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The report presents the results of an experimentation of an intercomprehension (IC) workshop, delivered in blended mode for Italian and Brazilian PhD students, and activated at the Language Center of the University of Ferrara during the academic year 2021–22. The general objective was for participants to learn a methodology that enables understanding of scientific specialized texts in their original language and encourages plurilingual academic interaction in technical-scientific contexts where English is widely used. Since the creation of a collaborative class and the development of socio-affective strategies were particularly important in this context, the two aspects that were primarily observed were the interaction dynamics aimed at text comprehension and the degree of peer collaboration. Data were obtained from direct observation, which included: 1. the degree of interaction among peers with the same L1, 2. the degree of interaction among peers with different L1, 3. the degree of interaction related to different text types. The analysis shows a higher number of interactions among peers with different L1 and a high degree of interaction in the transposition of the specialized texts, whose content familiarity facilitated learners’ comprehension. These results support the adoption of an IC approach in plurilingual academic contexts.

In the field of teaching Polish as a foreign language, transfer plays a major role. Positive transfer helps the users of closely related Slavic languages learn more quickly, while negative transfer should be closely monitored. Intercomprehension is a phenomenon which consists of guessing the meanings of related words and linguistic forms, and the ability to quickly understand languages which are closely related to the mother tongue of learners; in other words, it is a case of positive transfer. Intercomprehension in teaching related languages is directly associated with the phenomenon of language transfer. In the practice of teaching Polish as a non-native language in Slovakia and Czechia, teaching methods related to intercomprehension, including a contrast-based approach, have been applied for a long time. However, more focus has always been placed on negative transfer. In this article we provide examples of the impact of transfer, usually negative, at several linguistic planes in learning Polish by Slovaks and Slovak by Poles. The first author indicates two planes, those of inflection and syntax, using examples from the works of Polish students; the second author discusses the problems associated with lexis and indicates three planes: those of word formation, lexis, and style. Their discussions indicate that similarities help master a language more quickly and how important highlighting the differences for learners is.

A internacionalização nas políticas universitárias é um tema de relevância na atualidade; no entanto, tem sido frequentemente homogeneizada por uma perspectiva centrada em países e idiomas dominantes — o Norte Global. A partir de uma perspectiva crítica e decolonial, este artigo apresenta os resultados de um projeto realizado por três universidades latino-americanas que buscam construir políticas de plurilinguismo e internacionalização que deem visibilidade ao conhecimento produzido no Sul Global. Com uma pesquisa qualitativa, o estudo tem como base as vozes de aprendizes de espanhol (brasileiros) e de português (colombianos), considerados atores políticos. Por meio de atividades de intercompreensão em um contexto internacional, essas vozes sustentam a identificação de elementos que devem ser considerados na construção de políticas mais inclusivas. Os principais achados destacam a necessidade de: integrar a identidade linguística para fortalecer o conhecimento local; entender a internacionalização como uma prática cultural profunda para além da linguagem; considerar a intercompreensão como uma forma de promoção da pluridiversidade; e compreender a formulação de políticas de internacionalização como um ato de justiça social La internacionalización en las políticas universitarias es un tema de relevancia en la actualidad; sin embargo, se ha homogeneizado con una mirada centrada en países e idiomas dominantes: el norte global. Con una perspectiva crítica y decolonial, este artículo reporta los resultados de un proyecto que realizan tres universidades latinoamericanas en el esfuerzo por construir políticas de plurilingüismo y de internacionalización, en busca de darle visión al conocimiento del sur global. A través de una investigación cualitativa, se parte de la voz de aprendientes de español (brasileños) y de portugués (colombianos), como actores de la política, quienes a través de ejercicios de intercomprensión en un contexto internacional son el soporte para visibilizar elementos que deberían considerarse para la construcción de políticas más incluyentes. Los hallazgos muestran la necesidad de integrar la identidad lingüística para fortalecer el conocimiento local; ver la internacionalización como un ejercicio cultural profundo más allá de lingüístico; ver la intercomprensión como una forma de promoción de la pluridiversidad, y ver la construcción de políticas de internacionalización como un acto de justicia social Today, internationalization in university policies is a topic of great relevance. However, it has often been homogenized through a perspective centered on dominant countries and languages, i.e., on the Global North. From a critical and decolonial perspective, this article reports the results of a project carried out by three Latin American universities in an effort to build plurilingualism and internationalization policies that provide visibility to knowledge produced in the Global South. Through qualitative research, this study is grounded in the voices of Spanish learners from Brazil and Portuguese learners from Colombia as policy actors who, through intercomprehension activities in an international context, aid in identifying elements that should be considered in the construction of more inclusive policies. The key findings of this work evidence the need to integrate linguistic identity to strengthen local knowledge, to view internationalization as a profound cultural practice beyond linguistic aspects, to understand intercomprehension as a way to promote pluridiversity, to and conceive the development of internationalization policies as an act of social justice

This paper describes the results of a research project aiming to document the acquisition sequence of a set of L2 Polish morphosyntactic structures. In order to verify the hypothesis that acquisition sequences are largely independent of the learner’s L1, data were collected among two groups of learners, i. e. speakers of typologically and genetically distant languages relative to Polish, on the one hand, and speakers of East Slavic languages (Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian), on the other hand, all of which are lexically and grammatically very close to the target language. Data were obtained through a survey and an Elicited Imitation Task.While Slavic learners systematically achieved higher performance than their non-Slavic counterparts, the acquisition sequences of the two groups proved to a large extent comparable. These results suggest an interaction between a general processing advantage deriving from a close relation between the L2 and one’s L1, on the one hand, and universal acquisition constraints, on the other hand.

This article introduces and defines the notion lingua receptiva (LaRa) as a mode of multilingual communication in which interactants employ a language and/or a language variety different from their partner’s and still understand each other without the help of any additional lingua franca. The quintessence of lingua receptiva is discussed in terms of pragmatic, psycholinguistic and language psychology approaches to multilingualism. Moreover, the occurrence of this mode is documented across various language families throughout time and in various discursive intercultures which it creates. Furthermore, three central characteristics are discussed, namely ideological barriers resulting in asymmetry, ‘inference-making’ mechanisms and the function of idiomatic expressions. Finally, lingua receptiva is compared to other multilingual modes, especially with English as lingua franca.

This article discusses an analysis of Italian comprehension levels among students enrolled in first- and second-semester Italian language courses at California State University, Long Beach (CSULB). It presents the first detailed examination of the students’ language background, their initial comprehension levels of Italian, their linguistic and metalinguistic skills in their native language, and their exit levels in Italian in order to: (1) determine the extent to which prior knowledge of Spanish facilitates the comprehension of Italian; (2) create a database to monitor the learning pathways of students enrolled in Italian for Speakers of English and Spanish courses; (3) improve instruction in these multilingual courses. Our thorough analysis, based on empirical evidence, of the varying competencies of these students of Italian (N = 55) has provided us with food for thought about the use of Intercomprehension in the United States and how we can fine-tune the teaching of Italian at CSULB and in similar multilingual contexts, where the presence of heritage Spanish speakers is sizeable (40% in the case of CSULB) and growing.

Per una più incisiva educazione linguistica in chiave trasversale alle lingue, il presente studio qualitativo esplora l’efficacia dell’introduzione di moduli di Intercomprensione Romanza (ICR) in un contesto di scuola media (età 11-14), indagando la possibilità di un trasferimento spontaneo a di testi in EFL, lingua non romanza, di strategie di comprensione sviluppate in un contesto di ICR. A due gruppi di alunni di una scuola media di Milano, di età ed esposizione all’ICR differenti (n.=12+12; età 10-14), è stato proposto un uguale esercizio di comprensione del testo in EFL, svolto online a coppie. L’analisi delle trascrizioni ha evidenziato che tutte le strategie individuate in aula ICR sono spontaneamente utilizzate anche in EFL. Oltre a fornire una caratterizzazione di tali strategie, lo studio esplora i livelli di consapevolezza dei partecipanti nel farvi ricorso, anche in chiave comparativa fra i due gruppi, rilevando che a un’esposizione reiterata all’ICR è aumentato il ricorso alle strategie, nonché la consapevolezza nel loro utilizzo.

Nowadays, due to the increased mobility of people and a rapidly developing global trade, a knowledge of more than one foreign language is indispensable. However, mastering several languages throughout a lifetime seems to be an unattainable goal. One of the possible solutions to this problem is the use of English for global communication. But owing to the fact that in the European Union, considerable emphasis is placed on preserving linguistic and cultural diversity, there is a need to increase intercommunication between people speaking different languages. The present paper discusses the concept of intercomprehension, which is recently proven to be the most effective approach to language learning. Its main aim is to encourage students to rely on the similarities that exist between languages belonging to the same family in order to be able to deal with comprehension problems. This concept focuses primarily on mastering receptive skills, which are crucial in the process of decoding the messages expressed in an unknown system. The paper also reports on the advantages of intercomprehension and methodology that could be applied to the process of developing each individuals’ competence.

Nous mesurons la place de la douleur et de la souffrance dans la représentation du cancer de patients et d’oncologues. Dans l’univers sémantique des patients, la souffrance renvoie à la dégradation du corps et à la vulnérabilité ; la douleur concrétise la maladie et son diagnostic. La souffrance n’est pas évoquée par les oncologues. Pour eux, la douleur est un signe d’évolution de la maladie et un indicateur de la tolérance aux traitements. Au cœur de la relation thérapeutique, l’étude apporte des éléments de réflexion sur l’intercompréhension médecin–patient. We measured the place of pain and suffering in the cancer representation of patients and oncologists. In the semantic universe of patients, suffering refers to bodily degradation and vulnerability; pain materializes the presence of the disease and its diagnosis. Oncologists do not mention suffering. For them, pain is a sign of disease progression and an indicator of tolerance to treatment. At the heart of the therapeutic relationship, this study brings reflections on doctor–patient mutual understanding.