ABSTRACT
This chapter is concerned with the linguistic nature of the Dutch and Italian societies, with the specific policy that the former followed in the emigration phenomenon over the last 30 years, the linguistic competence and the social status of the Italian immigrants before and after their arrival in the Netherlands, and finally the situation today at a moment where the European integration is approaching. At the end of the nineteenth century and in the beginning of this century a great number of Italians emigrated to South and North America. In the 1920’s the Italian immigration reached in France the top with respect to the amount of Italian immigrants. They were refugee’s and also immigrants who went to France because of lack of workers in that country and because meanwhile the USA, South America and Germany closed their doors while a big economic recession took place all over the world.
