The process of borrowing English words in Russian and Italian is discussed in the article. Particular attention is paid to the communicative-pragmatic analysis of the peculiarities of the use of Anglicisms in radio speeches. In the study of dynamic language processes, the media and communication have traditionally been the main sources of replenishment of the lexical structure of the language, including through foreign borrowing. The relevance of this work is determined both by the increased scientific interest in comprehension of active language processes in recent decades, and the linguists refer to comparative studies of dynamic phenomena in systems of different languages in order to identify similar or different processes in them, due to national linguistic specificity. A review of the scientific literature on various aspects of the study of borrowing in the analyzed languages is performed, the choice of material is substantiated, and research methods are described. The results of a comparative analysis of Russian and Italian radio speeches are presented. It is established that English-language borrowings have an extensive set of functions that are auxiliary in relation to the system-forming function of radio discourse - the impact on the target audience. It is proved that the coincidence of the main borrowing functions in the radio discourse of the analyzed countries is due to the strong position of the English language as a universal international means of communication.