It’s October and once again it’s time for the Settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo, the Week of Italian Language in the World. The Settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo is a worldwide event that takes place every year and has the goal of promoting the Italian language abroad. It’s organized by all the major institutions for the Italian language, and it has the formal sponsorship of the President of the Republic.

Each year the event is presented with a different theme, according to which important anniversaries are taking place (you might remember that last year’s Italian Week was dedicated to Dante since 2021 was the 700^th anniversary of Dante’s death) and different events are organized in order to celebrate and promote the theme.

This year’s Settimana della lingua italiana theme, which reaches its 22nd edition, is “L’italiano e i giovani. Come scusa? Non ti followo” – Italian and young people. Sorry? I’m not following you.

But if you are not too familiar with Italian “slang” let me explain the title. The word “followo” is a “new word” that comes from terms used on social media. Even on Italian social media the button “follow” a lot of times is “follow” and even if it is “segui” (which is the translation) the permeation of English terms through the social media itself or the various influencers makes it so that the common way to refer to following someone is “follow” in Italian as well. However, Italian verbs need to be conjugated. For example, mangiare (to eat) is io mangio, tu mangi, lui/lei mangia (segu -o, -i, -a). So how should you conjugate a verb, even if it doesn’t exist in Italian? Simple, the same exact way! Io followo, tu followi, lui/lei followa. And there you go! That’s how you have this expression used among (but not only) teenagers. Non ti followo. The idea behind this subtitle is to emphasize how Italian is in constant evolution (as all languages are) and explore all the different ways communication is changing due to the different media and through different generations of Italian speakers. As the Ambassador and Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy, Pasquale Terracciano, stated during the presentation of the XXII edition of the Settimana della lingua italiana nel mondo, this year’s edition wants to capture and try to understand how young Italian speakers see and interpret the language, include them in the language evolution process, and avoid any bias and prejudices that such slangs might cause.

During this week many embassies, consulates, and Italian Cultural Institute present organize many events and initiatives, including shows, lessons, lectures, book and movie presentations and anything really that celebrates and promotes the Italian language. For example, the Italian Cultural Institute of Washington and the Embassy of Italy organized a poetry contest for middle school and high school students of Italian in which they are asked to use “Black-Out Poetry” or “poesia cancellata” which allows the writer to create a poem by erasing or obscuring portion of text from an existing text in order to create something original.

But there are events all over the USA: from Poetry Slam Workshops to a showing of “La fabbrica dell’Italiano”, a documentary about the Accademia della Crusca, in Chicago, from a meeting with the translator of the new edition of “The Betrothed” (I Promessi Sposi) to the presentation of both Italian books and books for bilingual kids in New York, and more movies, book presentations, a conversation with the author Dacia Maraini and even a free Diodato (winner of the 70^th edition of the Sanremo music festival) concert in San Francisco.

As you can see, the Italian Institutes went all out! Check out their website and at your local Italian community centers and schools to learn more about the events and take advantage of this beautiful celebration. Or you’ll have to wait until next year.