Greetings from the Ambassadors

Dr. Eva Nowotny
Ambassador, Austria

There is much talk about the "global village" which our world has become, and there is certainly much truth in it - instant communications, the World Wide Web, the ease of traveling, an increasingly globalized economy have made our world smaller. Learning foreign languages is not only of great practical use for living and moving in this globalized world, it offers also the immaterial advantage of immersing oneself in a different culture, a different civilization, and thus developing a better understanding of how other people live and think.

In Europe alone, more than 120 million people speak German as a first or second language, and German is the official language in four member states of the European Union. Having a command of German can thus be very helpful in business transactions, in negotiations or in facilitating traveling. But there is much more to it than just these tangible advantages. Through learning German, a door opens to the richness of literature in German language, to the world of Goethe and Schiller, to philosophers like Kant or Hegel, to the abundance of modern literature and thought which had emanated from Germany and Austria. The efforts of the German Language School Conference to promote the study of German are, I am convinced, of extreme importance. I wish it well and will support its work to the best of my possibilities.

Dr. Eva Nowotny, Ambassador
Austria