Język i kultura Włoch – między wyobrażeniem a rzeczywistością

The goal of the acquisition process of intercultural competence is to establish relations between the native culture and the foreign one, the ability to make contact with the representatives of foreign cultures and the ability to act as a mediator between cultures. The result of our research proves that the students of Italian at Szczecin University successfully go through a phase of intercultural education. As they gain metalinguistic and metapragmatic knowledge, their initial image of Italian language and culture matures and undergoes a positive evolution in the course of studies. As a result, they can look from the outside at their native culture, analyse it and become aware of the stereotypes as well as of their own reaction to the foreign culture. They know that every culture possesses aspects that can inspire us to change our lifestyle. The highlight of the similarities and differences is the source of motivation and contributes to the attitude of cultural relativism. Young people feel wealthier and thus more assimilated to the European reality. It turns out that intercultural education and cultural differences are positive since they are enriching. They allow to develop positive attitudes, not only tolerance and understanding of other cultures, but also the awareness of native culture thus allowing the students to appreciate it. The images, even if false and stereotypical at the beginning, evolve towards a positive perception of the multicultural reality.