On Wednesday, 23rd October 2024, the cross-border conference took place at the Centre for Humanities at ZRS Koper, focusing on the needs and best practices of multilingual management in public administration. The conference was organised as part of the CrossTerm project, co-funded by the European Union under the Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia Programme.
The event opened with introductory remarks from Prof. Dr Rado Pišot, Director of ZRS Koper, Giovanni Coviello, the Italian Consul General in Koper, and Dr Sara Brezigar, President of SLORI. This was followed by the presentation of the CrossTerm project (Interreg VI-A Italy-Slovenia 2021-2027 ITA-SI00600194), led by Dr Matejka Grgič, the project’s scientific coordinator.
The main part of the conference was dedicated to the presentation of best practices in multilingual management, with contributions from experts from diverse linguistic backgrounds: Laura Sgubin (Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia), Kim Jakopič (self-governing coastal Community of Italian nationality – CAN Costiera) and Elena Zanussi (ARLeF). The panel was moderated by Dr Vesna Mikolič, Head of the Institute for Linguistic Studies at ZRS Koper and project leader for CrossTerm at ZRS Koper. The presentations illustrated that in all three linguistic environments – Italian in Slovenia, and Slovenian and Friulan in Italy – numerous activities are promoting bilingualism in public administration and in these regions overall. Preserving and fostering linguistic diversity, however, requires continuous language planning, policy, and active commitment to bilingualism in everyday practice.
In addition to the presentations, reports were also provided on the needs analysis based on recent focus groups, followed by a lively discussion with numerous attendees, including many users of public administration from both sides of the border. This part of the conference was moderated by Dr Irina M. Cavaion from the Institute for Linguistic Studies at ZRS Koper, with findings presented by Marjanka Ban (Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia), Chiara Vianello (CAN Costiera), and Linda Picco (ARLeF). The presentations and discussion highlighted the significant need for staff with high-level bilingual communication skills, ongoing professional and language training, and a unified terminology in the field of public administration.
The conference underscored the importance of multilingual management in the cross-border area and strengthened collaboration among institutions and stakeholders from Italy and Slovenia. Such events continue to enhance connections and cooperation in institutional terminology and improve public administration services in both countries, which are also key objectives of the CrossTerm project..
PPT predstavitev projekta_Grgič
