10 - World-wide strategy for Italian

The importance of keeping language and dialects alive in Italy as well

Umberto Galimberti, philosopher of history, sounded the alarm on the cultural pages of La Repubblica. He did so last January 15. Dissecting the reform of Italian education proposed by Minister Letizia Moratti, he expressed many perplexities on the three "I's" that should mark this reform: Impresa (business), Informatica (IT) and Inglese (English).
Business and IT do not fall within the scope of this report. Massive study of the English language, on the other hand, does, insofar as it will be imposed on a student population lagging behind in the knowledge of its maternal tongue, Italian. Galimberti made an example: "In 1975, a schoolchild knew 1,500 words; nowadays just 650." He added: "When words fail them, they use profanities to express what is otherwise inexpressible, for lack of vocabulary. They resort to a language that is poor and inarticulate and that carelessly mixes subjunctives and conditionals, interspersed with infinite 'you know', 'I mean', 'that is' and other similar expressions used while searching for words that cannot be found, since they were never learnt in the first place." His conclusion: "Wouldn't it be better if, before English, these kids were taught Italian?"
Galimberti has nothing against the English language. On the contrary, he maintains that "as it has become, due to the U.S. hegemony, the world language, our students would do well to learn it, so they can move nimbly in this age of globalization." But education must work by priorities, clarified Galimberti, and studying Italian is among them.
A strange destiny: while in Italy the Italian language encounters contamination and troubles, abroad it is increasingly becoming a "language in use" not just as the language of high culture but also as an asset in the workplace. The same destiny of Italy, whose image abroad shines brighter than at home.
Will English be the only language of globalization? This is not the opinion of Luca Codignola. "I think that in the future everyone will use, like many already do, two languages, if not three: English, the national language, and possibly a local language as well. There are several levels of communication, and these three realities can easily coexist; people will talk in English in order to chat with others abroad, in Italian to talk with Italians, and in Friulian or Sicilian to communicate locally. This is what is happening today. Of course, for some people this multilingualism will entail an impoverishment of the lexicon, meaning that they will know fewer words although in several languages; others will be enriched, as the various languages are doors open onto different yet parallel cultures."
Luca Codignola, author with Luigi Bruti Liberati of a monumental History of Canada, is the director of the Research Centre in Canadian and Columbus Studies of the University of Genoa and chairman of the International Council for Canadian Studies. He was recently visiting the Department of Italian Studies at the University of Toronto. Even though linguistics is not at the core of his academic interests, Codignola can anyway judge the quality of Italian teaching in Canada, underscoring strengths and weaknesses.
He says, "My Canadian students who had studied Italian surprised me with the quality of their speech and the relatively deep knowledge of Italian culture. This speaks well of the teachers of Italian language and culture working in Canada. However, the students have a hard time keeping up to date with recent developments, since these require frequent exposure to dailies, TV programmes, radio and advertising, the real mirror of current Italy - much more so than literature. Teachers should pay great attention not to lose ground in these fields. In short, reading more newspapers and watching more TV, eventually paying less attention to the so-called best sellers, whose quality is seldom remarkable."
What should the Italian government do in order to promote the teaching of Italian abroad? Or is it doing enough already?
"I'll say up front that my experience in Canadian Studies, and especially my chairmanship of the International Council for Canadian Studies, made me appreciate the potential for a scholarly organization promoting Italian Studies all over the world. The International Council for Canadian Studies has ramifications in some 30 countries and strives to favour the study, research, teaching, and publications about Canada in every academic discipline. It's a structure with high cultural relevance, so I wonder why can't a similar one be created in Italy?"
Are you thinking of an International Council for Italian Studies?
"Exactly. It would be entrusted the task of devising a world-wide strategy for Italian. It should be formed by men of letters but also by Italianists belonging to all human sciences. The Italian government, via the Foreign Ministry, could supply financial and logistical support, using the consulates. Its independence as well as that of its projects should be out of the question. Years ago Alessandro Vattani, then in charge of Cultural Relations at the Foreign Ministry, had shown great interest in this idea, but I don't know whether his successors brought it forward. Clearly, the language would be an integral part of Italian Studies. However, I wish to clarify something important."
What is this?
"That the International Council for Italian Studies should mainly include Italianists living abroad, while Italian scholars should be just one of the components."
The Federalist reform of Italian Constitution attributes many new powers to the Regions, also concerning cultural promotion. Do you see this as good or evil?
"I'm in favour both of the Federalist reform and of the so-called devolution. I think that the latter should go even further."
Don't you think that such a project could undermine Italy's national unity?
"I find the alarms about national unity meaningless. Just look at Canada, a country that remains unified and strong precisely because the most extreme separatist movements, which I deem negative, find mediation at the federal level. It is curious that this example is constantly ignored in Italy. So I think that in future the Regions could and should take care of cultural promotion."
Can you exemplify?
"For instance, if Region Piemonte promotes the Langhe and Cesare Pavese, explaining the influence of the Piedmontese language on Italian or that of the Southern community of the Fifties on Piedmontese, it actually contributes to the knowledge of Italian culture as a whole in its complexity. Of course the central government should act as a co-ordinator, not an antagonist of the Regions. Yet again we can learn from Canada. Just consider the cultural promotion carried out, in times of greater financial wealth, by provinces like Alberta, Ontario, and especially Quebec."
Do you think that local teachers of Italian should attend qualifying courses in Italy, or is their training complete?
"The need to follow the media forces teachers of Italian abroad to go regularly to Italy, and I mean once per year as a minimum, to avoid losing contact with the real language and culture. The language used by the teachers of Italian in Canada, much like that used in Italian language media here, is lagging behind current Italian as spoken in Italy. Today it is somewhat the Italian of the Sixties, if you allow me this expression. Correct, but old. The phenomenon is well known and cannot be solved. However, frequent trips to Italy by the teachers can reduce this gap to more imperceptible proportions. In this age of relatively easy travel, continuous contact has become possible. It would also be nice if Canadian schools and universities regularly availed themselves of Italian teachers, who could come for short periods, not less than one month though, and not necessarily all of them Italianists."
Donato Santeramo is associate professor at the Department of Spanish and Italian of Queen's University in Kingston.
His intervention shocked the participants of the Pre-Conference for North America of Italians Abroad, held in Toronto on October 26 and 27, 2000. "The Italian section of my department," he announced, "has seen a 130 percent increase in enrolments this year. Considering the last three years, the increase is over 200 percent."
Today Santeramo says: "That data was interesting, not just as percentages but also as numbers. They were confirmed in the first semester of that academic year when 170 new students enrolled in our Introductory Italian course. Only 30 percent of them were of Italian heritage. That success was due to our new teaching methods - we tried to speak Italian while living the Italian way - and to the great understanding shown by university management."
Why are you using the past tense, professor?
"Alas, the cutbacks have brought us back to the levels of the previous years, which were quite lower. A real pity. Now we are forced to reduce our courses of Italian, and yet we have long waiting lists for our lessons for beginners. The lack of funds has become a noose for teaching. On the other hand, we are witnessing the twilight of the original purpose of universities."
What do you mean?
"Universities, and not just the Canadian ones, now see their role as exclusively functional to professional training for the workplace. Therefore, professionally oriented university courses - such as Engineering, or Economics - get all the funds they need. As a consequence, a degree in Italian, but also in many other subjects, seen as secondary in securing a good job, have become second-rate. The real problem is that the role of universities should not be limited to professional training of students, but should also include the expansion of their minds; their human development, we can say."
Who should support and promote the study of Italian: Italy or Canada?
"Both countries. Italy because, as De Mauro's survey ascertained, Italian has become a language in use, so supporting it would bring interesting economic and cultural returns for Italy. Canada because it accommodates a large Italian community, it wants to strengthen its economic and trade relations with Italy, and Canadians are charmed by Italy. However, in my opinion the support should go to courses of Italian culture and literature rather than language. The latter, especially those for beginners, are healthy, while the former are declining and risk cancellation for want of funds, and therefore of students."
How can we come out of this dead end, professor?
"I don't know. We teachers can only sound the alarm. But even if we did so all together, I doubt that anything would change. In today's society, the only imperative is 'make money', and all strive in that direction. We can only hope in the advent of courageous and far-seeing politicians, able to make people understand that making money cannot be the sole reason for living."

Publication Date: 2003-03-16
Story Location: http://tandemnews.com/viewstory.php?storyid=2385