,
why do we in Italy drink "wine"?

Look! We eat "food" and drink "wine"
in Lucca, Cernobbio, Catania, Milan.

And that's funny, because in New York,
when they promote the "Italian wine week",

they say "vino".
Because the restaurants in New York,

those fancy restaurants selling
food and wine, call it "vino"!

Let's talk about another Italian
excellence. Let's leave the food behind

and talk about fashion. Here's what our
most important fashion magazine writes:

"Il look curvy-friendly più glam"
(The most glam, curvy-friendly look)

"direttamente dalle passerelle
(straight from)

della fall-winter"
fall-winter catwalks)

Okay, we get that the seasons
are no longer what they used to be,

but tell me why I should call
a well-shaped woman "curvy"

- like it's a mountain trail
up in the Grand Canyon -

instead of "formosa" (shapely),
just like our shapely Venuses,

and like the women we see
in our Renaissance portraits.

Why? Curvy?!
Shame on you, I'm not curvy!

Let's talk about "pubblicità",
or "advertàising"

This is a Renault ad in Spain,
and the language is Spanish.

This is the same Renault ad in France,
and the language is French.

This is the same page in Italy,
and the language is English.

There are only two words in Italian:
"il primo" (the first).

(Laughter)

(Applause)

What's happening to us if even
the Sindacato (Union) says: "Let's go back

to our roots and call ourselves Unions";
Landini [Italian Union leader] said so.

Unions? The roots

of the Italian Sindacato?
Are we sure about that?

That's funny because more than half
Italians doesn't speak a word of English.

In 2012 it was 60%,
today it's about 58%.

We don't know English as a Country,
and you can see that!

"Pey Smecker"
(Pace maker)

(Laughter)

Let's hope that the medical
competences of the woman who filled out

this form are stronger
than her linguistic skills.

Yet, every day, either out of laziness,
distraction, conformism,

because it sounds modern,
because we are provincial,

we make use of a lot
of unnecessary English words,

not deeply rooted in our own language,
plainly secondary and pointless.

We say "call" instead of "telefonata",
we say "location" instead of "posto".

I heard: "Nazareno is the location
Renzi chose for the meetings".

The headquarters
of a political Party are a location?!

We say "competitors" and "compilation",
"customer care" and "day by day".

How can an office say: "Dobbiamo
schedulare una conference call

per il fine tuning della customer
satisfaction con la business unit"?

When it would suffice to say,
"Let's call Pippo, Franco, Gennaro

to fix the matter".
Because you know that the business unit

is always Pippo, Franco and Gennaro.

(Laughter and Applause)

Italenglish is now spoken not only
by companies, also by the media,

public administrations, the government.
We have a State law named "Jobs Act",

and let me assure you, its name,
Jobs Act, didn't make it any nicer.

In fact, it forced TV spokesmen
to say "Giobbàt", which is something

you won't find in nature.

We are going to have a new Tax with
an English name, which will not be nicer

because of its English name.

A couple of months ago,
after the launch of the Roman brand,

I told myself I had to do something.
Communication is what I do,

I know of some effective tools,
and I thought, with my colleagues,

to set up a project online
to sensitise people

on the matter.
It was free, we didn't spend a cent.

All it took was a little competence,
office communication and vitality.

This petition, which invited public
administrations, the government,

companies, media, to "Say It in Italian",
was addressed

firstly to the Academia della Crusca,

asking it to become the protagonist
of this sensitising campaign.

We expected a decent response,
certainly not a turn out like this.

In less than a month, with their names,
surnames, address,

70.000 people signed it,

It was signed by the young, the old,
polyglots and non-English speakers,

deans and students, translators,
English and Italian teachers,

renowned professionals
and retired people alike.

Italians living abroad signed, asking:
"What are you doing to our language?"

and foreigners in Italy, as well.

People signed from all over the world.
From Singapore, Jerusalem, Peru,

South Africa, North Africa, Canada,
Australia; it was touching.

I spent hours watching the signatures
growing and reading the comments.

And I'd like to read you some of them.

Italian is a right, but also a duty;
We are in a 'hot air' overload;

If we think wrong we also talk wrong.
I work in the PA. Help!;

I sign because I did Classical studies,
but now I work with economists.

I work in fashion. They sent me
a 'press release' for a 'happening'

of 'preview' into 'trends',
I don't think I'm gonna go.

(Laughter)

Excellent Italian and a decent English
are much better than a poor Italenglish.

Shish! -- And we know what he means.
(ironic reference to PM Renzi)

This is one of the most amazing:

I have a foreign name, but I speak
Italian, says Chung Wei Fu from Rome.

I'm signing because I'm missing
the iridescence of our language;

Because I'd never want to hear:
'What a great 'location' at my funeral!

(Laughter)

(Applause)

I'm signing For Dante, Montale, Caproni,
Pavese, Biangiardi, Gadda...;

I'm sick of lecturers who can't say
'The book is on the table', and yet

fill their mouths with 'company profile'.
That's what happens.

I'm signing because I don't think
those who say 'cool' are cool;

Because I've heard college professors

say 'displayato' instead
of ''visualizzato';

I'm signing because I don't speak English

(Applause)

I'm signing because I want to
understand what politicians say,

since they're asking for my vote;

It was about time someone did this.
I am 85. Thanks to the promoters.

We had an extraordinary,
transversal feedback,

because the mass media took
this costless, online initiative,

and they amplified it.

And it was published on more
than 130 Italian newspaper articles,

with an astounding
transversal consensus.

Italian journalists Gramellini and Serra,
on La Stampa and LaRepubblica,

and it was also acclaimed

by Il Secolo d'Italia and L'Avvenire.

Wired and Vanity Fair,
talked about it,

and so did Famiglia Cristiana,
and the Touring monthly magazine.

The gossip magazine Oggi
published an editorial by the editor.

It was so transversal that it extended
to the whole constitutional arc, and more

and it went from the most niche,
and cultural publications

to the most popular ones.

And it revealed a strong desire
to take back our language

with pride and awareness.

This went out to the newscasts --I had to
powder my face and go talk in the news--

it went out on the radio,
I was interviewed by an Australian radio,

and then by an Irish one.

You see, this is what we need.

All of this arises from our own awareness,
because language is something we build

in every instance of our speaking,
thinking, writing; every single day.

So my to plea to you all is,
let's hold on to our Italian language.

In conclusion, let me remind you
of a few reasons why.

Italian words help you
to be easily understood by all,

and that's democracy, because
being understood is democracy.

There's no need for rules, there's no
need for bans. We need good examples

and we need to ask all institutions
to be good examples.

Moreover, our language is valuable,
it's a means to promote ourselves.

We need to sell it, spend it,
take it out into the world,

because it represents us.

Knowing more languages
-- let's make this clear -- is beautiful!

Knowing more than one language,
even protects the brain,

but those who do,
speak them one at a time.

In Italenglish, and we saw that,
it's easy to talk nonsense,

and so, "Those who speak like they eat",
speak better.

Leonardo was quoted
in today's first talk.

Leonardo used to call himself
"Homo sanza litterae"

because he wrote in Vulgar language,
that is to say, in Italian.

The structure, form, and iridescence
of Italian language have always helped

us to express our creativity.
If we give up expressing

ourselves in our language, we give up one
of the peculiarities, the gracefulness,

the magnificent potentials
of our unique Italian creativity,

which takes root in its mother tongue.

If our linguistic texture is strong
and solid, of course we can welcome

a few foreign words; but we must do it
within a texture that is not shattered

and worn out by the loss of meaning,

caused by an excess
of misused foreign words.

Why am I telling you this?

Because the Italian language
is us, Italians,

with our identity, our roots, our
history, our openness to the world

which comes through our words.
Thank you.

(Applause)