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Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

cnn.com

101–110 of 605 posts

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#101
post #33

I think we (Americans and Europeans alike) wholly underestimate how Americanised European culture is becoming. This is an observation rather than a criticism as I don't know whether this is 'good' or 'bad' but it is noticeable phenomena manifest through language, and probably an unintended consequence of the dependency of Europe on US communication technology, leading to the import of US communication styles, politic…

Yeah, it was shocking here in Stockholm when there were BLM protests in 2020. It's like people are more involved in US politics than their national politics.

Weird; you'd think the protesters would have been more concerned with the rise of SD than police practices in another country. Not only that, everything I've heard about Swedish police is they're generally chill compared to US police.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#102
post #63

Good. Americans are usually not aware of the extent of american cultural imperialism which is basically everywhere, not just in Europe but you can see it very strong here I'm not saying it's bad or good. But I wish we have less Hollywood, less Netflix, less american music, less american videogames, less imported american culture topics etc when actual local music, movies, books, games exist.

I enjoy local music, books and games a lot, but legally enforcing "less American culture" seems like a really strange/indirect way of supporting local productions. Why shouldn’t people be allowed to choose what they spend their money and time on? And if you think that there should be more support for their producers to compete with Hollywood budgets: Have you watched the credits of any European film or TV production…

Do you think nations play by rules? Whatever works, works, and the anglophone world is certainly up its elbows in dirty tricks. They're historically known as the perfidious albion for good bloody reason.

Don't forget that Mercantilism and strict control of trade and information exchange was the rule until America forced "free trade" upon the world as a condition of entry into WW2.

We live in what is mathematically the exception, not the rule. The world didn't begin in 1945.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#103
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal hope is that the EU would make a plan to adopt English as the only official language. Now that UK is gone it can't be seen as unfairly promoting one country. I think the example of Switzerland shows that there is no problem if spoken language is different from official language.

I don’t care which language it is, but pick one as the official one. English makes sense economically. German cannot happen because the past. Spanish or German or French are all fine, but of course it cannot be agreed on. So English makes it easier as well for that reasons maybe.

Pick Italian. Beautiful language, lots of common words with most languages and I don’t think any non-EU countries use it. And if everything else fails, you start using your hands to communicate.

Mid 40s here and wouldn’t mind at all to start learning Italian if it was the common language of EU.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#104
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

I watched a Dr. Huberman podcast on dance and language.

One of the key takeaways was that speaking and thinking are interrelated. When you are thinking, the same area of the vocal chords are activated but with a lower intensity compared to when you are speaking.

This means that what you cannot speak, you cannot think. By prioritising Italian, they are scientifically enabling the population to think more like Italians.

I don’t care about the ban though, it doesn’t affect me.

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#105
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Do protests ever actually happen organically? I guess I always just assumed people organized protests on purpose. How else would everyone know where to show up?

I presume they mean organic as in "organized by a local person because they care about the political cause they're protesting about" vs. "organized by someone who is trying to stir shit on behalf of a foreign nation-state".

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#106
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My personal hope is that the EU would make a plan to adopt English as the only official language. Now that UK is gone it can't be seen as unfairly promoting one country. I think the example of Switzerland shows that there is no problem if spoken language is different from official language.

I think you’re forgetting Ireland and Malta

I think more importantly they're forgetting about France who would probably "Frexit" before consenting to elevate English above French

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#107

The current Italian government has introduced the "ministry of industry and made in Italy". That's what's it called, made in Italy , in English in the official name. I guess they're going to fine themselves.

Mamma mia! Questo è oro puro!

I suggest they also forbid every cultural aspect of the Italian culture that came from America/England: Italian Rock & Pop, Spaghetti Western, Il Calcio (invented by the British),...

And, btw, the food historian Alberto Grandi has been claiming that even pasta Carbonara is an American born dish...

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#108
post #58

As an Italian now living abroad, every time I go back I am horrified by the way Italians mis-use all sorts of English words in many contexts of life... One example: "smart-working". At the beginning of the pandemic, when we all started to "work remotely" or "work from home", Italians decided to call it "Smart Working". The first time I heard this term from a relative I was very confused, I thought it was just young p…

[deleted]

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#109
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

[flagged]

Re: Italian government seeks to penalize the use of English words

#110
post #95

On the one hand: If your culture needs a preservation movement, it's not a culture, but a relic. Culture is defined by people, not some sacred thing that needs to be preserved. How much of the Italian cuisine they're trying to protect would exist if they had the same attitude in the 1500s, when the tomato was introduced to Italy? On the other hand: I think countries should resist global cultural homogenisation. No of…

I watched a Dr. Huberman podcast on dance and language. One of the key takeaways was that speaking and thinking are interrelated. When you are thinking, the same area of the vocal chords are activated but with a lower intensity compared to when you are speaking. This means that what you cannot speak, you cannot think. By prioritising Italian, they are scientifically enabling the population to think more like Italians…

I would think it’s more that you think in abstract concepts, then automatically put that into words in the background, because sometimes you think of a concept but the words for it don’t come to you for a bit and also apparently some people don’t even have an internal monologue at all
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