Why is learning Italian rewarding???
The importance of the Italian language goes far beyond the number of Italian native speakers. In fact Italian is spoken as a native language in Italy (about sixty million inhabitants) parts of Switzerland, Africa, the Balkans, and Malta. But because of its prestige in many fields, it is the fourth most studied second language in the world. In the US, Italian ranks fourth among the most spoken languages.
US-Italy relations are among the most steadfast in the world Italy is one of the most steadfast and active transatlantic partners for the U.S. Italy and the United States co-operate within a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, G-20, G-8, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. Also, Italy is an observer to the Organization of American States. The two countries work together worldwide, particularly in crucial conflict areas, as Italy is a leader in peacekeeping operations around the world.
US-Italy trade relation is constantly growing. The US-Italy trade relationship is excellent: the United States is Italy's third-largest export market, and Italy is the United States' 15th-largest export market. Together, the EU and the United States account for nearly half the world 's GDP and 30 percent of world trade, contributing to economic growth and supporting millions of jobs on both sides of theAtlantic. The United States is one of Italy's most important trade partners, with bilateral trade in 2015 totaling about $55 billion. As a member of the European Union, Italy abides by EU treaties and laws directly governing or impacting business investments. Under both the EU treaty's Right of Establishment, and the Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty with the United States, Italy provides national assistance to U.S. investors established in Italy or in another EU member state. As to 2015, about one thousand Italian companies had offices in the US. Some of them have established their headquarters in the Midwest, like BariIla or Giovanni Rana (Chicago) and FCA (Detroit). Most leading US companies have branches or offices in Italy: if we look at new technology multinational companies, which invested at least $50 million in Italy last year, as a strategic asset in their EU development plans, we find Apple, Ericcson, Samsung, Huawey, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Alibaba, Amazon and Intel, just to name a few.
Italy is leader in the healthy food industryBy hosting Milan Expo 2015: "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life," Italy has shown its commitment to meeting the challenge of feeding nine billion people by 2050. Regarding excellence in food/wine production and cuisine, Italy is a world leader, as demonstrated, among a plethora of successful companies in the world, by the quick expansion of Eataly (+28% in 2015, and an estimated $1 billion in sales by 2018) wherever it opened its food stores, including Chicago.
Cooperation in scientific and technological researchThe most impressive area of technological cooperation is aerospace research. In 1962, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Italian Space Commission, which led to the launch of one of the earliest satellites ever placed in orbit around the Earth. In 2013, the United States and Italy celebrated 50 years of cooperation in outer space and signed an agreement to facilitate U.S.-Italy cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space. NASA considers Italy one of its most important EU partners. As another example, Fincantieri (with headquarters in Marinette, WI) is responsible with supplying combat ships to the US Navy. Italy is the world leader in the production of yachts.
Italy is one of the most attractive countries for American tourists, students and researchers Between five and six million U.S. tourists visit Italy each year. Americans and Italians participate in a wide variety of exchange programs. In 2015, Italy hosted more than 31,000 American exchange students on study abroad programs, second only to the United Kingdom as a destination for American exchange students. The Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange between Italy and the United States (the Fulbright Commission) is one of the oldest and largest in Europe. Since 1948, more than 10,000 U.S. and Italian students, teachers, lecturers, and researchers have been awarded Fulbright grants. The Business Exchange and Student Training program brings young managers and entrepreneurs in science and engineering to the United States to pursue academic coursework and training in entrepreneurship. In 2013 the "Year of Italian Culture in the United States” was celebrated, with a year-long series of exhibits, conferences, concerts, and symposia providing the American people with new opportunities to learn about Italian art, culture, and innovation in science, technology, and design. The best example of scientific cooperation in the Midwest can be found at Fermilab in Batavia. Named after Italian physicist Enrico Fermi who spent the last, productive part of his life in Chicago, Fermilab is the US premier particle physics laboratory, which hosts about one hundred Italian scientists.
La bella lingua, according to many, the most musical language in the world.Last but not least, Italian has the reputation of being the language of music and the arts. German author Thomas Mann defined Italian as the angels ' language for its musicality. As the most direct descendant of Latin, which provided the bulk of vocabulary to Roman languages, but also an estimated 60% to English, Italian has been preserved virtually unaltered since medieval times, when it was expurgated of harsh sounds by poets, notably Dante and Petrarch, to be suitable for elegant elocution. In the 1600s when opera began in Florence, Italian became the official language of music. The present Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is Riccardo Muti, one of the most distinguished maestros in the world. Also, Italy boasts the highest number of Unesco world heritage sites (51), and some 60% of the world's arts heritage, produced over the millennia but particularly since the Renaissance.
The advantages of learning Italian for US studentsThose planning careers in the fields in which the US and Italy have a robust cooperation would greatly benefit from knowing Italian. But it should not be forgotten that one of the gifts of the Italian language to those who learn it - its 'added value' -is a direct access to the enjoyment of the arts throughout one's life. Since 2005, when the College Board established the Italian Advanced Placement Exam, the students of Italian may take the exam and receive college credits. For University students, the Italian language opens great opportunities both in the fields of technology, and the humanities. But to ensure mastery of the Italian language, the sooner one starts learning it, the better.
**Since the implementation of the Italian language here in Cresskill 8 years ago, in 2014-2015 I started the first Advanced Placement class with 7 students and in 2015-2016 again with 7 students. By 2017-2018 we anticipate 15-18 students taking Italian AP. Doubling our numbers since the first two years.**
Good to know:Nationally, the largest Italian American Organizations are the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF); the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA); and UNICO National (UNICO)
US-Italy relations are among the most steadfast in the world Italy is one of the most steadfast and active transatlantic partners for the U.S. Italy and the United States co-operate within a number of international organizations, including the United Nations, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, G-20, G-8, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and World Trade Organization. Also, Italy is an observer to the Organization of American States. The two countries work together worldwide, particularly in crucial conflict areas, as Italy is a leader in peacekeeping operations around the world.
US-Italy trade relation is constantly growing. The US-Italy trade relationship is excellent: the United States is Italy's third-largest export market, and Italy is the United States' 15th-largest export market. Together, the EU and the United States account for nearly half the world 's GDP and 30 percent of world trade, contributing to economic growth and supporting millions of jobs on both sides of theAtlantic. The United States is one of Italy's most important trade partners, with bilateral trade in 2015 totaling about $55 billion. As a member of the European Union, Italy abides by EU treaties and laws directly governing or impacting business investments. Under both the EU treaty's Right of Establishment, and the Friendship, Commerce and Navigation Treaty with the United States, Italy provides national assistance to U.S. investors established in Italy or in another EU member state. As to 2015, about one thousand Italian companies had offices in the US. Some of them have established their headquarters in the Midwest, like BariIla or Giovanni Rana (Chicago) and FCA (Detroit). Most leading US companies have branches or offices in Italy: if we look at new technology multinational companies, which invested at least $50 million in Italy last year, as a strategic asset in their EU development plans, we find Apple, Ericcson, Samsung, Huawey, Cisco, IBM, Microsoft, Alibaba, Amazon and Intel, just to name a few.
Italy is leader in the healthy food industryBy hosting Milan Expo 2015: "Feeding the Planet, Energy for Life," Italy has shown its commitment to meeting the challenge of feeding nine billion people by 2050. Regarding excellence in food/wine production and cuisine, Italy is a world leader, as demonstrated, among a plethora of successful companies in the world, by the quick expansion of Eataly (+28% in 2015, and an estimated $1 billion in sales by 2018) wherever it opened its food stores, including Chicago.
Cooperation in scientific and technological researchThe most impressive area of technological cooperation is aerospace research. In 1962, NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with the Italian Space Commission, which led to the launch of one of the earliest satellites ever placed in orbit around the Earth. In 2013, the United States and Italy celebrated 50 years of cooperation in outer space and signed an agreement to facilitate U.S.-Italy cooperation in the exploration and use of outer space. NASA considers Italy one of its most important EU partners. As another example, Fincantieri (with headquarters in Marinette, WI) is responsible with supplying combat ships to the US Navy. Italy is the world leader in the production of yachts.
Italy is one of the most attractive countries for American tourists, students and researchers Between five and six million U.S. tourists visit Italy each year. Americans and Italians participate in a wide variety of exchange programs. In 2015, Italy hosted more than 31,000 American exchange students on study abroad programs, second only to the United Kingdom as a destination for American exchange students. The Commission for Educational and Cultural Exchange between Italy and the United States (the Fulbright Commission) is one of the oldest and largest in Europe. Since 1948, more than 10,000 U.S. and Italian students, teachers, lecturers, and researchers have been awarded Fulbright grants. The Business Exchange and Student Training program brings young managers and entrepreneurs in science and engineering to the United States to pursue academic coursework and training in entrepreneurship. In 2013 the "Year of Italian Culture in the United States” was celebrated, with a year-long series of exhibits, conferences, concerts, and symposia providing the American people with new opportunities to learn about Italian art, culture, and innovation in science, technology, and design. The best example of scientific cooperation in the Midwest can be found at Fermilab in Batavia. Named after Italian physicist Enrico Fermi who spent the last, productive part of his life in Chicago, Fermilab is the US premier particle physics laboratory, which hosts about one hundred Italian scientists.
La bella lingua, according to many, the most musical language in the world.Last but not least, Italian has the reputation of being the language of music and the arts. German author Thomas Mann defined Italian as the angels ' language for its musicality. As the most direct descendant of Latin, which provided the bulk of vocabulary to Roman languages, but also an estimated 60% to English, Italian has been preserved virtually unaltered since medieval times, when it was expurgated of harsh sounds by poets, notably Dante and Petrarch, to be suitable for elegant elocution. In the 1600s when opera began in Florence, Italian became the official language of music. The present Director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is Riccardo Muti, one of the most distinguished maestros in the world. Also, Italy boasts the highest number of Unesco world heritage sites (51), and some 60% of the world's arts heritage, produced over the millennia but particularly since the Renaissance.
The advantages of learning Italian for US studentsThose planning careers in the fields in which the US and Italy have a robust cooperation would greatly benefit from knowing Italian. But it should not be forgotten that one of the gifts of the Italian language to those who learn it - its 'added value' -is a direct access to the enjoyment of the arts throughout one's life. Since 2005, when the College Board established the Italian Advanced Placement Exam, the students of Italian may take the exam and receive college credits. For University students, the Italian language opens great opportunities both in the fields of technology, and the humanities. But to ensure mastery of the Italian language, the sooner one starts learning it, the better.
**Since the implementation of the Italian language here in Cresskill 8 years ago, in 2014-2015 I started the first Advanced Placement class with 7 students and in 2015-2016 again with 7 students. By 2017-2018 we anticipate 15-18 students taking Italian AP. Doubling our numbers since the first two years.**
Good to know:Nationally, the largest Italian American Organizations are the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF); the Order Sons of Italy in America (OSIA); and UNICO National (UNICO)