Language Mediators in Italy: Bridging Gaps with Words

The Mediterranean has seen a surge in Afro-Mediterranean migration routes in recent decades. This has transformed once homogeneous populations into diverse ethnoscapes, with English playing a key role as a first, second, or foreign language. The question arises: how does this shift challenge our traditional views of language as a reflection of territorial unity and shared norms? Let's explore how interpreters, translators, and language mediators in Southern Italy interact with new migrants. They navigate the use of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF), which can either bridge or create barriers in their relationships with migrants. The politics of hospitality in the Mediterranean are deeply influenced by these language dynamics.

Mediators employ various linguistic and extra-linguistic strategies, not just for communication, but also to humanize migrants' experiences in camps across Italy. Their stories reveal acts of negotiation, activism, and resistance against Italian immigration protocols. It's not just a job for these mediators; they form a community driven by a shared understanding of the power of their words. Their mediation isn't just a transfer of language; it's a means to create and transform human realities.

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