JEDDAH, 16 December 2003 — A new German language center has been established under the auspices of the recently formed Saudi German Business Group and the German Consulate. It began offering courses in November.
“It was always in my mind to do something about promoting the cultures of Germany and Saudi Arabia and increase cooperation between the two countries, and language is a medium to propagate culture,” said Dr. Stephan Keller, Germany’s consul general in Jeddah.
“Without language you can’t have an intimate and correct image of a country. I’m trying to learn Arabic myself and understand Saudi culture better,” he said.
“In the beginning I was a little skeptical because nowadays English is the lingua franca in the world, but I was encouraged by Saudis who were interested in learning more about our culture and the German language.”
The consul general believes the language courses will prove useful for Saudis because there are business opportunities and educational opportunities in learning German.
“I will try to get additional subsidies from my government to make the classes more effective and affordable to more students,” he said.
Three courses are up and running — two for beginners and one for “advanced beginners.”
“There are two men-only classes and one mixed class,” according to Stephanie Buchner-Cross, the center’s coordinator. Classes are small, with a maximum of eight students each, to give students plenty of opportunity to practice speaking.
The next courses will begin after Haj. “Our goal for the future is to offer German for specific purposes, such as medical and business German, and whatever comes along as long as we get a group large enough to work with and have the capacity to expand,” Buchner-Cross told Arab News.
