English words are invading the Italian vocabulary and in the past eight years their use has leapt 773%, according to Federlingue, an umbrella group for language services, translators, interpreters and language schools.

Federlingue carried out a study posting a questionnaire on the Web for over 100 business-to-business clients between the ages of 25 and 50 who had used the group's translation services over a 12-month period.

In 84% of the replies Federlingue said it discovered ample use of 'Ital-English', the use of English words and phrases mixed into spoken and written Italian.