CHENNAI: Holding lanterns, a group of students, the ‘Little Goethe’, march to the stage chanting in confident German, comparing a quiz and singing songs. The audience laugh with the jokes and answer the questions in German.
As the Sanskrit versus German debate as third language goes on with Kendriya Vidyalaya scrapping the language midway through the year, teachers and students on Monday celebrated 100 years of German Language in India at Goethe Institut with enthusiasm. “It is a paradoxical time for this event, with a crisis to be dealt with as the stamp of authority has come upon our subject,” said Pramod Talgeri, president of an Indo-German teachers’ association, InDaf. “Of all European countries, Germany has never had a colonial interest in India. Germans have also had an understanding of Indian philosophy and texts from ancient times,” he said.
The remnants of British rule and India’s continued fascination for the colonial legacy makes us give English too much importance, he reasons. But this multilingualism could be channelised, believes Talgeri, saying languages like German could become new ways of looking at ideas.