Italy Aims to Ban The Use of English. Here’s How | Vantage with Palki Sharma

There are about 6000 different languages and dialects around the world, and English is the lingua franca of the world. Palki is Indian and I am African, and the only way I am able to understand and enjoy her broadcast right now is because she's speaking the global lingua franca which we all understand. Palki wouldn't have this international appeal and outreach if she broadcast only in Hindi. And how many people would understand if I said this in Twi, "Anokwa, Palki asem yi ye nokware. M'ani gye Palki dwumadie ho yie. Nyame nhyira no!"

You hit it right on the nose..The limits of our language will be the limits of our world..Thank you, I always love listening to your news.

After reading the comments I've noticed that many people did not understand what is going on in Italy. The government is NOT abolishing the use of the English language, nor it's discouraging people from learning and speaking it. The fact is that we have a problem in Italy: there is a tendency of using English words when it's not necessary at all and there are immediate and perfectly understandable Italian translations, just because people want to sound more "international". But the vast majority of Italian people don't understand ONE word of English (only 34% of people can hold a conversation), at best they'll notice a similarity between some English and Italian words, because we started teaching it at a large scale only in the 90's. And in official documents we must make sure that the most people understand what they are reading. There were cases in the past where people could not understand the documents because of too many English words and it brought administrative problems. So yeah, I hope I made myself clear.

The speaker is lying when she says it's about pride, I'm from Italy and the problem is that sometime banks state owned companies and private use english words in italian written agreements or other documents whitout providing translation to people who don't speak english. A big issue because english in Italy it's unknown to a large part of the population expecially older person that often are deceived using english words mixed in italian sentences. Sure there is a nationalism element but compelling by law to make documents agreements or services clear for any citizen and not only for who know a foreign language it's just common sense!

"The limits of our language mean the limits of our world" 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

Indigenous languages are necessary to preserve heritage. At the same time, a’lingua franca’ which is currently English, is what what makes the world connected. The value cannot be be under estimated. The dissemination of information and knowledge, and one’s own life experience is enriched beyond measure. It is advantageous for all cultures to be open to a universal second language. Thank you for your report. ❤️

I’ve been working as an English teacher for 15 years and I must say that necessity of studying it remains the same. Currently I have even more students. P.S.: I live in Russia

They are absolutely correct in Italy.

One should be proud of your mother Language, at the same time we should be multi lunguistic.

Think about Northeast India the most linguistically diverse region in the world. If we start demanding for language laws and stick to only mother tongue we will not be able to communicate even with our neighbours. Cultural uniqueness is good but tolerance for other languages is also important. Let's remember that the first and foremost purpose of a language is communication.

I have a feeling this law will backfire very quickly. Particularly because Italy has a big tourism industry and most if not all tourists only speak English as it's the universal language. Plus, a lot of Italy's GDP is from tourism.

italy is battling exactly what I hate about the current negative habits in speech. people give up on using native language too quickly and just opt for english too easily. I'm not a linguist myself, I don't read books and most of what I write is in english, but I still force myself to remember native phrases as often as possible.

Sorry, but as an English teacher who also speaks French, German and Russian, I must say that in business it is necessary to have a common language. Few people are willing to learn 4-5 languages these days. I understand that when English mixes into native languages it is annoying, but banning it will never work.

Everyone has the right to speak multiple languages but no one should give up their local languages, especially in Bharat where there are many languages and dialects. Be proud of it! There are many universal languages and that's okay to use for communication if you have a loved one or a job ... I've seen many Bharatiyon saying they need education in own language, they are right!!! But they don't mind to learn other languages too.

I’m am far from a linguistics expert. In fact I’m dyslexic, but I’m fairly certain that many “English” words have foreign origins. Arabic, Germanic, French, and of course Greek and somewhat ironically… Latin. I love Italy. It’s a beautiful landscapes, beautiful towns, cities and villages, beautiful and varied culture, rich in history and yet thoroughly modern too. The food and beverage is a delight but most of all it is Italy’s people that makes Italy my favourite destination. The warmest welcome awaits, particularly for families. Yet I have met many Italians living in the U.K. they have without exception said of Italy that it is not a good place to live. The bureaucracy it seems stifling by their accounts. I was once told, “there are two sorts of people in the world. The Italians and those who want to be Italian. This was said by an Englishman. Viva Italia ti amo per sempre per La dolce vita

While I think it's important to make sure English doesn't overtake your native language, it's also important to acknowledge the importance of a universal language. The alternative would be everyone learning each others language, which is just not possible, so you'd constantly need translators everywhere, reducing global productivity. And the simple reason English is the universal language is because the global dominant power(s) of the last 300 years have been English speakers.

I’m American but the way things are looking I’m thinking to start preparing my grandson CHINESE and RUSSIAN he’ll be 4 in August he speak Spanish, English and I’m teaching him some Italian already ( he counts 1-10 in all 3 languages )

It's hard to learn new languages the older you get. I think I will have to forget my plans to visit Italy in the future because I've learned English only. My native language is Finnish. Italians better speak Finnish language when they come to my country if we have learn their language 😉 They even speak English in North Korea when tourists visit there...

We can have English (or whatever other language) as a lingua franca without eroding local languages. With tourism being one of the biggest sources of income in Italy, it makes a lot of sense for Italy to embrace English (within reason). Having been to Italy a few times, the love of their culture and language seemed strong. I'm speaking as an outsider, of course. I wonder if this language thing could, to some extent, be a distraction from more pressing issues. As for the French pushing back against English, it seems ironic as they are all in favour of spreading the French language around the world. I learnt French at school and I'm picking it back up again using online resources. I also plan to enroll for a classes at a French cultural centre which has branches around the world and, among other things, promotes the French language...

Thing is, I can virtually guarantee the major tech platforms aren't going to optimize for languages with smaller bases, like Italian. The software they use overwhelmingly targets English content.