THEn average Italians use 9 anglicisms a day during the day in the office. Between emails, meetings and phone calls, it’s quick. Calculation does Preply, global language learning platform, based on study dedicated to “Business Jargon”. That is, the corporate jargon. Objective: to find out how Italians make their own words derived from English in everyday conversation, in the workplace.
Office jargon, the words most hated by Italian workers
It emerges that almost half of the interviewees uses them in emails, phone calls or talking to colleagues between 6 and 10 times a day. Only 3% manage to do without it completely, and they are above all people who are over 55 years old. Not all Italians, however, feel comfortable using Anglicisms and neologisms of Anglophone origin. A quarter of workers who would prefer to use synonyms or equivalent expressions in Italian to limit the use of English words as much as possible.
From “team” to “feedback”, passing through “brieffare” and “forwardare”, the study not only detects the anglicisms and neologisms of English origin used but also those that Italians would like ban them from offices, they find them so annoying.
The Top 10 of the most used anglicisms
According to Preply, the most widespread anglicism in Italian offices is “team”, which can be translated as “working group”, used by 39% of the interviewees. They follow, in office jargon, “meeting” with the meaning of meeting (37%) and “feedback” used by 35% of Italian workers to refer to feedback received (or provided) on materials, emails or specific questions. They round out the Top 10”call” (30%), “report” (27%), “webinar” (25%), “target” (23%), “slides” (22%), “leaders” (21%) and “partners” (20%).
ASAP, briefing and call: the most annoying anglicisms in the office
Leading the ranking of the most annoying anglicisms according to Italians at work is “ASAP”. Acronym of “As Soon As Possible”to be translated as “as soon as possible”, is a particularly unwelcome word for those who work in the retail, catering and leisure sectors, as well as in sales, media and marketing.
Among the anglicisms less appreciated in the Italian offices then follow “briefing”, “call” and – immediately off the podium – “meeting”: terms that refer to different types of meetings or short virtual update calls.
They then emerge”skill”, which indicates a skill or competence, “webinar” (online event) and “win win”, an expression that indicates a situation from which all parties come out satisfied.
They follow – in eighth place on equal merit – the group creative technique of the “brainstorming”, the “deadline” which indicates the deadline date for the delivery of projects or works. And again “agreement” (agreement), “workshops” to be translated as seminar or working group. Then “storytelling”, or the art of storytelling, and “target”, to indicate the target audience of a product or an advertising campaign.
The top 10 is closed by the term “team building”, i.e. the set of training activities whose purpose is the formation of a close-knit working group, and “mood”, a term used to designate a state of mind but also a atmosphere.
The most obnoxious neologisms
In work environments they are also often used neologisms of Anglophone origin. That is, words that derive from English, but which have been joined by Italian prefixes or suffixes, becoming part of the spoken and written language. According to Preply’s study, Italians are rather intolerant of these terms. One in three does not appreciate the verb “briefing”, derived from the English “brief” (instructions/information). Not even the words are loved”share” (29%) “share”. And “download” (28%), “download”.
The adjective “skilled”, to refer to a person with knowledge and skills suitable for carrying out a certain task, is not liked by 26% of Italian workers, as is the verb “forwardare” (25%), which stands for “forward” .
The ranking also includes “pitchare”, annoying for 24% of Italians, which indicates holding a short speech with the aim of capturing the listener’s attention. The verbs “pingare” — used to solicit a response from someone. And what about “googling”? That is, do an online search using Google. Collects the dislikes of 23% of Italians.
Followed by 22% are “uploadare” (to load a file) and “freezare”, from the English “to freeze” which means “to freeze”, “to block”. In IT it is used to indicate the blocking of a screen, a program, a device or an application.
Where, how and why anglicisms are used in Italian offices
A third of Italians think that English words are essential to express themselves better in the reference work context. Stand uses them, in 35% of cases in emails, while 33% of the Italians interviewed also include them in both formal and informal meetings and conversations. Those who work in the sector make extensive use of it human resources (on average 12 per day), in information technology (11), but also in telecommunications (10).
iO Woman © REPRODUCTION RESERVED