4 Minutes for a short chat with a randomly selected participant, 15 minutes devoted to each language, that is, three virtual encounters by chatting in English, three in German and three in Italian. 

Um die 50 Leute haben sich angemeldet, und nicht nur Studierende aus unibz. An diesem Event haben auch Studierende der Uni Swansea teilgenommen, und sie hatten viel Spaß dabei. Das Feedback der Studierenden aus Italien und aus England trudelte bereits am nächsten Morgen ein. 

 "I have enjoyed a lot and it was quite fun during these hard days", schrieb einer der Teilnehmer*innen. "Ho apprezzato molto l’iniziativa proposta ieri sera perché mi ha permesso di incontrare nuove persone e di esercitare le lingue. Sarebbe bello se venisse riproposta più spesso!" schrieb eine andere, oder noch "Thank you for the great language speed dating yesterday. It was very interesting to meet other people from university and to speak in different languages. I am happy to have participated".

But what happened during the second part of the Speed Dating last week?  Well, at that point things got more complex, and the 'regola inespressa', the unspoken rule, was capsized, with great fun for all the participants, including the moderators. Questions had to be posed in German, and the answers to be given in English, questions in Italian and answers in German and so on. "Code switching" is the linguistic concept behind it.
Ma che lo chiamiamo code switching o meno l'importante è mantenere vivo, acceso lo spirito del trilinguismo, anche divertendosi, perché parlare le lingue è bello. Anche online. È per questo che vi avverto: tenetevi pronti e lasciatevi sorprendere, il prossimo evento sta per arrivare, segnatevi già ora la prossima data: 7 maggio.  A presto!
(cb)