May article of Italian School NJ for We The Italians: New Italian-glish words
New Italian-glish Words
by Giulia Casati for Italian School NJ , as seen in We The Italians
Today, I am going to talk about a topic that’s a bit controversial, but very current: the Italianization of words. I’m talking about the current trend many Italians have of inventing new Italian words in order to replace existing words with “Italianized” English words. In this article you’ll find some examples that will help you better conceptualize what I’m talking about.
Let’s start with some verbs. As you know most verbs in Italian end in -are, -ere, -ire. When dealing with loan words and adaptations, all languages have a preferred form to imply. And in Italian, the go-to form is -are. So, as you’ll see, most English words adapted to verbs end in -are.
Many of these verbs probably come from a lack of immediate and quick translations to refer to what people see written in English in a software or video. In fact, some come from the graphic design world and my guess is from programs like Photoshop. People see the tools and actions they can take and just quickly adapt it to sound more Italian without thinking of a proper translation, so we can hear words like rezisare, to resize, brushare, to brush, croppare, to crop, and pushare, to push. Their translations exist and have been widely used in the past – ridimensionare, spennellare, ritagliare, premere – but they just haven’t been the preferred choice lately. It’s immediate and the people who use it can directly connect the word to the specific tool or action, probably without even knowing the proper translation, but it doesn’t matter because they have a direct connection to what that English word allows them to do.
Many many other words come from videogames. In my opinion, the concept behind these adaptations is the same as the one I just described: when I’m playing I have no time, no focus, and no desire to spend precious minutes to translate what’s written in the game, which is very likely to be in English. So, Italian chats are full of people who say shottare, to shoot, castare, to cast, rageare, to rage, targhettare, to target, and fare una kill, well for…kill. Again, they all have a proper translation – , tirare, lanciare, infuriarsi, bersagliare, uccidere – but they are just not as appealing to the gaming community. They would probably find it ridiculous to use the Italian words, because they are just so used to saying the Italianized English word. And I have to admit that sometimes, certain words are used for lack of a better word and just as a short word in Italian: nerfare, boostare. Italian would need an expression, or a short sentence to express what a single verb can convey in English. But these are very few cases.
Some are just used because we are constantly exposed to English, and…well, I actually really don’t know the real reason why they are better than their Italian counterparts, but they are used more and more when speaking Italian. Some of the latest I’ve heard are deliverare, from delivery, switchare, from to switch, submittare, from to submit, triggerare, from to trigger. Once I even heard needo, as in “needo una cosa” – I need a thing. Other expressions are false friends, that is English words that are very similar to Italian words, but don’t have the same meaning. Many people use compagnia for “company,” but a compagnia in Italian can be used for “insurance company” or “theatrical company” and not to refer to an azienda. But since so many people are using compagnia to translate “company,” the term is shifting its meaning. In the same way, organico, which means “made up of organic and live material” in Italian, it’s now replacing biologico, which is the correct translation of “organic.” So when I heard someone say masterizzare to me, after noticing the odd context in which it was used and how much time had passed from the last time I heard it, I understood that they were not talking about “burning a Cd or DVD,” but they were talking about “mastering” a skill.
I admit I have some trouble liking and even understanding some of these words, especially when used out of the context in which they make sense. But languages change, they evolve, and some words survive, and others don’t, some expressions are invented, and others borrowed, so I know I just have to accept whatever the future will bring about. Right now, Italians prefer to create new words from English, instead of creating their own brand-new Italian words; it’s ok, as I said, languages mutate. But it is hard, it is really hard to see the language I love, my language, being used and seen as a second-class language.