Italian Language in The United States - The Language Today

The Language Today

Today, though 15,638,348 American citizens report themselves as Italian Americans, only 1,008,370 of these report speaking an Italian language at home (0.384% of the national population). But Italian is the 3rd foreign language spoken at home in US and it represents the 2nd largest ethnic market in the US behind only the Hispanic market. Cities with Italian and Sicilian speaking communities include Buffalo, Chicago, Miami, New York City and Philadelphia. Assimilation has played a large role in the decreasing amount of Italian speakers today. Of those who speak Italian at home in the United States, 361,245 are over the age of 65, and only 68,030 are below the age of 17.

Despite it being the fifth most studied language in higher education (college & graduate) settings throughout America, the Italian language has struggled to maintain being an AP course of study in high schools nationwide. It was only in 2006 where AP Italian classes were first introduced, and they were soon dropped from the national curricula after the spring of 2009. The organization which manages such curricula, the College Board, ended the AP Italian program because it was "losing money" and had failed to add 5,000 new students each year. Since the programs termination in the spring of 2009, various Italian organizations and activists have attempted to revive the course of study. For example, Margaret Cuomo, sister of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, was the impetus for the program's birth in 2006 and is currently attempting to secure funding and teachers to reinstate the program. Also, Italian organizations have begun fundraisers to revive AP Italian. Organizations such as the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) and Order Sons of Italy in America have made strides in collecting money, and are prepared to aid in the monetary responsibility any new AP Italian program would bring with it.

Moreover, web based Italian organizations, such as ItalianAware, have begun book donation campaigns to improve the status and representation of Italian language and Italian/ Italian American literature in New York Public Libraries. According to ItalianAware, the Brooklyn Public Library is the worst offender in New York City. It has 11 books pertaining to the Italian language and immigrant experience available for checkout spread across 60 branches. That amounts to 1 book for every 6 branches in Brooklyn, which (according to ItalianAware) cannot supply the large Italian/Italian American community in Brooklyn, New York. ItalianAware aims to donate 100 various books on the Italian/ Italian American experience, written in Italian or English, to the Brooklyn Public Library by the end of 2010.