Ms. Judith Labs to YT: “We are quite close to establishing the German House for Cooperation and Culture” [Archives:2000/33/Interview]
August 14 2000
Here are some excerpts:
Q: Could you give us a brief background of how the institute was founded?
A: It all began when I arrived to Yemen for the second time in the summer of 1995. In the same year, the German Embassy proposed to teach German language in Sanaa. We then started the German Embassy language courses in March 1996 in cooperation with the British Council. Since then, I continued to work as the head of the German language institute, as I am responsible of teaching, organizing class timetables, and for administrative tasks, and virtually everything.
Our staff is actually small, but it is hard working and efficient. There are also a couple of native speakers who can take over when we are in need.
Q: How many studying do you currently have enrolled in your course, how did the number vary since the establishment of the institute?
A: At the moment we have two classes operational of the many classes we had in the past. The reason for that mainly lies in my involvement these days in teaching scholarship students for the German vocational training programme. Apart from that, my colleague is on holidays. Another reason might be the relatively unfamiliar but only temporary new address (see advertisement) which we have to use for technical reasons until the final establishment of the German House.
However, the case was not like this all the time. We did have times when we had more than 30 students in all of our four classes. In higher levels, when less students would continue learning German, we used to gather them into joint classes to increase in interaction between them. In total, we have already taught lessons to more than 400 students. I believe the peak season was the end of 1998, when we had more than 35 students enrolled in our classes. However, after the British council closed its languages courses – after the Abyan Fiasco – in February 1999, we have been suffering. Since then, the number of students kept on decreasing until it reached a minimum level at present. I believe it is about time we expose the institute more openly and have students encouraged to join German language courses.
It is noteworthy to mention that the number of females enrolled in our classes is relatively low. I do urge them to join our classes as I used to tell every hesitant girl that she would not be the only woman in class, as I will always be there.
Q: Despite the relatively large number of Yemenis who graduated from Germany, we can see little activity in teaching German language. Why?
A: I do partly agree with you, and therefore I am here. To my and the Embassy¢s regret, ther is not one of the renowned Goethe Institutes in Sanaa. But the German language teachers in our institute have been working on getting the Goethe license to issue Goethe language certificates recognised by all German institutions. This will hopefully attract more students from universities and from the private sector in Yemen to study German. This will certainly boost the cultural cooperation between Yemen and Germany further, and help Yemenis learn more about German language and culture. Many people think that they need to go to Germany to learn German. There is a way to learn German language right from here in Yemen: at our institute!
For those who want to study German language with a University degree they can later on contact the German lecturer at Sanaa University, language faculty, who was sent in October 1998 by the German Academic Exchange Programme DAAD.
Q: Roughly, how many are these graduates?
A: The official alumni list published by the DAAD says that there are around 1,200 graduates, but there are many more former scholarship holders in Yemen: about 3.000 Yemenis took part in the vocational training programme in Germany.
Two conferences for former scholarship holders were organised in the last nine months: the DAAD alumnis met in Sanaa and Aden in November 1999 and respresentatives of the German section of World university Service came her in May 2000. What we agreed on during these conferences is the need to setup a data file on German Speaking Yemeni Experts. This would include all Yemenis who studied in Germany in the fields of vocational training, engineers, doctors, etc., and got a degree and speak German, regardless of the organization they were registered in before or after German reunification. Hence, whoever feels he or she should be enlisted in this file should contact me as I am the person responsible of updating this file. By building up this data base we will be able to get close to the point in which we can say that we know every Yemeni who got a degree from Germany. I am dreaming of a number like 2,500 people to be enlisted in this file.
Q: Without doubt, German language – with more than 90 million native speakers, the most spoken language in Europe – is growing and many people are aware of this. For a beginner who wants to learn German language. Who should he/she contact, and what should he do?
A: Whoever wants to know more about the institute and get in contact with it should contact Ms. Astrid Raabe at the German Embassy as she is the person who would direct interested people to what to do.
Learning German language could be the first step towards coming to Germany and beginning an academic programme. You would be amazed to know that studying in Germany is much cheaper than studying in most of the western countries, as all the student needs to pay would probably not exceed USD 50 per month for university fees. Hence, all you need for the living may not exceed USD 600-650.
However, before applying for a university in Germany, I stress on the importance of studying Germany language for at least 300-400 hours for basic language knowledge. This will take a year for students starting from scratch. Hence, while students are applying for different fields and in various German universities to know the specific desired field and university, I invite them to study in a language course at our institute to have a solid basis for a good understanding of German language.
Studying German in Yemen will be much more convenient for these students because once they are in Germany, it would be a difficult task for them to apply at a university with English academic programmes, as they require TOEFL a n d basic German language knowledge, whilst most universities teach in German language.
Q: From your perspective, and according to your experience, why do you feel your students are studying German language?
A: Most of the students I taught openly explain that the main reason for studying German language is for the sake of pursuing higher studies in Germany, or as a precondition for a job etc. in Germany. I understand their choice, but they only consider language as a prerequisite for another goal, and hence do not give it the importance it deserves.
This mentality should change, as learning a new language should not be seen as a temporary tool to use for a certain time, it is something for your life, something you would be using over and over again to know more about other countries and culture. This opens your mind to new dimensions and possibilities in work, in studies, and in life.
Language students should think of learning the language as a goal and should take advantage of the language itself. They can seek ways to use it by working in tourism, teaching the language, being translators, etc.
They will act as an exchange tool of culture and languages because you cannot simply improve cultures in studying sciences only: studying literature, language, and other similar fields are necessary for that too.
Q: Coming back to culture. We heard of a plan to establish a German House. Could you provide us with more information about this?
A: First of all, the name of the future center will be ãthe German House for Cooperation and Culture” . That means that what you may see here in the future is a cultural center based on a private Yemeni German initiative. We will have a real cultural center with all its meanings, as we will teach German language there and hold cultural events and meetings. We will have a caf in which visitors can read German newspapers and periodicals provided by the German Embassy and an Internet service room (brought in from Germany). We will also have a library, which we already started getting books from the Embassy for. We will have a video service, and receive guests from Germany and introduce them to Yemeni life, culture and Islamic values. On the other hand, we will help the business sectors here and in Germany to better understand investment opportunities in both countries. We aim at encouraging tourism by many social and cultural activities, and we wish that the house would help in getting businessmen and (of course) businesswomen to come and invest in Yemen.
We have reached a very advanced stage in preparing the house. We have the by-laws ready and there is already a site – the building will need a little bit of renovation, but I believe it has so many advantages, and I don’t think there could be a better choice for such a house, therefore we agreed with sponsors.
All that we, the members, are waiting for right now is the registration of the house as an institution by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. I do hope and believe that the Minister would approve the registration soon, so that we can start working right away, at least within the two coming months. In other words, I believe that we are quite close to establishing the German House for Cooperation and Culture.
Germany will be celebrating its 10th unification anniversary, and how wonderful would it be if we had the German house open and running on this occasion. We need to hurry up!
Q: Have you ever faced any problems during your stay in Yemen, either for the institute or for the proposed German house?
A: As first the institute, we faced no problems at all. There is nothing that keeps us from working on our normal German classes. For the German house, we got support from the presidential office. However, we won’t be 100% sure unless we get the registration of the house complete, and it all lies in the hands of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
Overall, I can confidently say that we face no problems or obstacles.
Q: Any final comments you have?
A: I have two points to make. The first: I stress on the difference the German house would make in strengthening the relationship between Yemen and Germany, not only in the cultural aspect, but in many other aspects as well. We will aim at attracting a lot of Germans as tourists and businessmen, which we believe would be done smoothly by the German house.
To my satisfaction I can tell you that there is an overwhelming interest not only by the German Yemeni Friendship Association, but also by other German NGOs and even official institutions like the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). I received many encouraging messages from them. I do expect funds to come from Germany for the project, hence I believe that the house will stand strong on its feet and contribute generously to the Yemeni-German relationship.
The second point and final remark: As the head of the German Language Institute, I would also like to stress on the importance of studying German language not only for the sake of having it as a tool rather than an aim. In my eyes a language should be learnt for its own sake. One should study a language to strengthen linguistic skills, to learn how to express oneself in a better way. When you learn a new language, you understand your own language better, and you master your expression abilities.
For the beginners, and ones who would like to start studying it, I would like to say that German language is not an easy language, it is quite a difficult one. Reading and writing in German language are easy. But German has a lot of grammar. Don’t forget, Arabic also has a sophisticated grammar. However, when English starts to become difficult, German starts to become easy.
I do not want anyone to be afraid of learning German language. We at the institute have a lot of fun during our lessons as we are not talking about crammed classes with 20 students or so, it is only 5 to 10 students in one class, hence giving the chance to interact with each other and have fun.
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