English in Italy: Linguistic, Educational and Professional Challenges, Sintesi del corso di Lingua Inglese

Scarica English in Italy: Linguistic, Educational and Professional Challenges e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Lingua Inglese solo su Docsity! English in Italy What has contributed to the​ influx​ of english lexical items? ● the establishment of a global market ● the status of english as a lingua franca for international communication ● the established use of english in academic and professional settings ● the growing number of non native speakers Chapter 1. ​Anglicism in italian: moving on into the third millennium - Virginia Pulcini Focus of the study: english-induced lexical borrowings in the italian language. She takes a diachronic perspective​, providing an overview of the chronology of influence of english on italian. She pays special attention to the second half of the 20th century and she makes some predictions. Her study refers to 3 main questions: How many english words were imported into italian throughout the centuries? → ​quantitative data​. Was the increase or the decrease connected to the historical circumstances? → she needed to relate the anglicisms found to the ​specific events​ (qualitative analysis). Which area of italian vocabulary have been affected? this is again a qualitative analysis which relate to the anglicism to the main areas (computer → IT). But this question also needs quantitative data, because she also needed to count how many anglicisms per area she could find, in order to let us know which areas are more productive/recepting (from the point of view of Italian). Theoretical framework After the Brexit referendum in 2016, english will no longer be an official EU language. This political event may mark the end of the impulse that the english language has gained from the second half of the 20th century. In this chapter, the aim is to review english ​lexical borrowings ​in the italian language in the course of time. The analysis is ​quantitatively​ and qualitatively​ based on the most recent electronic editions of italian dictionaries: the ​Grande dizionario italiano dell’uso 2007 ​(GDU), ​lo Zingarelli ​2016 (ZING) and ​il Devoto-oli ​2016 (DO). Loanwords​ are words adopted from a foreign language. Loanwords are markers of cultural impact and provide a ​historical record​ of change in a language, integrating the extra-linguistic context with the internal changes in the language itself. Loanwords can reveal: ● loanwords are markers of ​cultural impact ● loanwords signal the ​prestige​ and the cultural superiority enjoyed by the donor ● the nature of this contact → the affected fields Moreover language borrowings are higher in periods of intensive social and cultural exchanges. Directionality:​ whether we want to investigate english borrowings in italian or italian borrowing into english → this study is concerned with the first direction. Chronology of lexical borrowings from english into italian is divided into ​5 main periods​: 1. early contacts up to the ​18th​ century → since 18 century english has gradually strengthened its status through colonial power, political prestige, literary and cultural tradition 2. the 19th century 3. the first half of the 20th century 4. the post-ww II period 5. the new millennium years The data considered in this chapter is taken from ​three dictionaries of italian: ● The ​Grande dizionario italiano dell’uso ​(2007) is one of the most authoritative dictionaries of italian. Its characteristic feature is the rich variety of ​usage labels (etichette)​, which help users to distinguish between lemmas that are common (CO), high frequency (AU = alto uso) or low frequency (BU = basso uso). Lemmas of foreign origin​ are marked as ​ES​ (esotismo). The label ​TS​ indicates technical and specialist terminology and is accompanied by its specific field label (ex. TS sport). This dictionary includes lemmas up to/until 2006, two others dictionaries of italian have been used for the analysis of the ​most recent years​ (in their electronic version) ↓ ● Lo ​Zingarelli ​(2016) is a general dictionary of italian updated every year. This dictionary labels as English (vc.​ing​) the entries that retain an English form. ● il ​Devoto-oli. Vocabolario della lingua italiana ​(2016) She used the electronics versions of these dictionaries because she needed a larger amount of data. These dictionaries differ in size, criteria of inclusion and choice of field labels: the GDU is twice the size of ZING and DO and contains many more technical and scientific terms that are not included in either ZING and DO. The aim of this book is to show the increase in the input of Anglicisms throughout the centuries and the affected fields by multiple sources. The definitions of the anglicisms discussed have been taken from the ​Oxford English dictionary and the ​Collins English dictionary​ in their online editions. What is the most suitable methodology? ● The internet → is certainly the largest database of authentic language use currently available. We can search anglicism in google and see how many results we get. We can investigate how a particular anglicism is used. Using the internet may also have some disadvantages: we may have too many results and it is difficult to decide which one to select. In addition we don’t have any information about the context in which anglicism occurs. The Internet is not normally used for the scientific analysis of anglicisms. ● Newspaper archives → are often employed for the analysis of anglicism. They have the advantage of giving you the option of selecting the results according to the publication date, the section of the newspaper, and you can select the type of language that you want to find. In addition, newspaper archives are more reliable than the internet. They also have some disadvantages: our study of anglicism will be limited to the ​language of journalism​. Another disadvantage is that we can not use them for free, you have to pay a subscription. ● Dictionaries → they are among the favourite resources for the study of anglicisms. They are ​reliable lexicographic products​, based on researches. We can find anglicism in general dictionaries but also in specialized dictionaries. Also when using dictionaries we have to make choices and consider the strengths and weaknesses of the paper and ​electronics versions.​ Nowadays with electronic dictionaries we have more flexible resources → easy and practical. Electronic dictionaries have the advantage of allowing us to conduct specific resources. Instead with paper dictionaries we have to go through the paper and look for specific anglicisms for which we are interested. It would be impossible to conduct a study like the one of Pulcini with a paper dictionary. dances and popular music. The first university positions for english were set up in ​1918​ and this language continued to be taught in secondary schools. The most frequent usage fields of Anglicisms in the GDU have been grouped according to the three disciplinary domains used by the European Research Council: ● Social Sciences and Humanities (SH) ● Life Sciences (LF) ● Physical Sciences and Engineering (PE) One third of the meanings recorded by the GDU has ​not been assigned a label​, which indicates that these meanings are current in general language. In the field of ​Social Sciences and Humanities​ we have: ​sport​ as the most productive field of borrowings, in which a wide range of games were introduced: ​hockey, rally, cross.​ ​Music​ follows as the second most productive area of lexis with the introduction of new music genres of american provenance. The emerging ​cinema​ industry brought to italian society the words: ​casting, technicolor.​ In the field of ​entertainment​: ​poker, bridge​. In the domain of ​Physical Sciences and Engineering​ we find many loanwords in the technical field, in information technology (IF), in electronics. Among the few terms in the field of ​Life Sciences​ we find many ​names of dogs-dog breads​ (beagle, yorkshire) and foods. According to the data collected in the dictionaries, the increase of anglicisms has continued in the course of time. The input of anglicisms from the 13th to the 17th century is hardly noticeable. In the 19th century we see a growing trend, especially in the second half. Finally in the 20th century we have a conspicuous rise in the first half and a peak in the post-war period. The post-world war II period The post-second World War years is when the real influx of Anglicisms in Italian takes place. This historical phase is characterized by an ​Americanisation of Wetern Countries​ as a result of the ​US military victory ​and the ​economic expansion​ of the USA on the european market​. The American myth turned into a real social model. In this period the incidence of scientific and technical terms increased, almost equalling the terms in the social sciences and humanities. The percentage of terms ​with no label is lower​, which may indicate that the increase in anglicisms in this time span has been in specialist terminology. The field of ​sport remains the top donor to italian vocabulary. A few new sports/games were introduced: kick-boxing, beach volley​, but also fitness-related training like ​acquagym, jogging, pilates​. Another field still featuring among the top donors is ​cinema​: black comedy (terms describing new genres), ​location, sequel, prequel​. Because of the economic growth and ​globalisation of the marketplace, loanwords related to economy have increased, together with terms in the field of finance, commerce and business administration. English terms are preferred by journalists and economists for their stylistic effects of modernity, but also because of their concisiness and specificity. The rise of the new economy based on internet trading, introduced terms referring to electronic business communication. A domain that has continuously provided new terms is that of ​music​:​ rock and roll, pop, funky, folk music, heavy metal​ (new genres of music). In the domain of ​Physical Sciences and Engineering​ we find the most productive field: information technology​ (IF). The input of anglicisms has been indeed exponential in this field. Some loanwords are: wireless, hardware, software, computer. Information technology (IT) has rapidly developed and become an indispensable resource. Since the ​1980​s the spread of personal computers, the use of the internet, have ​contributed​ to the flow of terminology. In the second half of the 20th century we can see an acceleration of loanwords in the field of IT. Also the air transport automotive sector has increasingly developed, introducing terminology like:​ city airport, airbag, car-sharing.​ In the field of ​Life sciences​, medicine becomes increasingly important because of people’s greater involvement in personal health. As in the past, many kinds of​ dog breeds​ continue to be imported: ​husky, labrador retriever, ecc​. In the field of gastronomy are introduced several terms, some of British tradition, but mostly form exotic cuisine. Scholars claim that the ​20​th century was characterized by a second ​Europeanisation​ of Italian​, which was massively dominated/imposed/set by the ​English language​ (first by the French) and the ​Anglo-american culture​. According to Dardano, there is a crucial difference between the two Europeanisations, because the fist had “a predominantly elitist character”, while “in our times it involves diverse categories of speakers”. While French affected the language of aristocracy and intellectuals, today anglicisms are used not only by professionals, but also by common people. The new millennium - twenty first century. English lexical borrowings in the third millennium is still ​unexplored​, as the 21th century has only just begun. Yet electronic dictionaries allow publishers to update them quite frequently, so it is already possible to monitor the situation. The GDU published in 2007 has 573 non-adapted Anglicisms in the period from 2001 to 2006 → considerable growth in only 6 years. We found, in decreasing order, ​the following most represented domains:​ IT, sport, business, economy, politics, music, telecommunications, clothes, aviation, technology, television, military, advertising, cinema, ecc. ​The three most influential fields are​:​ IT, economy and sports​, confirming the trend of the second half of the previous century. Also fashion​ terms rank high for the first time in a field where ​French has always had the advantage.​ This is because of the new clothing articles but also thanks to the productivity of the combining word -wear. It is quite clear that information and internet technology represents the largest part of anglicisms in the new millennium. Reasons for the use of anglicisms ● Necessary loans​: an anglicism which is adopted to introduce a new object or concept (computer, tablet) ● Luxury loans​: an anglicism which is adopted to refer to an object or concept already existing in RL, in order to express it in a more fashionable and attractive way (fashion, jobs act) Conclusion:​ as regards the recording of anglicisms in the dictionaries selected for this overview, the GDU has proved to be the most suitable as it offers a large number of field and register labels. All the three dictionaries confirm a constant growth in the number of English loans throughout the centuries, a peak in the second half of the 20th century and the primacy of IT​, ​economy and sport ​as the most affected fields in the new millennium. What lexicographic evidence usually fails to provide is information about ​currency ​(the degree of assimilation) and ​representativeness ​(usage frequency) of dictionary entries. The GDU can partly provide this information by means of ​its usage labels​. Chapter 2​ ​Pragmatic borrowings: phraseological anglicism in italian - Cristiano Furiassi Pragmatic anglicisms → general category → phraseological anglicism is a form of it. ● Pragmatic borrowings​ are lexical borrowings capable of performing pragmatic functions → communicate speaker ​attitude​ (come on! → expressing surprise), performing​ illocutory/speech acts ​(promising, suggestions es. ​keep calm​), marking structure, they convey temporal information (The end? no, adesso comincia il bello…), signaling politeness (sorry, non era mia intenzione…). ● Phraseological Anglicism​ → ​units larger than words​ borrowed from english (single lexical items → Anglicism). Indeed, the Anglicization of Italian has become so pervasive that units larger than words are borrowed from english. Phraseological anglicisms seem to be capable of representing / are similar to ​illocutionary acts​, thus originating pragmatic anglicisms. The focus of this article is on the pragmatic function of english “phraseologisms”. Today a lot of phraseological anglicism may be encountered and heard in Italian. Illocutionary acts → the speech act is at the same time a statement but also an action. Ex. affirm, promise, congratulate, ask, ecc. Examples of ​phraseological anglicisms used pragmatically​ come form a web-based corpus of Italian, ​iTenTen. ​In addition also Italian monolingual GDU, ZING, and Italian-English bilingual dictionaries (Grande dizionario di inglese and Grande dizionario Inglese) are consulted in order to search italian translations equivalents. English monolingual dictionaries like Oxford English dictionary are also investigated to check whether such phraseological units are present in the english language. Anglicisms: Gottlieb’s definition of Anglicism: “any individual word or language characteristic adopted from English or inspired by English models, used in other languages”. This definition includes communicative and pragmatic aspects. Anglicisms are also present in speech as stated by Jespersen: anglicisms are “transfer of some peculiarity from the english language to other languages”. “Phraseological units”​ are readymade expressions, which play idiomatic, pragmatic and morphosyntactic functions in language. Phraseology patterns includes: ● catch phrases (Is that your final answer?) ● routine formulae → having to do with interpersonal relationships (here you go) ● proverbs (when in Rome do as the Romans) ● collocations ● idiom This definition attests that phraseological anglicisms are particularly suitable to give priority to the pragmatic functions in communication. Treffers-Daller defines “pragmatic borrowing” as “the borrowing of a discourse function of a particular syntactic form”. Andersen states that “pragmatically borrowed items carry signals about speaker attitudes, the speech act, discourse structure, etc.” Pragmatic anglicisms ​are anglicisms that are borrowed by another language from english, because they are provided with ​intrinsic pragmatic functions,​ even though they might cohabit with native but less effective equivalents. Illocutionary acts A summary of Searle’s ​classification of illocutionary acts: ● “representatives” stating something is true: ex. suggesting, putting forward, stating, complaining, deducing ● non-adapted anglicisms​/loanwords: a word borrowed without a formal and semantic change (cupcake) NB. phonological integration always takes place ● adapted anglicisms​/loanwords: a word borrowed with orthographic, phonological or morphological changes (hackerare - ending part ita) → have undergone a change. ● false anglicisms​: a world unit in the RL made up of english lexical elements which are unknown and used with a radically different meaning in the SL (footing for “jogging”) ● hybrid anglicisms​ → multi-word units in which an english element is combined with an element form the recipient language Indirect borrowings: Calques can be created ● loan translation​: a word unit translated from english into the RL (carta di credito da “credit card). ● loan rendition​: a word unit which translates only part of the SL item and provides a substitute for the other part (es. marchio di fabbrica da “trademark”) ● loan creation​: a word or multi-word which imitates the SL model word using items of the RL (es. pallanuoto da “waterpolo) Semantic loan ​→ an already existing word in the RL takes the meaning of a SL word (realizzare → prende il significato di “realize” - become aware of) This paper will focus on the presence of direct borrowings​: english loans in the form of non-adopted, adapted, hybrid and false anglicisms. It will be discussed the occurrences of direct anglicisms in dubbed language through the analysis of dialogues in Anglo-american films and TV series, but also by using lexicographic resources, databases and corposa of both English and Italian. In this study we will focus on film titles and subsequently on dubbed dialogues in Anglo-american films and TV series. This is not an empirical study: She starts from existing studies → conceptual study Corpora → a collection authentic texts (including transcriptions of spoken data) which is sampled (campionato) to be representative of a particular language or language variety. The language of dubbing and the notion of anglicism The language of dubbing has been called “dubbese” - doppiaggese in Italian. Dubbese can be defined as “the language variety used in dubbed audiovisual products/texts”. Dubbese has ​specific linguistic features​ which distinguish it from both the source and the target language. It has been found to constitute a third form. Dubbese is characterised by linguistic trends such as​: ● no geographic differentiation ● use of a neutral register and style ● less textual cohesion ● the repetitive use of formulae. NB. technical constraints (lip synchronisation) → sometimes translators don’t have enough time, they are not allowed to watch the film. In films we can see the lip mouvement, so it is difficult to find a word with the same lip movement → this will make the traduction evident. Sometimes translators opt for translations that are compatible/match with the lip mouvement. Anglicisms in film titles A study by ​Viezzi​ points out that in Italy the number of English titles has risen considerably over the years reaching 39% in 2000. Viezzi identifies a number of ​strategies​: some films keep their original titles, while others add an italian subtitle which literally translates it; a third category consists in films containing a subtitle which may clarify the topic of the film and which may attract the audience’s attention. A fourth strategy is that of distributing films with an english title that differs from the original one. The choice of english titles might be due to the fact that they are​ catchy​ and ​attract​ the audience’s attention. According to Viezzi, the alteration of a title by adding a sexual hint (allusione) is a common practice in film distribution in Italy. Some examples are: Wild Things → sex Crimes - giochi pericolosi, Going all the way → pigs today - porcelli oggi, Made in Dagenham → We want sex. The growing presence of film titles in english might be due to Italians’ fascination with english language. English is seen as more seductive and appealing, to catch the audience’s attention and to provide extra value to the quality of the product. Viezzi points out that the use of english titles might also hide an attempt to create​ ambiguity:​ “per qualche ragione un titolo è forse tanto più efficace quanto più è criptico”. To the above reasons we might add marketing and commercial reasons:​ the merchandising related to the films could be easily sold in various countries with no need for translation. Anglicisms in dubbed dialogues As regards the presence of english loanwords in the dialogues of Anglo-American audiovisual texts dubbed into Italian, various scholars (Pavesi, Rossi) point out that direct borrowings are not very frequent in dubbing. English loans consist of words which are already part of the italian language, while few new anglicisms can be found in dubbed dialogues. Brincat observes a limited use of foreign words, consisting of ​lexical items belonging mainly to the semantic field of sports and music. In fact the number of anglicism is affected by the setting and the story shown. In some cases specific anglicisms are inserted in the dialogues as they are linked to the setting and situation where the action takes place. Pavesi ​also observes that dubbed language presents a low frequency of loanwords: the only exceptions are film titles and ​interjections​ and discourse markers (wow, okay) → words that are used to show an ​expression​ of ​emotion​. The study by Minutella (2011) examines the ​presence of English loans​ in the dubbed dialogues of ​9 anglo-american films and tv series​, aimed at a young audience. Minutella register 169 different anglicisms were retrieved, so the number of direct borrowing is quite high. Moreover, the italian dialogues of these shows contain some “uncommon words” which are absent from italian monolingual dictionaries. Some examples are: ● “Yo” is an informal interjection defined by the OED as “an exclamation used to attract attention, to express surprise”. It is often employed by​ African-American​ as a greeting (per salutare), but it can also be found following an utterance for emphasis or as a general conversational filler. In the dialogues analysed “yo” is used only in the animated film ​Shark tale​. Yo is still rare in Italian, but it can be used to mimic a specific, colloquial, gangsta rap style. Yo is also used to transmit humor, to create a play on words and to ​convey a rap style​. In Italian the expression ​yo fratello​ connote a specific type of character and suggest that this slang is typical of Afro-american. ​Yo fratello​ or y​o ​followed by a vocative in Italian seem to be a f​ixed formulae​, that are adopted and re-used by translators to render african-american expressions which have ethnically connotation and have no equivalence in the Italian language. ● As regards the frequency of the anglicisms found in the audiovisual texts analysed in Minutella, the most frequent loanword is ​okay​, which was found in all the dubbed dialogues. Okay is the most common english word used by Italians. The ​Lessico di frequenza dell’italiano parlato ​lists okay as the most frequent anglicism in spoken italian. ● “Wow​” is a frequent primary interjection in English. Wow, express the emotional involvement of the speaker. Wow conveys “greater intensity of feelings and typically indicates that the speaker is ​surprised​ and impressed” (Biber). Wow is attested in italian monolingual dictionaries: the GDU dates it back to ​1959. The data confirm the growing and widespread presence of english ​discourse markers/interjections​ in the italian language, especially in spoken interaction and in informal situations. Other words with a high frequency (more than ​10 occurrences​) in the dubbed dialogues analysed are: ​talent, show, musical, golf, basket, baseball, weekend, party​. The number and quality of anglicisms ​varies according to the type of audiovisual product, the plot and the characters.​ Frequency data are not sufficient to understand the degree of anglicisation of dubbed italian and a qualitative approach is needed to interpret the data. This study shows that products aimed at a young audience contain a relatively higer number of anglicisms. Moreover it confirms that english ​discourse markers​ tend to be borrowed in dubbing and that the field of sport, music, entertainment, fashion and technology are particularly open to borrowings. questions addressed to the symposium were​: which skills are essential for translators to adapt to changes in society? What do employers expect from translators? What do they expect from universities and training institutions? One of the main conclusions is that “today translation has become a social profession, where ​teamwork​ is a must and the ability to interact and network has become an essential requirement” → ​use of soft skills.​ Others important skills are: ​Flexibility​ and ​adaptability are important skills to perform new tasks going beyond the profession of a translator, including project management, marketing and budgeting. Training (formazione) is an important issue which has been discussed: it should not be limited to universities, but should be achieved through a process involving ​institutions and industry, addressing both to students and trainers. A section entitled “New Truths”(verità) ​refers to new translations tasks, such as ​post-editing and ​pre-editing​ and the increased demand for technical writing in english. Recommendations for universities​ include equipping/providing students with multi-competences such as general knowledge, client awareness, communication skills, interpersonal and social skills and competence in IT. The status of ELF is radically different from other languages. One of the main problems discussed in the Symposium is that texts and documents in the EU, as well as in most international organizations, are written in a ​hybrid form of english​. Most speakers of international conferences are non-native speakers of English and the language that they use (ELF) are phonological, lexical and syntactically different. These features are factors creating difficulties for interpreters. IMP: Interprets with a knowledge of the NNS (non native speaker) mother tongue were more successful at overcoming linguistic difficulties caused by NNS’ grammatical and lexical differences → important principle. Interlanguage Speech Intelligibility Benefit​ (ISIB) - Bent and Bradlow (2003): according to this principle, a non-native speaker is better understood by a non-native listener than by a native speaker of the source language when the non-natives share the same native language (​matched interlanguage​), or even when the non-natives have different mother tongues (​non-matched interlanguage​). Bent and Bradlow’s study consisted in recording native speakers of english, as well as a mixed group of speakers with different mother tongues, reading simple english sentences. This activity was followed by a sentence recognition task on the recordings from five speakers. According to the results, native english listeners found the native english speaker more comprehensible, whereas for non-native listeners a non-native speaker was as comprehensible as a native speaker. What is changing most significantly in the translator's job nowadays is its ​working material​, and the ​source text ​(written and spoken) ​→ ​ELF​.​ ​In what way are texts changing? ● Register: Written texts increasingly present features of spoken language ● Difficult distinction between different text type → hybrid forms (mixing technical, scientific, legal language) ● Multimodal texts: simultaneous use of verbal and visual communication ● Texts produced in multicultural contexts for international audiences ELF texts are unrelated to a specific culture. Peculiar language features: ● large number of nominalised forms ● complex syntax in a way that doesn’t encourage comprehension ● extensive use of embedded subordinate clauses → long sentence with a high number of subordinate clauses ● large use of non finite verbs → this affect comprehension ● uncommon collocations → typical combinations of words (verb+adject). standard collocations are not used. Teaching ELF The predominant number of non-native speakers of english at international conferences and the interlanguage speech intelligibility benefit, can no longer be ignored by teachers. The priority for ELF speakers is the ability to communicate in an international context and to be mutually comprehensible, and this should be reflected in english language teaching. How? by promoting​ communication skills, ​while placing less emphasis on grammatical correctness and pronunciation (Jennifer Jenkis and Barbara Seidlhofer). Vettorel, believes that when learning english, students should be encouraged to reflect on the ​diversity of english​ and the changes that english is undergoing. One of the communicative skills is the so-called “​strategic competence​”, which includes a variety of ​verbal and nonverbal strategies​. This strategy is particularly important in ELF contexts where non-native speakers activate a ​cooperation principle: ​sense of solidarity among speakers who do not share a common background but aim at common communicative goals. Vettorel suggests a series of activities for students to learn and practice cooperation strategies in the class. She stresses the need to not focus only on english but rather considering it as one in a multilingual context. The aim is to promote a plurilingual education, ​which includes metalinguistic awareness. ​Metalinguistic awareness​, also known as ​metalinguistic​ ability, refers to the ability to consciously reflect on the nature of language. ​Metalinguistic awareness​ makes students more confident and more willing to ​take risks​ when speaking language, rather than being afraid of making mistakes. Similar principles should be applied to translation and interpreting training. A wide variety of training materials, including ELF texts and speeches, should be included in translation and interpreting university courses. ELF in translation and interpreting training - some examples In her interpreting course Maura Radicioni, presents students with ELF talks, which, together with talks by native speakers are a key component of their classes. Examples of course content include presentations by architects who are non-natives speakers of english. Another example of the use of ELF sources as training material is the translation workshop by Pietro Luigi Iaia in which the students make an intralingual translation of the subtitles of the video “​Capsized in Lampedusa - Fortress Italia”​. Iaia asks the students to adapt the subtitles of the english version Vice News for an international audience, and take into account the knowledge of the target audience. Students are required to re-write the english subtitles taking into account possible audiences of non-native speakers. This allows students to acquire market-oriented skills. Translators might be asked to translate for an international audience​ and so to simplify the language in order to facilitate comprehension. Secondly, asking the students to justify and comment on their translations choices means encouraging their awareness of the ​learning process​. Thirdly, as non-native speakers of english, the students have the opportunity to observe and reflect on the lexical and syntactic structures of their written english. This makes students acquire and practice translation strategies and techniques through a variety of texts related to professional experiences. Another task that should be included in a translation course is​ editing texts​ and documents of international organisations, such as the EU, which are rather difficult to understand due to their difficult syntax and unusual collocations. Through such a task students practice an implicit aspect of their future profession: translations, in fact, mentally edit ELF texts before translating them. Editing is an opportunity to acquire experience in one among the various services that translators are now asked to provide. Also, editing ELF texts makes students realise that their mistakes when writing in english are similar to common EU documents. In other words, such practice helps students acquire confidence as translators. This is why editing should also be included in translation training. A particularly challenging form of editing is the ​post-editing​ (PE) ​of machine translations (MT)​, which has become quite common. Maria Kopnitsky, explains the difference between the revision of a translation made by translators and the post-editing of a machine-translation. Practice editing tasks at school or a module dedicated to different types of editing is another way to address the issue of the gap between training and market requests. Stephen Doherty and Joss Moorkens have designed a module consisting of two hours labs, in which students familiarise themselves with translation memories and machine translation. The module aims to help students become familiar with translation roles that include new tasks such as post-editing and working with MT. Translation trainees should be educated to the fact that only by embracing translation memory and MT they will be able to the benefits of such technology and keep up with a changing market. Another way to make training more relevant in terms of ​future job​ demands is by making students reflect on how translating and interpreting is generally ​perceived.​ It is common knowledge that this is not a formally recognised profession on a national level. People with a general knowledge of foreign language, particularly english, translate and interpret without having the​ necessary qualifications​ of competence. The problem is related to the mistaken assumption that a basic knowledge of a language is enough to be able to translate and interpret. Moreover, since it is believed that english is spoken by almost everyone nowadays, it is often the only language of international conferences. This is probably why interprets have started to believe that clients are increasingly losing ​confidence in interpreting​. Educating clients is vital in order to make them aware that the use of ELF can be counterproductive/disadvantage in highly technical circumstances. The skills required to be a successful interpreter are: strategy, management, social skills, empathy, negotiation and creativity. These are human skills that can not be acquired by machines. Chapter 7: ​English-mediated instruction in Italian Universities: a cuckoo nest scenario? - Sandra Campagna In english medium-instruction: ● English is the language used for instructional purposes → language used for the teaching content, specialised contents such as medicine, economics, law, ecc. So english is not itself the subject being taught (we are not EMI students). Language development is not a primary result. ● English is not the first language of the majority of the population of the country in which the course is offered. EMI courses are in​ non-anglophone settings​. This chapter is about the controversial link between English-medieted instruction (EMI) and Internationalisation in European Higher Education, with a specific focus on the ​italian context​. The “European paradox” is a concept which is at the base of the contradictory ​educational policies in Europe​. The paradox regards the objective to implement university courses entirely held in English as a result of the post-Bologna Process, despite Eu was characterized by a long-standing multilingual tradition. This dualism is explained through the In Italy EMI is a much more recent phenomenon and it arrived quite slowly in the late 1990s. However it has expanded very rapidly. These are the two laws that made it possible: ● Legge Moratti (2003, implemented only in 2010-11) ● Legge Gelmini (2010) → strengthen the internalisation process. The law encouraged greater mobility and it made possible the activation of​ degree programs ​in a foreign language. The repercussions of this Anglicisation wave have been the focus of some academic research also in Italy, where the EMI mode has only recently been explored. Research on EMI in Italy has taken various steps in the last few years. An initial stage has been characterised by ​studies focusing on language policies​ and ​the ideology of internationalisation.​ These studies have documented the existence of ​conflicting situations and practice affecting EMI, as shown in the Politecnico di Milano legal case. In the Politecnico di Milano legal dispute​. PoliMi attempted in 2012 to deliver english only courses starting form academic year ​2014​ → in two years the university aimed to switch completely to english and stop offering courses in italian. Many of the people involved and professors did not agree with the policy and they took the university to court. The university was obliged to also offer courses in italian. That became a sort of model case for all the other universities. You can implement EMI but you have to guarantee that comparable courses are also offered in italian. The Accademia della Crusca in Italy is an institution which monitors and protects italian language. They also expressed some warning towards EMI. They were not closing the door to EMI, but they said to be careful → let’s make sure that english is really necessary. This decision of PoliMi also collides with the Legge Gelmini promulgated in 2010. The law recalls the internationalisation asset by activating strategies aimed at increasing students mobility and cooperation among universities and deals with the introduction of degree programmes in a foreign language, but there is no explicit reference to English. A second stage of EMI research in Italy involves studies integrating the international-culturalist debate with data obtained from the analysis of ​teaching practices. Research focus has gradually expanded to include analysis of EMI practice through fieldwork. This research aims at documenting how teaching through the medium of english is being currently conducted. In Italy the level of english is lower than in Scandinavian countries → this is essential for the success of EMI. One important trait which characterises the adoption of english in european universities is the fact that it is often perceived as very difficult. In Italy, fieldwork has been mainly addressed to measure how students perceive teaching their courses in English. Among these studies it is worth mentioning the small scale-research carried out in 2013 by Costabello, who administered an online questionnaire to lecturers (docenti) experiencing EMI at the Politecnico di Torino. Costabello observes that most of the lecturers lament the lack of training courses offered by the institution to prepare them to deal with this new method. A key feature that characterizes the Italian context is the high number of students attending classes, which makes classroom interaction difficult. There is also a language problem: all the students dealing with EMI recognise the inadequacy of language skills and a low level of competence in english among italian students and lecturers. Costabello’s research also reported the teachers’ fear due to the risk of losing disciplinary terminology in the native language (domain loss). A further study representing this stage in EMI research is the one conducted by ​Molino: ​she analyzed a corpus of ​6 videos​ recorded of EMI lecturers operating in the field of natural sciences and technology. Molino applies ​Corpus Linguistics tools​ to investigate the oral delivery of both native and anglophone lecturers. Her analysis is about comprehension checks and discourse markers. She found that the greater recourse to these features by italian native speakers is due to their uncertainty/insecurity in using language as well as the need of being understood by the class. This research is now oriented to finding resolutions in the form of linguistic and methodological training courses. Parallel Language Use (PLU) in the Nordic countries English-mediated instruction is a well-established tradition in the Nordic countries. English has been used as a language of research and academic publication in Scandinavian universities since the ​1950​s → Bologna Declaration. This long-standing experience with the EMI has given rise to emerging ​anxieties about the English-only program​ and research in specific areas of EMI practices. PLU implies the coexistence of the local language and english in Scandinavian countries. This concept is not completely new in Sweden, in fact in the ​1990​s the ​Swedish Language Council ​prepared an Action Programme, highlighting the importance of improving ​students’ ability to use Swedish and english in parallel.​ The term “parallellingualism” is also used to indicate this method. English is not perceived as a threat until the 1990s → it was considered an advantage and an opportunity. However something happened in the 1990s: there was a transition from a homogeneous society to a multilingual and multicultural one due to the increase of ​immigation.​ As a consequence a self-defensive attitude was developed and some policies was putted to place in order to contrast the internationalisation. This transition has raised a lot of ​worries​ about ​national pride​ and local identity, sometimes conflicting with the internationalisation of education. So this social transformation also represented an attitudinal change towards english. Before this period english was not perceived as a “threat” in Sweden, on the contrary Swedes were proud of their high-level competence in english. However their perception of english gradually changed. So they had the chance to go through a variety of scenarios (from the enthusiasm to the difficulties) and also to putting in place policies in order to contain the risk of english-medium instruction.This explains why PLU has become a constitutive element of language planning in scandinavian countries. PLU = parallel use/coexistence of english and local languages. Parallel Language Use is an official language policy that was adopted in 2007 with the document called ​Declaration on a Nordic language policy. ​The ​goal​ of the policy was to encourage students to use english and the local language in parallel. In this way Scandinavian countries avoided the risk of ​domain loss ​(key word) → domain = area of language use. So EMI can be a threat to the functional variety of the language, for the vocabulary, the register, the language of science. If we no longer develop the use of our language in those settings, the language will be impoverished. An important element regarding Nordic countries is the fear of domain loss, especially related to scientific terminology which risks becoming entirely “englishised” and as a consequence impoverishing Nordic national languages. For these reasons Northern European universities have favoured policies pursuing ​bilingual learning. Despite its popularity, the application of PLU is still under examination for its lack of clear pedagogic aims​ → gap between policies and practices. As Kuntevaa observes, one major obstacle in using PLU derives from inadequate levels of linguistic competence in english and in the local language. In fact, the majority of students operating in Scandinavian Universities are international. Another controversial point regards conflicting ​ideologies​ at the base of parallellingualism. This point has been developed in Hultgren: she argues that while both ​state​ and ​institution language policy documents invoke parallellingualism, there are ideological discrepancies between the two in that they suggest opposite directions. In fact, while universities language policies carry out nationalist discourses defending the social/native language, the ideology behind institution policy gives priority to economic profit and free trade. This type of logic goes hand in hand with the enforcement of english. Another trait that confirms the confusion of the concept of parallelingualism is the vagueness of directives which regard the language should be used in each situation. Also, students and teachers are ​worried ​about the risk of ​underperforming ​(non satisfactory results) due to having ​to study in a language other than their mother tongue​. Younger teachers who are most familiar with teaching english are the ones showing a high degree of acceptance of the new medium. Comparing language policies and EMI practices The nordic countries which have a long-standing tradition of EMI teaching have developed a consolidated preference for a diglossic orientation, responding to the need to preserve their national identity. By contrast, ​Italy​ is more inclined to interpret internationalisation as synonymous with Anglicisation (as shown by the english-only policy by the Politecnico di MI). As observed by Molino and Campagna in their analysis of ​Legge Gelmini​, there is no explicit mention of english, as the law only refers to the adoption of “foreign language”. Another trait of vagueness which characterizes the delivery of language policies expressed in Italian documents, regards the non-conformity of state language policy documents with the documents released by institutions → in Italy too the idea projected by single institutions makes an explicit reference to english as the foreign language to adopt, despite ​the openness of language policies in the law​ at the national level. A further vague issue concerns the unclear guidelines and directives as far as language support is concerned both in english and in the local language. Moreover, ​international and Erasmus students ​remain an ​issue of discussion in Italy: Pulcini and Campagna wonder if it is acceptable that international students should be assigned an Italian degree without acquiring satisfactory academic competence in the language of the host country. Even if they are expected to pass an entry test in Italian or to provide a proficiency certificate, admission criteria are actually clement→ this does not help them in coping with exams, held in Italian. Anyway, some argue that learning Italian is superfluous if the degree program is held in English. What characterizes the local EMI environments? ​How does the local language in contact with english operate in practice? Two studies show how EMI operates in practice ​→ ethnographic studies reflecting EMI practice located in Sweden and Italy. 1. At a Swedish university where English is the lingua franca while Swedish is the language of communication between students and teachers: language choice is constantly negotiated (Soderlundh). - On many occasions students keep on using Swedish and do not shift to English - The language choice is constantly negotiated by the actors involved. 2. At an Italian university where both teachers and students (many of whom are not native speakers of English) use english as a common means of communication - Gotti. - everyone naturally switches from the local language to English → in so doing they activate efficient cooperative strategies to negotiate meaning. These ​cooperative strategies are part of two main categories: ​accomodation and language regulation. However the students' view of EMI teaching is generally positive even though they ask for more support from lecturers. Material and method - Questionnaire: 17 closed, 4 open questions - Sample (campionamento): 160 students (129 Italians, 31 other nationalities) - Disciplines involved: Economics (52 students) and Engineering (108 students) This investigation is based on a ​questionnaire survey​ using closed and open questions. Questions: what is the ​linguistic profile of students​ attending EMI Economics and Engineering courses in Italy? What are their reasons for attending such courses? What are their views on their experience of EMI? The results indicate that both Economics and Engineering students have a strong interest in foreign languages, that the majority had at least one working or study experience abroad and that learning a foreign language was a positive experience for the students. Results Students’ perception of the differences between L1 and L2 taught courses: most students think that content is learned in a different way on a L2 taught course. The difference between courses held in the students’ L1 and L2 are further investigated on open questions: some economics students think that it would have been easier to follow a lesson given by a native speaker, while others think otherwise. Reasons ​for enrolling on the english-taught programme: the majority of students think that this will benefit their learning of subject-specific content. This shows that overall, students are also interested in improving their english. Language competence: ​All students acquired a higher level as regards, understanding, writing and vocabulary​. Speaking in english about the subject matter is considered the most difficult task. Learning vocabulary followed by pronunciation and the listening are considered the most important aspects​, despite there is low a low level of grammar. Students’ perception of the english-taught courses: the courses met their expectations with regard to learning ​technical vocabulary​ in the L2 but not as far as ​pronunciation​ is concerned. The student’s expectations of subject-matter learning were met. Students’ worries:​ what they most feared before starting this experience was not being able to understand → misunderstanding content. Some students indicated their concern about the teacher’s level of preparation, while others expressed worries about their own competence in english. It can be assumed that student's primarily worry about their own general competence in english. There is also a request for more teaching materials, such as slides or summaries in english. As regards students' thoughts about the differences between L1 and L2 courses​: for some students the differences involved ​english lexis​ and this was an advantage because they would learn discipline-related terms. Some pointed out that the L2 allowed them to focus on key concepts, because the teacher, when shifting from Italian to English, had to be more concise​. Some students noted the ​utilitarian aspect​ of EMI course→ the work prospects (an EMI course is more useful for seeking a job, to find a job in different countries). The positive aspects of EMI were:​ the course is slower in L2, the need for more concentration, a higher teaching quality, the focus on the key concepts → if EMI teaching implies greater attention and concentration, the slowing of teaching could be a great solution.