2026 Talks

Lingue della conferenza: Italiano e Lingua dei Segni

La voce tace affinché il corpo parli. Esiste una mappa invisibile tracciata da mani antiche che, lontane dal suono, hanno custodito la saggezza della nostra specie. In questa conferenza, esploreremo un universo globale: le lingue dei segni indigene nate non nelle comunità sorde, ma da una comunione assoluta tra persone udenti. Dallo scaltro silenzio tattico dei cacciatori nel Congo, al misticismo delle "Spose del Caucaso", all'epica logistica dei Chaskis andini, fino alla magistrale lingua franca delle Grandi Pianure del Nord America (PILS) che ha permesso il dialogo tra nazioni diverse con diplomazia e visione del mondo, scopriremo che il gesto è la prima tecnologia dell'anima.

Come Ballerina Professionista, la mia vita è una ricerca costante di espressione attraverso il movimento. Questa prospettiva mi permette di vedere oltre il dato antropologico per sentire la cosmogonia, il ritmo, la spiritualità e l'intenzione di linguaggi creati per dialogare con il sacro, proteggere il territorio e sopravvivere fluendo con la natura. Fondendo la ricerca con l'arte della danza, miro a trasmettere questa conoscenza planetaria come un incontro sensibile di profondo rispetto per la comunicazione ancestrale.

Vi invito a riconoscere la nostra sovranità corporea e a onorare le culture che ci insegnano che la mano è un ponte verso il divino. Benvenuti all'eco di un'umanità: coreografie di saggezza millenaria.

This talk explores how language learning, and Italian in particular, can support resilience, emotional wellbeing and a stronger sense of connection during difficult periods.

Drawing on personal experience of illness, it looks at how learning a language can provide structure, focus and a sense of agency when life feels uncertain. Language can also create mental space: helping us step away from distressing news, reconnect with curiosity and creativity, and begin imagining the future again.

The talk will introduce practical approaches such as journalling in another language, using language study as a focused daily practice, and building meaningful relationships through conversation. It will also consider the wider social value of language learning at a time of increasing isolation and polarisation.

At its heart, the talk presents language learning as a way to create moments of calm, connection and understanding, while strengthening our relationship with ourselves and with others.

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(Bible translations for learning the languages of Italy)
This is a lecture in Latin with English and multilingual slides.
As the core of the Christian faith and its missionary work, the Bible has become the most translated text in the history of the world, and has long been employed by polyglots as a goldmine of useful, familiar texts in new languages that can serve as comprehensible input. In this talk, I will present examples of Bible translations in the minority languages of Italy, such as Corsican, Friulian, Sicilian and others, and demonstrate how one can pick up a new language in a familiar branch of Indo-European languages such as Romance by reading it side-by-side with a known language, or simply reading a Biblical passage that you are already familiar with. I will examine the pros and cons of this approach, explain what pitfalls one should avoid, as well as which books of the Bible, or which sections of them, are the most helpful for picking up a smattering in the new minority language.

Artificial intelligence has risen in many areas of our lives. For the best and... for the worst. Language learning and teaching are no exception to it. Whether we're in favor or against it, its impact is undeniable. Even though it can be a resourceful tool for immediate feedback, corrections and ways of improvement, some students still struggle in spite of every answer seeming to be up there. As a teacher, I often get the remark that "soon my job won't be necessary anymore" and the question "aren't you scared of the future, as AI may take your place?". To be honest, AI doesn't keep me up at night. And here's why : people are learning to talk to people. They need genuine, natural, spontaneous interaction. The stutter, the hesitations, the filler words, unfinished sentences and overall imperfection that comes with it. While AI works wonders on some learners, some others keep craving humanity. And the latter will keep our profession intact.

Le tandem est l'un des outils les plus puissants pour apprendre une langue, et pourtant la plupart des apprenants l'abandonnent après quelques semaines. Mauvais partenaire, sessions mal structurées, motivation asymétrique : les raisons d'échec sont connues et évitables.

Traducteur et interprète de conférence, je pratique les échanges linguistiques depuis plus de quinze ans dans huit langues. C'est grâce au tandem que j'ai progressé dans la quasi-totalité d'entre elles. L'un de mes partenaires italiens est passé d'un niveau A1 à B2+ en moins d'un an, à raison d'une à deux heures de pratique quotidienne.

Dans cette conférence, je partage ce que j'ai appris par l'expérience et par l'erreur.

Nous verrons d'abord comment trouver un partenaire sérieux : quelles plateformes utiliser, quels critères privilégier, et comment évaluer dès les premiers échanges si la relation a un avenir.

Nous aborderons ensuite comment structurer ses sessions pour maximiser les progrès : fréquence, durée, répartition du temps entre les deux langues, et façon de donner un feedback utile sans décourager.

Enfin, je partagerai les conditions psychologiques qui font la différence : comment mettre son partenaire à l'aise dès le départ, comment aligner les niveaux de motivation, et pourquoi il ne faut pas attendre d'être "prêt" pour parler.

Cette conférence s'adresse à tout apprenant de langue, quel que soit son niveau ou sa langue cible.

Generative AI has opened up a new frontier for independent language learners by making it possible for them to create study materials that are tailored to their own levels, goals, and interests.  In my presentation, I will share about my journey with using ChatGPT to prepare for the Level N2 (CEFR level B1/B2) Japanese Language Proficiency Test (JLPT).  Preparing for this test has involved learning a large number of words and grammar patterns.  Although preparation books on grammar and vocabulary have been very helpful, I have had difficulty finding reading material appropriate to my level that can help me to retain what I learn.  With ChatGPT, I have been able to not only get detailed descriptions of grammar patterns and vocabulary words, but also to create reading passages that use them and questions to go with the readings.  I have also used ChatGPT to critique sentences that I write.  Being able to see words and grammar patterns used in a variety of contexts and being able to get feedback on my writing samples has allowed me to developing an understanding of what I learn that goes far beyond that which is possible with rote memorization.  Using ChatGPT is also helpful for automating repetitive tasks.  I have also been able to use ChatGPT to conveniently create vocabulary lists from existing content (e.g. vocabulary books, online articles).  The methods I discuss can also be applied to other languages.

It's one thing to learn a language. It's another to perform a one-hour live show in it, in front of a paying audience.

The American Hypnotist will demonstrate an unexplored side of language learning: Stage performance. It's one thing to learn a language, but how does one perform a show in it?

Having learned Portuguese from zero to performing a live hypnosis show in Brazil in two months, he has simplified language learning to a formula of 300 words, that when are used on stage, brings the feeling of fluency that apps and courses will never teach you. He will share the framework he uses to build a stage show and provide a feeling of shock and awe to any audience. He will also delve deep into the idea that it doesn't matter how many mistakes you make or what words you don't know, as long as you are confident in your vocal self.

The presentation will be interactive in two ways:
1. The American Hypnotist will, drawing from his international stage performance experience, demonstrate how to build authority with your voice and your body presence.

2. At the end of the presentation, he will hypnotize willing participants to feel a new sense of confidence when it comes to speaking.

What happens when learners encounter a language in a completely different modality? Higher education students learning sign language often discover that strategies developed for spoken languages do not always transfer smoothly to a visual language such as British Sign Language (BSL).

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Learning begins with awareness: awareness of how meaning is created and shaped by culture, context, and human interaction. This becomes particularly evident when students encounter a visual language for the first time. While learners of spoken languages often rely on strategies such as memorisation, pattern recognition, and communicative practice, sign languages require additional skills linked to visual attention, spatial awareness, body movement, and muscle memory. Meaning is conveyed not only through words, but also through the coordinated use of hands, face, space, and movement.

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Drawing on focus groups with UK university students, this session explores visual languages and Deaf cultures through a comparison of spoken and signed interaction. Participants will examine similarities and differences between hearing and Deaf communities, as well as the relationship between sign languages and Italian gestures. Through examples of successful exchanges, misunderstandings, and (mis)communication, participants will reflect on their own language learning strategies and assumptions about how meaning is created and interpreted.

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The session also considers how sign languages, like spoken languages, evolve in response to social, cultural, and technological change, challenging the common misconception that they are universal or static. Ultimately, the journey from speech to sign reminds us that language is not only something we speak, but something we see, feel, and embody.

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Many polyglots obsess over memory techniques, flashcards, spaced repetition and hacks, but the real issue is usually not the memory. Every person on the planet has more or less the same ability to remember things. What really matters is concentration.

Have you ever experienced reading a text without understanding it, because your thoughts were elsewhere? We all did. This is a lack of concentration. The greater the concentration, the greater the understanding. And once we truly understand something, we remember it naturally.

Concentration is focus. Concentration is willpower. It is the ability to keep the mind on one object, one sentence, one sound, one meaning, without constantly being dragged away by noise, emotions, notifications, fantasies or inner monologues. And this ability can be trained.

The best way to train it is meditation. Not just awareness-mindfulness-new-age crap, but real meditation, as taught by Patanjali more than two thousand years ago. In this talk, we explore the process of concentration and recent scientific findings on how meditation changes the brain. And most importantly, how language learners can benefit from it.

Levantine refers to people of European origin who settled in the Ottoman Empire, particularly in İzmir and İstanbul. The communities forming this society were primarily of English, Italian, French, Hungarian, and Slavic origin.

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Italian Levantines played an important role in the social, cultural, and commercial life of the Ottoman Empire, especially in cosmopolitan port cities such as İstanbul and İzmir. Through centuries of interaction in trade, maritime activities, architecture, music, and everyday urban life, numerous Italian-origin words entered Ottoman Turkish and later modern Turkish vocabulary.

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This presentation examines the linguistic legacy of Italian Levantines in Turkish within the framework of language contact and Mediterranean multiculturalism. The study focuses particularly on lexical borrowing from Italian into Turkish and categorizes these borrowings according to semantic fields such as commerce, navigation, urban life, cuisine, and art.

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Examples including banka (banca), balkon (balcone), pusula (bussola), makarna (maccheroni), and piyano (piano) demonstrate how linguistic exchange reflected broader cultural interaction between Ottoman society and Levantine communities.

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Rather than viewing these words merely as foreign borrowings, this presentation argues that they represent living traces of intercultural communication and urban coexistence in the Ottoman Mediterranean world. The study also highlights the multilingual character of Ottoman port cities and the role of Italian as a significant lingua franca in trade and maritime communication.

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By combining historical linguistics, sociolinguistics, and cultural history, this presentation aims to contribute to discussions on linguistic diversity and cultural interaction in the late Ottoman period.

At first sight, perhaps no one would think of German as being in a vulnerable position with its millions upon millions of speakers and rich heritage backed by strong economies...unless one considers where exactly it is spoken. It is used as a minority language and cultivated as a heritage tongue in numerous places around the world, ranging from Australia, Namibia, Brazil, and the United States to countries closer to the German heartland, such as Italy and Poland. I grew up as a heritage speaker in the US, learning the language both in school and from relatives. There are now significantly fewer speakers than in the 1970s when I was using German on a daily basis; yet pockets still persist to this day.

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I will draw on my personal experience to talk about the rise of German in the US, such as the proliferation of German newspapers and publishing houses, church services, and other organizations and events that preserve the language. Colored by English, German dialects in America have developed their own

characteristics in pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar. German in turn has exerted a strong influence on the English spoken in Wisconsin and other areas. I will give examples of all these phenomena and share some stories about German and English usage in the places where I have lived.

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Language endangerment under dominant official language pressure has been widely documented; however, systematic comparative analysis across politically distinct contexts remains limited. This article examines the sociolinguistic vitality of two languages: Kurmanji Kurdish in Türkiye and Yami (Tao) in Taiwan. The two languages are subject to structurally distinct but functionally convergent situations of dominant language pressure in their respective countries. Through the application of the UNESCO Language Vitality and Endangerment framework (Brenzinger et al. 2003) and the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (Lewis and Simons 2010), this study presents a tertiary analysis of existing demographic, sociolinguistic, and documentary evidence for both linguistic communities. Despite significant differences in the legal and geopolitical mechanisms through which Turkish and Mandarin Chinese have achieved dominance, both Kurmanji Kurdish and Yami demonstrate convergent patterns of intergenerational transmission failure and progressively diminishing institutional presence. In the case of Kurmanji Kurdish, structural and political marginalization driven by the Turkish state’s assimilationist language policies has constituted the primary mechanism of dominance; in the case of Yami, monolingual Mandarin education policy and economic incentivization have together produced comparable outcomes of vitality decline. The analysis reveals that dominant-language schooling and the economic incentivization of a monolingual national presence are the primary drivers of shift in both cases, operating independently of the specific form of state language policy. These findings suggest that the mechanisms through which dominant language policy produces vitality decline in minority languages are primarily structural, rather than operating through direct legal prohibition alone.

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Drawing on 30 years of language teaching, primarily in higher education, this talk offers a fast-paced overview of activities and techniques that have proved effective in the classroom. It will cover a range of approaches, from simple analogue activities to technology-enhanced methods, with a focus on practical ideas that teachers can adapt and use with their own learners.