The language of the Bel Paese is the fourth most studied in the world. American students who come to study Italian in Italy to acquire academic credits also increase.

Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. More than two million foreigners decide each year to learn our language abroad.

These are the data that emerge from the White Paper "Italy in the changing world 2018" published by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation (MAECI) on the sidelines of the States General of Italian Language in the world met in Rome on October 22nd.

From the commercial point of view the Italian language makes its weight felt also in the economic world: our language is, in fact, the most used in advertising signs after the English one.

The MAECI data show a growth in the number of Italian students of 3.85% at the global level since the last survey of two years ago.

Italian students increase in France (+ 14.29%), in Germany (+ 8.22%), in the United States of America (+ 8.73%) and in Uruguay (+ 197%).

Among the countries with the highest growth, Egypt is mentioned because of the inclusion of Italian among the languages that can be studied in public schools.

The largest downturns are recorded in Venezuela (-36.72%), in the United Kingdom (-28.08%) and in Japan (-36.28%).

Many foreigners come to study Italian in Italy. The study of Italian language involves 48 thousand foreign students a year who come to our country. This is taken from the statistical study of the ASILS Association commissioned by the Centro Studi Turistici of Florence, according to which the expenses incurred for courses and accommodation in Italy by foreign students in 2017 are a total turnover of 57.4 million euro compared to to 53.1 of the previous year.

Moreover, the number of US students who decide to enroll in Italian courses programs in Italy to acquire academic credits is growing. According to data published by the Institute of International Education related to the flow of students from the USA, in 2017 the American students arrived in Italy were 38851 (+ 1.4% compared to the previous year). The Bel Paese is a second favorite destination for US students after the United Kingdom and before Spain, France, Germany and China.

"Tracing the paths of the geographic expansion of our language leads us to retrace intense chapters of history and more particularly of Italy's ability to exercise cultural influence," wrote Foreign Affairs Minister Moavero Milanesi in the preface of the White Paper. In recent years - he adds - the good news is the constant increase in interest for Italian in strategic regions for our foreign policy; for example in the Mediterranean and the Middle East (+ 22%) as well as in Sub-Saharan Africa (+ 14%). "

"It is certainly a very comforting picture of the state of health of Italian in the world - says Alessandro Adorno, director of the Babilonia – Italian language school in Taormina associated ASILS - to continue to grow, it would be desirable to have greater synergy between ministerial institutions, public and private sector, having the latter a particular propensity to promotion and marketing, with the common goal of increasing the study of Italian in Italian, with big benefits in terms of incoming foreign visitors, economy-related industries Italian and loyalty to Made in Italy, intrinsic in the study of Italian in Italy. "