Italian American

An Italian American is an American of Italian descent either born in America or someone who has immigrated.

Italian in the United States

According to the Sons of Italy News Bureau

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from 1998 to 2002, the enrollment in Italian language courses grew by 30%, faster than the enrollment rates for Spanish, French, and German. Italian is the fourth most commonly taught foreign language in U.S. colleges and universities behind Spanish, French, and German. According to the U. S. 2000 Census, Italian (besides English and Spanish) is the fifth (seventh overall) most spoken language in the United States (tied with Vietnamese) with over 1 million speakers.2

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As a result of the large wave of Italian immigration to the United States of America in the late 1800s

Related Topics:
Italian - United States of America - 1800s

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and early 1900s, the Italian language was once widely spoken in much of the USA, especially in

Related Topics:
1900s - Italian language

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northeastern and Great Lakes area cities as well as San Francisco and New Orleans. Italian-language

Related Topics:
San Francisco - New Orleans

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newspapers existed in many American cities, especially New York City, and Italian-language movie

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theatres existed in the USA as late as the 1950s.

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Author Lawrence Distasi argues that the loss of spoken Italian among the Italian American population can be tied to US government pressures during World War II. During World War II, in various parts of the country the US government displayed signs that read, Don't Speak the Enemy's Language. Such signs designated the languages of the Axis powers, German, Japanese, and Italian, as "enemy languages."

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Shortly after the US declared war on the Axis powers, many Italians, Japanese, and Germans living in the United States were interned. Among the Italian Americans, it was those who spoke the Italian language that were often looked on with the most suspicion by the US government, seen as primary candidates for internment.

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Distassi claims that many Italian language schools closed down in the California Bay Area within a week of the US declaration of war on the Axis powers. Such closures were inevitable since most of the teachers in Italian languages were interned.

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Despite the pressures of the US government during World War II, the Italian language can still be heard amongst some older residents of New York City. Some ATMs in some New

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York neighborhoods offer services in Italian as well as English and Spanish.

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