Brussels – The languages of Europe come together along the banks of the Arno, where Alessandro Manzoni “refined” the Italian language. From 21 to 23 October, Florence will host the 23rd conference of the European Federation of National Institutions for Language (EFNIL), organised by the Accademia della Crusca. The title of the conference is “The role of the media in the use of Europe’s languages”, and the underlying question is: how much influence do newspapers, radio, TV and social media have in shaping the way we speak, and what is changing now that voice assistants, machine translators and text generators are coming into play?
Seated around the table will be delegates from the language institutions of the 27 Member States of the European Union and from EFNIL’s associate countries. The proceedings will open on Thursday 22 October at the headquarters of the Accademia della Crusca, which has been a member of the federation since its inception in 2003. Cecilia Robustelli, delegate of the Accademia and vice-president of EFNIL, will open the first session. She will be followed by Nicoletta Maraschio, honorary president of the Accademia della Crusca, Antonio Mazzeo, vice-president of the Regional Council of Tuscany, Genoveva Ruiz Calavera, Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Interpretation, Kezia Pellinghelli, representative of the European Parliament’s Italian Translation Unit, and Sabine Kirchmeier, president of EFNIL. This will be followed by plenary presentations by Alessandro Lenci, from the University of Pisa, and Britta Schneider, from the University of Vienna, as well as contributions from delegates from 14 countries.
The programme centres on three major themes. The first concerns the relationship between the media, standardisation, and linguistic diversity: how the media, from public to local broadcasters, help disseminate shared standards while also giving a voice to the continent’s wide linguistic varieties and communities. The second tackles artificial intelligence head-on, examining its effects on vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation, and asks how language institutions should respond. The third addresses linguistic identity and ideologies – that is, how the presence (or absence) of a language in the media influences its prestige and social legitimacy, and what role more inclusive communication practices might play.
There is also a strong focus on less widely spoken languages, with a look at initiatives to protect them and keep them alive.
It is necessary to be a delegate from an institution that is a member of EFNIL to attend in person, but the conference can also be followed online. Anyone wishing to obtain a registration form should write to the secretariat at efnil@nytud.hu.
English version by the Translation Service of Withub
