WTI Magazine #10    2013 Dec, 20
Author : Italian Cultural Society      Translation by:

Last October 19, my colleagues and I attended the "Teaching Italian Culture Conference", organized by Georgetown University in collaboration with the Italian Embassy, and we were reminded how the teaching of the Italian Culture is an essential part of the language courses. 

"Culture" is intended as typical behavior traits of a population, a system of knowledge, values, symbols and products. A student who is interested in studying a language cannot just learn grammatical issues, because a language is nothing but an instrument used by a population to express itself and its civilization. Language and culture are two faces of the same coin.

The American linguistic anthropologist Paul Friedrich coined the term "linguaculture" in 1996, while Michael Agar used the term "languaculture" for the first time in his essay Language Shock: Understanding the Culture of Conversation. He defines the term as the necessary tie between language and culture. He underlines that languages and cultures are always closely related and therefore you cannot really know a language if you do not know also the culture expressed by that language.

Who are the Italians? Where do they live? Which historical and geographical elements have been critical to define their character and their traditions? How is Italian society evolving today?

Teaching Italian Culture exposes our students to fascinating journeys through History, Geography, Literature, Art, Cinema, Music, Fashion and Food. In the relaxing and welcoming environment of our school we transmit to them not only the language, but also explain Italy and the Italians.

Francesca Casazza
Director of the Italian Language Program
Italian Cultural Society of Washington, D.C.
www.italianculturalsociety.org