I S F O CTO B E R N E WS L E T T E R
E U RO P EA N DAY OF L ANG UAG ES: CEL E B RAT I NG OU R M U LTI CU LTU RA LI S M WRITTEN AND TRANSL ATED BY MATHIAS VOLKAI AND LORENZO BUDRONI
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he week between the 26th of September and the 2nd of October, our school celebrated the European Language Day – maybe the language teachers forgot their mathematical abilities and thought a day was a week, or they just got confused with all the languages they speak. For our school language department, including English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish this week represented a chance to spread the multiculturalism and multilingualism present in both the school and Europe.
more approachable, and more cooperative with other people, and this holds true for our governments and leaders as well. When governments recognize a variety of languages, it gives people from those different cultures a voice and representation in their respective countries. Furthermore, by having an open mind to diverse cultures, this gives a greater value to minorities’ cultures and languages, some of which might be on their way to extinction. Talking about Europe in particular, due to its complex and extensive history, its languages give an overview of the cultures, especially in cases where they are not limited by countries’ borders. For example, German is the most spoken language in Europe, with around 16% of the population speaking it, followed closely by other languages like Italian, French, Spanish, and English. As a matter of fact, these five languages are the institutional languages of the European Union, and they are all taught at ISF. We are all so lucky to experience such a diverse environment, and we should use all the tools available, and also online apps such as Duolingo, to work on it and become a part of it.
Our International School of Florence is famously a hub for different cultures and nationalities. If you have ever taken the time to gaze up at the facade of our school building, you may have noticed the array of national flags, where each flag is representative of the individual countries and cultural backgrounds that ISF students originate from. This is further shown by the multitude of languages spoken by our classmates and ourselves, for example: I, Lorenzo Budroni, was born in Italy, lived in Turkey for 15 years, speak four languages (If you count Australian), and have Italian and Australian nationalities. While I, Mathias Volkai, was born in Switzerland, speak four languages, and have Italian and Hungarian nationalities. But why is it good to be multilingual? By being multilingual and multicultural we open ourselves to the experiences of others. On a personal level, we become more invested,
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