Euroasia: Language, Culture and Travel

Times are tough. People are worried that they might lose their jobs as the unemployment rate starts creeping up. Job summit or no job summit. As always, during difficult times, the ones worst hit are the ones who are lacking in qualifications and experience.

It’s time to upskill. It seems university enrolments are up around the country, according to various local news articles.  Recent graduates who can’t find work are going back to university. But so are many students looking at gaining more qualifications in order to keep pace with developments.

During such perilous times, it’s important to understand what skills are in demand and how to stand out from the crowd. In New Zealand, where almost all native English speakers can only speak one language, knowing some basic foreign language can indeed be an advantage. Most of all you demonstrate to prospective employers that you have the ability to persevere with something as well as the ability to work across cultures. As New Zealand becomes more and more multicultural, the ability to communicate across cultures will be as essential as knowing how to use a computer.

New Zealand is an exporting nation. We would be poorer than Samoa or Tonga if we didn’t trade with our friends, and foreign tourists stop arriving. There are in fact more Chinese and Spanish speakers than there are English speakers.  Naturally, these are key languages to learn if one wants to learn how to communicate with our future customers.

But learning any language is useful. New Zealanders have traditionally learnt French, German and Japanese at school. Knowing any one of these languages would be useful. I have written at length about why one should learn each one of these languages, so feel free to check out my blog entries on why learn language

German has traditionally been a very popular language in New Zealand. German is the main language of Germany and Austria. It is also spoken in: Switzerland (most of the country), Luxemburg, in small pockets in countries neighbouring Germany or Austria (Belgium, Italy etc.), Namibia; and widely spoken in eastern Europe and the Balkans as a second language

The number of mother-tongue speakers worldwide total about 110,000,000.

Here are some key reasons why New Zealanders should consider learning German.

• German is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union.
• Germany has the largest economy in the EU, and is an industrial giant on the world stage.  Companies and organisations from Siemens to Carl Zeiss, BMW and the Deutsche Bank have formidable reputations world-wide.
• German technology and know-how are widely respected around the world, and organisational skills are immediately apparent when one visits any of the German-speaking countries.
• New Zealand has to engage more with the German-speaking world if it is to establish a stronger base for its exports in Europe.
• Young Kiwis can go and work in Germany for one year under a working holiday scheme.   A knowledge of the German language would obviously help enormously on this particular OE!
• Some of the big cities such as Berlin are among the liveliest in Europe, with an enormous range of events throughout the year, many of them geared to the younger population.
• Young people in Germany seem to be on the same kind of wavelength as young Kiwis; they usually get on well.
• The Germans and the Swiss come to New Zealand in large numbers – and usually love it!
• Germans are usually very environmentally aware, and are often innovators in green issues.
• Germany has a rich cultural heritage, and has made huge contributions to world literature, painting, music and philosophy.
• The German-speaking world has produced thinkers whose ideas have changed the way people look at the world: from Luther to Marx, to Einstein and to Freud.
• People are often surprised by the beauty of the German countryside, with its dense forests and deep valleys, also by the charms of its many historical towns and villages.  Austria and Switzerland have wonderful mountain landscapes.  And with extensive hiking trails, all three countries are a tramper’s paradise!

Find out more about learning German with Euroasia. To enrol for a German course, check out the German timetable on the Euroasia website. Last intake for 2008 is coming up on 10 November.