The practice and the training of text simplification in Italy

The paper reports on a subset of survey data to illustrate the status, the educational and the professional background of the Italian experts in the production of Easy-to-Understand (E2U) content. After defining E2U in relation to the established terms Easy-to-Read Language and Plain Language, and after illustrating the Erasmus+ project EASIT on the implementation of E2U in the audiovisual context, the paper will focus on the Italian situation regarding E2U training and practice as it emerges from the answers of 19 experts. Results show that the Italian situation does not differ dramatically from the general European situation as far as the (solid and varied) educational and professional background of the experts is concerned, as well as the scant training opportunities that are offered and the limited involvement of academia in training. On the other hand, some specificities of the Italian situation do emerge, such as the dominance of theory over practice when E2U is concerned both in training and in practice, and an unbalanced implementation of E2U which abounds in the area of education and overlooks other crucial areas of communication. The results of the Italian survey point to the need for more consistent and systematic training as well as to the need for more awareness-rising as far as communicative integration and inclusion through simplification are concerned.