Communication is changing: the linguistic mediation college is more and more dynamic

On 12th October started a new academic year at the Scuola Superiore Mediatori Linguistici of Varese.

There is a satisfied atmosphere prevailing around via Cavour 30, location of the prestigious educational institution: “This year the enrolments have grown by 50%, a very important increase for our organisation” explains Peggy Berthier, the education coordinator. A growth that can be explained in different ways, fundamentally by word of mouth and the use of Internet and social networks.

“Word of mouth is determined by the many agreements with the entities of the local area, starting from the one with Varesecorsi and Il Cavedio, the newest agreement with Pallacanestro Varese, without forgetting VareseNews, Film studio ’90 for films in original language, Wall Street Institute, the no less than four nursery schools that accepted our proposal to teach English language in a playful way, and lastly Language nights.

We are open to collaboration with everyone; we chose an inclusive philosophy, which is showing results. Then there are the collaborations, such as the one with the Apriticielo association for the “work and life, work is life” project: a new signpost service for the students which guides them during their academic career, from the first to the third year, in order to help them find their “guiding thread”, the inner will that enables them to get the best results in the world of education and in the world of work.

In fact we have gradually changed the way we communicate, using the social networks more and better. Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp, in addition to the classic Facebook and Twitter: names that have a meaning for the students and that often escape us, but that we have to try to understand.

We must never forget that the students are our representatives and that we must learn to use their language in order to understand them. Social networks can be a resource, if their goal is to create the real chance to meet other people. It is important, then, to always keep a high level of teaching, of our translating and interpreting laboratory, and the education levels we demand from our students.

Finally, there are the language nights. A lot of young university students, even from the Insubria University, who have appreciated the initiative, hang out at these nights in which they can speak English and other languages and that are always a big success. Promoting Erasmus, cultural exchanges and meetings also with the university associations of the area, we want to raise Varese as a university city, making it an area that can attract students, graduate students and workers from all over the world.

This is because people want more and more to meet and live together and the task of the cultural mediator is to arrange and promote encounters with people who are very different from each other. In the biggest international cities but also, why not, in an area such as Varese, that is often underestimated but full of history and culture.