Skills in German enables access to personal, social, educational and professional opportunities which may not be anticipated when you first start learning the language at school in Australia, especially when you are choosing electives.
Benefits of learning German
German is an important language of science, technology, engineering, commerce and the arts.
German-speakers and companies from German-speaking countries can be found throughout the world including a significant presence in Victoria.
Tens of thousands of German-speaking students, academics, business people, tourists and relatives of Australian citizens visit Victoria each year.
Universities and global companies from German-speaking communities offer study, research, internships and work opportunities in Australia, Europe and beyond. They invest heavily in research and design to explore and develop new ideas across the world.
Learning a new language contributes to developing global competence including the capacity for appropriate and effective interaction with people from different cultures, and appreciating the world views of others.
Deutsch ist kein Land
German is not a country. German is the most widely spoken first language in Europe. It is the official language of Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein and one of four in Switzerland (65% speak German), each with diverse cultures and national standards and regional varieties of German.
German is also an official language in Luxembourg, Belgium and South Tyrol in Italy and an official minority language in Denmark, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Vatican City.
English and German are in the same West Germanic language family and many words are similar. You will be able to recognise or work out the meaning of many words: Download a word list. And yes, German has some very l-o-o-n-g nouns, but they are quite logical when you break them up into their parts.
German for the future
Speaking German can be your X-factor if you want to stand out in the crowd when –
- applying for exchanges or scholarships for study or research in Europe,
- applying for jobs with companies and businesses in Australia and overseas,
- needing to connect with German-speaking colleagues or clients in your future workplace,
- needing to demonstrate intercultural competency i.e. your ability to communicate respectfully with people from different cultures and to appreciate different perspectives,
- wanting to understand texts in their original language (e.g. media, scientific reports, film, plays, novels, songs etc in German)
- travelling to Europe for work or a holiday,
- making friends with the thousands of German-speaking visitors to Victoria, or German-speaking members of the Victorian community,
- needing to talk the parents, grandparents or friends of your German-speaking partner,
- using the knowledge and skills developed learning German to learn other languages, or
- when you want to showcase your ability to speak another language, and impressively, a language with multiple words for ‘the’!
Find out what learning a language says about you: Knowledge, skills and attitudes of language learners
Acknowledgement
The development of this website was supported by the Victorian Government.
Association of German Teachers of Victoria Inc.
A0024716J – PO Box 2165, Forest Hill, 3131
www.agtv.vic.edu.au
