
27 Feb. My visit to the Department of Romance Philology at Saarland University
This week I visited the Chair of Romance Philology at Saarland University. As a member of the Cultural Committee (CULT) and having grown up biculturally Italian-German, I am all the more pleased to see how much the Italian language and culture is appreciated here.
I was particularly impressed by the world's leading dictionary project LEI (Lessico Etimologico Italiano), which is being continued and further developed by Prof. Prifti. It explores the history and meaning of words from the Italian and Romance language world by examining their development in a geographical and cultural context. This project illustrates how closely languages are linked to European identity and how important it is to further promote these topics in research and teaching. Prof. Prifti's teaching and research activities also include smaller Romance languages, and the Certificate for European and Minority Languages can be obtained here.
I was deeply impressed by the passion and drive with which Prof. Dr. Prifti and his team work on these projects.
After all, Europe thrives on its linguistic diversity, and the European Parliament's motto "United in diversity" can be experienced here in an impressive way. Such projects are a wonderful example of how different cultures and languages come together in Europe and enrich each other. I wish the Chair continued success in its valuable work - it is precisely such initiatives that strengthen our common Europe.
Many thanks to Professor Prifti and his dedicated team for the interesting and informative day!