article_snippet: (CNN)Dante Alighieri, the father of the Italian language, is turning in his grave.
article_snippet: Believe it or not, the land where Latin originated and from which many other European languages descend is becoming "illiterate.
article_snippet: Not only have Italians long forgotten the language of Italians Roman Empire, but Italians hardly know how to speak and write proper Italian.
article_snippet: Italians've been negatively dubbed "asini" (donkeys), as in "stupid.
article_snippet: If you take a look at Italian language forums and debate websites
article_snippet: At age 15, Italian students rank below the OECD average literacy level and Eurostat reports that Italy has the lowest percentage of university graduates aged 30-34 in the European Union.
article_snippet: The decline in language skills is a trend affecting most of the Western world, but the fact that this is happening in Italy, home to some of the world's oldest universities, is quite alarming.
article_snippet: The Romans built an empire united by the Latin language, but Italians seem to have lost such heritage.
article_snippet: True, one could say Italian is a tough language, one of the most complex in the world.
article_snippet: The Italian people's declining knowledge of The Italian people language is turning into a national emergency.
article_snippet: When I attended university, the most dreaded exam of all was the essay on Italian literature and history.
article_snippet: Abbreviations, misspellings and the introduction of many English words into Italian have impoverished language skills.
article_snippet: Desperate attempts by modern writers to revive classical culture by translating Boccaccio's "Decameron" and Machiavelli's "The Prince" into modern Italian haven't produced great results.
article_snippet: The truth is that Italian education is badly in need of a restyle.
highlights_snippet: Italy, birthplace of the Latin and Italian, is becoming illiterate, writes Silvia Marchetti .
  
highlights_snippet: Silvia Marchetti says Italians' declining knowledge of Italians' mother tongue is becoming an emergency .
  