L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 15, 2026 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS u p w i t h a s t r o n g s e n s e o f being Italian American with- out ever having learned to conjugate an Italian verb, an e x p e r i e n c e t h a t b e c a m e increasingly common as the generations passed. There is an interesting con- sequence to this, particularly for Italian Americans who decide to study the language today: learning Italian does not necessarily mean recover- ing the precise language their grandparents or great- grandparents spoke, because that language may have been Sicilian, Neapolitan, Venet- ian, or another regional vari- ety. A descendant of immi- g r a n t s f r o m C a l a b r i a , f o r example, who enrolls in an Italian course may be acquir- ing a standardized language that an ancestor who left in 1900 would have understood imperfectly. Far from making the experience less meaning- f u l , t h e d i s t i n c t i o n a d d s meaning to it, because learn- ing Italian becomes a way of establishing a relation- ship with contemporary Italy, while also gaining a better understanding of the linguistic differences that influenced the family's histo- ry. And contemporary Italian is certainly worth getting to know on its own terms: it is a language that continues to c h a n g e , b o r r o w i n g w o r d s from English, adapting for- eign expressions to Italian grammar, and developing new vocabulary in response to technology and popular cul- ture. Words such as postare, s p o i l e r a r e , a n d g h o s t a r e would have meant nothing to earlier generations, although their meanings are readily understood by many younger Italians today. The Accade- m i a d e l l a C r u s c a a n d Treccani have long exam- i n e d t h e s e d e v e l o p m e n t s , w h i c h a r e p a r t o f a m u c h older history of linguistic exchange, as demonstrated by how Italian itself contains words borrowed from French, Arabic, Spanish, German, and other languages, reminders that contact with the outside w o r l d h a s n e v e r b e e n a n e x c e p t i o n t o t h e w a y l a n - guages develop. For someone learning Ital- ian because of family her- itage, this can be one of the most interesting discoveries. The language encountered in a classroom today belongs to people who discuss artificial intelligence, make films, con- duct scientific research, argue about politics, and communi- cate through social media. It gives learners access to the country as it exists now, with its changing habits, debates, and ways of expressing itself. Family history may provide the reason for beginning to study Italian, but the possi- bilities offered by the lan- guage extend well beyond genealogy. That relationship between tradition and contemporary creativity is central to this year's Week of the Italian Language in the World, which takes place from Octo- ber 19 to 25 under the theme Lingua geniale: ideare, progettare, creare con l'italiano – Ingenious L a n g u a g e : I d e a t i n g , Designing, Creating with Italian. Organized through Italy's diplomatic and cultur- al network under the High Patronage of the President of t h e I t a l i a n R e p u b l i c , t h e annual initiative began in 2001 and has grown into one of the principal international celebrations of the language. Its 2026 edition emphasizes Italian as a means of develop- ing and communicating new ideas, with particular atten- t i o n t o t h e r e l a t i o n s h i p between language, creativity, scientific knowledge, technol- ogy, and the industries asso- ciated with Italian expertise. The theme is particularly appropriate because Italian's international influence never depended exclusively on the number of people who speak it. Across centuries, the lan- guage traveled through litera- ture, music, architecture, and the arts, and many Italian words have entered other languages through specific cultural activities. Musical terms such as allegro, ada- gio, and crescendo, for exam- ple, became part of the inter- n a t i o n a l v o c a b u l a r y o f musicians because Italian played such a prominent role in the development of Euro- pean musical practice. The same process continues in different forms today, as Ital- ian ideas and products circu- late internationally and the l a n g u a g e r e m a i n s c l o s e l y associated with particular fields of knowledge and pro- duction. In Los Angeles, the Ital- ian Cultural Institute is marking the Week with a program that offers several interpretations of this year's theme. The events begin even before the official opening, on October 17, when Italian poet Gabriele Tinti and American writer and actor Jerry Stahl will lead Cali- fornia Dreaming: A Poetic Itinerary Through DTLA, a poetry walk through down- town Los Angeles. On Octo- ber 19, Tinti will be at UCLA for Ekphrasis: An Evening of Boxing & Poetry, bringing together poetry, visual art, and performance in a pro- gram inspired by the ancient Roman sculpture known as T h e B o x e r a t R e s t . B o t h events take Italian creative work into settings where it can engage with American audiences and with artistic traditions that extend well beyond Italy. A p a r t i c u l a r l y r e l e v a n t a p p o i n t m e n t f o l l o w s o n October 22 at the Italian Cul- tural Institute, with Under the Italian Spell: Why Hollywood Keeps Falling in Love with the Italian L a n g u a g e . Presented as part of ITTV International 2 0 2 6 , t h e d i s c u s s i o n w i l l explore the influence of Ital- ian language and culture on storytelling and the interna- tional entertainment indus- try. The following day, Octo- b e r 2 3 , t h e B u e n a V i s t a Branch Library in Burbank w i l l h o s t C o l p i d i M a s c h e r a ( M a s k M a y - hem), a family-oriented per- formance inspired by the Commedia dell'Arte, with its masked characters, physical comedy, and improvisation. Presented in English, the production also illustrates how Italian cultural forms can travel through translation and performance, reaching audiences who may know lit- tle of the language itself. On October 24, the focus will turn directly to education at the University of Southern California, where Promot- ing and Teaching Italian: T o o l s f o r E d u c a t o r s B e t w e e n P o l i c i e s a n d Practices will bring together t e a c h e r s f o r p r o f e s s i o n a l development and discussion of contemporary approaches to Italian-language instruc- tion. T h i s f i n a l a p p o i n t m e n t raises a question of particular importance for the Italian- American community: how should a language be taught w h e n s o m e s t u d e n t s approach it because of their family history, others because of an interest in Italy, and still others because it may be use- ful in their professional lives? Their motivations differ, and so do their connections to the language, but they share the possibility of using Italian to communicate directly with people and ideas they would otherwise encounter through translation. For descendants of Italian immigrants, this is p a r t i c u l a r l y s i g n i f i c a n t because the decision to learn the language can come long after its everyday use disap- peared from the family. Italian American Heritage Month invites communities to recognize the history and contributions of Italians in the United States, while the Week of the Italian Language reminds us that the culture from which those communi- ties emerged continued to develop. The two occasions meet in the experience of those who inherited an Ital- ian identity and now wish to e x p l o r e t h e l a n g u a g e f o r themselves. Their ancestors may have crossed the Atlantic speaking a regional language t h a t l a t e r g e n e r a t i o n s n o longer understand, while the Italian they encounter today belongs to a country that has changed considerably in the meantime. Learning it cannot restore every conversation that was lost along the way, but it can make entirely new conversations possible. Italian American Heritage Month invites communities to recognize the history and contri- butions of Italians in the United States, while the Week of the Italian Language reminds us that the culture from which those communities emerged continued to develop. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4 Italian influenced the international language of music for centuries, with terms such as allegro, adagio, and crescendo becoming part of the vocabulary of musicians around the world (Original image created for L'Italo-Americano with the assistance of AI)

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