Transfer of knowledge in lectures on physics: German-Italian perspectives on verbal processing In this article we intend to show differences and similarities with respect to the transfer of knowledge in lectures on physics in Germany and Italy. Taking a functional-pragmatic approach, we reconstruct these differences and similarities on the basis of transcriptions of recordings of physics lectures in both countries, focusing on a type of paraphrase that appears to be pertinent to the natural sciences, as well as to specifics of the utilization of blackboards in science lectures. Our analysis reveals that it is this special type of paraphrase because of which, despite linguistic and cultural differences, physics lectures in both countries are more closely related to each other than, for example, lectures on sociology