The core values of the experience
The ICM first-semester students attending the „Italiano 1A: Introduzione alla lingua e alla cultura“ course are a diverse group of internationals (coming from South Africa, Russia, Slovenia, Angola and the United States), who have started their Italian language journey in October 2023 and who had very little to no prior knowledge of Italian before that date. Led by Elisa Borella, Senior Lecturer for Italian as foreign language, few weeks ago they delved into the heart of Villach’s gastronomy sector and explored the Italian business community operating in the Carinthian context, fostering both educational growth and intercultural awareness.
The ICM program at CUAS is rooted in the cross-border intercultural setting of the Alpe Adria region, offering a unique combination of a business-focused core with a specialization in Italian and German languages. For this reason, starting from an early stage in the program, it was crucial to let the students get a firsthand exposure to Italian small businesses operating in Austria. The challenging, but also exciting part though, was to do it directly in the mother tongue of the business owners! In doing so, not only the students’ language proficiency was strengthened, but at the same time also valuable insights into the Italian community's presence in Carinthia were provided.
Gratitude in this regard is extended to Carlo, the owner of Pizzeria "Panperfocaccia" (Lederergasse 19), to Michele from "Amore Italiano" (Gerbergasse 14), and to Sara and Marco from the fish shop "Pescheria Miramare" (Italienerstrasse 8) for their patient and engaged participation – grazie mille!
The business-focused intercultural experience
What about the concrete experience? Eager to put their beginner-level language skills to the test, the students first practiced interviewing in Italian with the precious support of two Italian CUAS classmates from senior ICM year and from IBM program (Alessandro and Valentina). In class they prepared a set of questions in the target language to be asked to the Italian small business owners in Villach. They organized themselves in pairs, providing support to one another: Each pair had the task to interview one of the three selected business owners, while the others were simultaneously taking notes and were encouraged to ask further questions.
A smooth multilingual interaction then slowly took shape, as Carlo, Michele and Sara gladly shared a wealth of information with them – mostly in Italian, but occasionally also in their own dialect and/or in German.
The students had therefore the opportunity to investigate their personal lives, the languages spoken with family members, friends and (Austrian, Italian, international) customers, together with the business perspectives of these Italian establishments in Villach. For the first time, for example, they experienced the difference between “standard” Italian and dialects, regional differences within one and same country – thought-provoking topics that can be effectively compared to the Austrian context they are immersed in and also to their own countries of origin.
In doing so, they started reflecting on the intercultural implications of this presence in the Carinthian context and on the reason why the ICM program places so much attention to the development of a language&culture awareness through Italian and German pillars, widening, deepening and enriching the curriculum’s business focus.
The origin of this educational experience can be traced back to Dr. Karin Martin, a Senior Lecturer and Researcher at CUAS since 2016. Since the inception of the ICM program, there has been an immediate need to connect students with native speakers of the languages they were studying. Therefore, the intention was to create an initial brief full immersion experience in the intercultural community in Villach, which students will put forward during the Siena intensive course later in the program. Elisa Borella has continued with this great legacy.
The enthusiasm of the students and their reflection on the experience is mirrored by its social media, as the student ambassadors of the ICM Instagram account shared several posts and stories under the title “from Foggia to Trieste”, both in Italian and English. The Italian business owners as well confirmed it being an interesting challenge and valuable opportunity for international students in Villach and are immersed in the multilingual cross-border setting: “È interessante che giovani provenienti dai quattro angoli del mondo siano venuti qui nel mio locale a parlare con me. Una bella sfida e una bella opportunità!”.
Aligning with the ICM's core competencies, this field trip displays once again the program's commitment to holistic education, melding theoretical knowledge with real-world experiences – as we are convinced that this early contact with the local Italian business community will for sure play a part in the student’s path to become more conscious future multilingual leaders of intercultural teams.
