Vortrag London Zu Minoritätensprachen

A Case Study of Regional and Minority Languages in the German Higher Education System

Some remarks on the social context of language teaching in the German Higher Education system

Over the last ten years there has been a considerable reduction in the number of languages taught in the German Higher Education System. After 123 years of teaching it was decided on the 14th of April 1998 to close down Celtic Studies at the Humboldt-University (Heinz 1999: 10). Similarly, Celtic Studies were closed in Freiburg i.Br. in 1996. In addition, it is even difficult to continue language courses in Breton or Irish as part of general studies (Studium Generale) which every student has to take at German universities, because the university now expects such courses to be cost-effective. Celtic Studies in Bonn have recently been moved under the ‚umbrella‘ of English Studies where, if experiences in Berlin and Freiburg i.Br. are repeated, it might not survive very long under the current climate. It seems, therefore to be only a question of time before this study area comes to an end in Bonn as well. In Hamburg, the Professor for Old Irish has now to lecture on Old High German while the specialist for Breton is about to retire and with him Celtic Studies may cease at this university, too.

This trend is not restricted to Celtic and other regional languages. Before the incorporation of East Germany into West Germany (cf. Heinz 1998) the Humboldt University in Berlin was among those universities in the world which offered the highest number of languages. Nowadays, the only thriving languages departments at this institution of Higher Education are the German and English departments. Scandinavian languages are sponsored by their respective Scandinavian governments. Vietnamese, Japanese, as well as several regional languages from Central, Middle and South East Asia will be closed down when the last student currently enrolled has left. Korean at the Humboldt is only offered to students from the Free University of Berlin. Mongolian, after a hundred years of teaching, is also under threat. Kirghiz, Usbek and Tajik are no longer regularly taught but alternate with the University of Bamberg as three-week taster courses. Even Chinese, whose growing importance is universally recognised, is facing closure. Also the Romance and, in particular, the Slavic languages, were drastically reduced. For instance, the regional language Sorbian can no longer be learnt at any institution of Higher Education in Berlin. The Language Centre at the Humboldt offers only English, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish, Latin, Old Greek, and German for foreigners. Polish, although listed, can only be learnt at a private college at a considerable price. Irish is taught on an irregular basis, when financed by the Irish government. In summary, the only subjects that can survive in this atmosphere are either state crucial, as for instance, the law department, are filled by a young professor, or are financed from outside sources, preferably big enterprises or foreign governmental institutions.

In November last year, the author was informed that philology is no longer a valid concept in Humboldt-University. If a language and its attendant culture are to be introduced, it can only be done under the concept of Regionalwissenschaften, which is difficult to translate but primarily involves teaching the economics, legal system, and politics of a given culture, rather than languages and literature.

The Humboldt University also hosts a number of specialist libraries and a sound archive with an impressive collection of languages recorded on old records (Schellackplatten). The sound archive’s history goes back to the beginning of the 20th century and incorporates the attempts of Nazi Germany to create a racist theory. However, it is now a source of linguistic material for languages that are no longer spoken or for older stages of languages still in use. Nevertheless, the archive was closed down on the 31st of December 2005. An archive like in Vienna, Austria was originally planned. Anyone can inquire there about languages and the archive provides the CD copies of material for a fee.

In summary, if a language other than the SAE-languages (Standard Average European Languages) is now taught in Berlin, it is more likely to be at the Free University. However, the latter institution has neither the materials nor the variety of languages on offer as used to be part of regular study programmes at the Humboldt University. What was proposed by politicians and the management consulting firm McKinsey under the pretext of reducing duplication of subjects in the former East and West, has resulted in a significant reduction of subjects taught in the whole of Berlin, apparently quite in accordance with official German policy. It is worth noting in passing that the McKinsey consultancy exercice cost as much as could run whole subjects for several years. Side effects of their consultancy are dirty rooms and poor technical equipment for minor subjects at the Humboldt, such as Philology.

A similar trend of reducing language teaching at university can be observed in the North-east of Germany, for example in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, at the universities of Rostock and Greifswald, both of which have world-wide reputations in the areas of medicine and nuclear research.

Having looked at the situation for Celtic, but also the majority languages discussed above, one can imagine that the situation is much worse for regional and minority languages in general, or languages of lesser diffusion or of limited social influence as one can call them, regardless of whether they are spoken in Germany or not. München, teaching amongst others Occitan, Catalan, Romansh, and Sard, is an exception.

Minority Languages

2.1.Sorbian/Wendish

Sorbian. was recently dropped at Humboldt University, at the University in Potsdam as well in Senftenberg. Sorbian is now fully established only at Leipzig University, but is not fully backed by a chair of Sorbian. Sorbian is regularly taught as a beginners’ course at the technical university in Dresden.

Otherwise Sorbian is only taught sporadically, e.g. as a series of lectures or independent language courses, or as individual project works and workshops. Such rather isolated studies are offered irregularly at the universities in Potsdam, at the Humboldt University of Berlin, at Konstanz, Tübingen, Saarbrücken, Regensburg, Marburg, Hamburg, Bochum, and Bremen. The last academic essay written on Sorbian in Rostock dates from 2003. Teaching material is rare and predominantly self-produced. CALL-material and e-learning are practically unknown.

Outside Germany, Sorbian studies are fully established only at the Charles University in Prague. However, aspects of Sorbian studies are touched upon in the Czech universities of Brno and Ostrava, in the universities of Warsaw and Kraków (Poland), in Bratislava (Slovakia), in Russia in the linguistic departments of Moscow and Lviv, occasionally also in Kiev in the Ukraine. There are two universities in Belorussia, Minsk and Brest, which teach Sorbian. The University of Lubljana in Slovenia offers courses as well as Beograd in Yugoslavia, Zagreb in Croatia, Skopje in Macedonia and Sofia in Bulgaria. In addition, some aspects of Sorbian are taught in Tokyo (Japan), Michigan (USA), Helsinki (Finland), Bergamo (Italy), Paris (France), Leiden (Netherlands) and perhaps also in Innsbruck (Austria) at times.

2.2.Danish

Danish is another regional language in Germany. As a national language, it does not strictly fall into the terms of reference of Cramlap, but is included for the sake of completeness. It is well established at the university of Flensburg at the Institut für Dänish where students are expected to have good Danish before embarking upon further studies. Danish can also be studied at the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-University in Greifswald and at the university in Ulm. Although not fully academically established it is, however, quite regularly taught at the Universities of Hamburg, Dresden (Technische Universität: basic and advanced courses), and Tübingen (university information collated from webpages, 5th of February, 2006).

2.3. Frisian

Although Frisian has long been recognised as a regional language in the Netherlands, there seems to be a difficulty in distinguishing between (a) Frisian and Plattdüütsch/Low German as separate languages, in particular when it comes to the East Frisian (in the area of Ostfriesland) dialect of Frisian and the East Frisian dialect of Low German and (b) a difficulty in distinguishing Low German from dialects of German. At the university of Bielefeld, for example they are all taught as Mundarten (dialects) of German.

However, Frisian, spoken by about 12.000 speakers in Germany has gained new prestige and is found in a number of schools and some kindergartens. It can also be learned in different dialects at the University of Oldenburg and Flensburg. In Flensburg it is even backed by a proper chair to instruct potential teachers of Frisian. The university of Kiel offers fully established Frisian Studies. Heidelberg University also offers some Frisian.

Outside Germany Frisian can be studied at the University of Amsterdam and Groningen ( 5.2.2006, 5.2.2006).

References

Heinz, Sabine, 1998, „Der Anschluß von Wales an England und seine Folgen“, in: Utopie Kreativ 95, 30-38.

ibid, (ed.) 1999, Die Deutsche Keltologie und ihre Berliner Gelehrten bis 1945, Peter Lang, Berlin

ibid., 2003, Welsh dictionaries in the twentieth century: a critical analysis, Lincom Europa, München.

Richter, Heinz 1.2.2006, email

Städte- und Gemeindebund Brandenburg, 2005, „Neue Landesinitiativen zum Abbau von Normen und Standards“, Potsdam.

Tristram, Hildegard 29.3.2005, email

5.2.2006,

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