LEARN GERMAN
The reasons to learn German are:
1. German is the most widely spoken language in Europe.
Germany is the most populous country in Europe. Hence more people speak German as their native language than any other language in Europe. It is also the native language of some parts of Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, and France, to name a few. In addition, it is the official language of Austria and Switzerland.
2. Germany has the 3rd strongest economy and is the #1 export nation in the world.
Germany has the third largest economy in the world. The backbone of the European Union.
3. Knowing German creates business and job opportunities.
Germany’s economic strength equals business opportunities. Good business opportunities exist in Europe and some other parts of the world if one speaks German. If one wants employment in the United States, knowing German can give great advantages. German companies account for many jobs in the United State.
With more firms opening subsidiaries on the European mainland, learning German is becoming an ever smarter career move. And with such German-based firms as Daimler, BASF, Bayer, Hoechst, BMW, Siemens and Volkswagen so firmly rooted on the international scene, learning German appears to be twice as sensible a career move!
More German presence on the Internet
Germans maintain a dominant Internet presence. With 8 million Internet domains, Germany’s top-level country domain .de is second only to the extension .com. That makes German domain names even more popular than those with .net, .org, .info, and .biz extensions. Even the second-place country extension .uk trails far behind at 3.7 million domain names.
4. Ten percent of world books are published in German
German is not only a language of the past. As prolific researchers and scholars, German speakers produce nearly 80,000 new book titles each year. The only language markets that produce more books annually are the Chinese and English publishing industries. In number of books published, Munich is second in the world only to New York. Only knowledge of German will give you access to a vast majority of these titles.
5. Appreciating works of Notable Authors
Germany is often referred to as the land of poets and thinkers. Contributions of Germans contributions to the arts and human thought have been very wonderful.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Thomas Mann, Franz Kafka, and Hermann Hesse are just a few authors whose names and works are well-known internationally. Good musicians and composers with the likes of Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Strauss, and Wagner to name only a few have also been produced.
Philosophy and the sciences would also be unthinkable without the contributions of German speakers. The philosophies of Kant, Hegel, Marx, Nietzsche, and numerous others have had lasting influences on modern society. The psychologists Freud and Jung forever changed the way we think about human behavior. Scientists from the three major German-speaking countries have won dozens of Nobel prizes in physics, chemistry, and medicine.
Knowledge of German is a great asset that will enable one to benefit from the works of the above-mentioned personalities in their original language and to fully understand the culture whence they derived.
6. Research Materials
Considering the importance of the German language in the fields of publishing and research, knowing German gives graduates access to important research published in German books and professional journals.
German is the second most commonly used language in which to write a work of scientific research - especially engineering, chemistry and physics. This is why more than 40% of American scientists recommend that their students should learn German.
By: OBAFEMI TORIOLA