The Embassy of Italy in Muscat launches the Italian Language Week, which since 2001 annually celebrates Italian language and creativity in the world, under the High Patronage of the President of the Italian Republic. The initiative is promoted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation with the support of the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of University and Research and the main partners in language promotion. The Swiss government is also associated with the initiative.
The theme of the 22nd Italian Language Week edition is “Italian language and youth”. «Language is in fact a tool in constant evolution and the digital age makes the change even faster, starting from the youngest part of society, the digital natives», said Federica Favi, Ambassador of Italy to the Sultanate of Oman. “This year’s title – “Come Scusa? Non ti followo” (Sorry? I don’t follow you) – is based on the way Italian youth is adapting the English vocabulary of social media to Italian grammar, inventing new words and expressions. The title was chosen by students of Italian schools abroad and reflects on the one hand the ability of digital natives to express the spontaneous change of languages but also on the other hand the difficulties of mutual understanding and communication that exist between generations”, she added.
This year, the week began with three intercultural workshops with the students of Italian language at Sultan Qaboos University, on Mass Communication on how Italian and Arabic languages are changing in the digital age and how Italian youth is contributing to the evolution of Italian language.
The Embassy of Italy and the Embassy of Switzerland in Muscat will also present a range of initiatives to celebrate the Week in collaboration with universities and cultural institutions of the Sultanate and to address the issues of the relationship between language and young people in Italian and Arabic together with students, writers, Omani readers and enthusiasts.
Dr Thomas Oertle, Ambassador of Switzerland to the Sultanate of Oman said: “As we celebrate language, a private open-air movie night will be hosted by the Swiss Embassy and will feature the comedy “40 & Climbing (Quarantenni in salita)”, by Swiss director Bindu de Stoppani. A 2021 popular comedy on three friends rediscovering their long, lost friendship from the days of their youth while climbing the mountains in the beautiful alpine surrounding.”
The week will also include a workshop for Omani and Italian children between the age 9 and 11 at Bait Al Zubair, where the children will learn the words of sustainability in Italian and Arabic, in addition to ways to make the planet greener.
The grand finale of the week will be with a special talk between the celebrated Omani author Jokha al Harthy and Giacomo Longhi, an Italian translator at Bait Al Zubair. With her successful novel she opened the doors of an Omani home to Italian readers and made the traditions and the culture of the Sultanate closer to the public. Giacomo Longhi translated the emotions and the rhythm of Jokha al Harthy into Italian, making them real.
In the framework of the Italian Language Week, talks between The Omani Italian Friendship Association “TOIFA” and Dante Alighieri Society, the most prestigious centre for Italian language learning, will take place in order to prepare the opening of an Italian language course in Muscat, making Italian language more accessible to the Omani public, stimulating mutual knowledge and supporting the growth of tourism, study and commercial flows between Italy and Oman.
