How languages connect

Learning languages is not that easy – you probably know that from your own experience. It can be challenging to read texts in a foreign language or to solve tasks in a language that is not your mother tongue. Fortunately, we have translators who facilitate communication between people and break down language barriers. Without them, we would hardly be able to enjoy films, videos and books in all their diversity.

We also have a dedicated team of translators in our Together for Tolerance project. You may wonder why. After all, the project is not carried out abroad…

The answer is quite simple: even in Germany, many people speak a mother tongue other than German: Polish, Ukrainian, Turkish, Romanian and many more. In 2022, around 21 per cent of children and young people up to the age of 14 primarily spoke a language other than German in their families.* It was important to us that our project was accessible to all young people and their parents. And we have succeeded well in this task!

For those who feel more comfortable in a language other than German, we have provided translations. We offer the project in a total of 10 languages, including Polish, Turkish, Persian and Romanian.

But how does a translation actually work? What sounds simple at first – replacing words in one language with corresponding words in another – is not so easy on closer inspection! Have you ever thought about the fact that some words we have in German don’t even exist in other languages? This is probably the biggest challenge for translators – to reproduce the meaning of a sentence, even if it is done with other words. Even the Google translator can’t do it yet! 😉 

Translations are an important tool that makes the world more open. They enable intercultural exchange, enrich our world and sometimes save us a lot of language learning! 😊

In this sense – to all our „Together for Tolerance“ translators – thank you! Thanks to you, many pupils can look forward to materials in their mother tongue.

*URL: https://mediendienstintegration.de/integration/mehrsprachigkeit.html#:~:text=Eine%20Auswertung%20des%20SOEP%20vom,Sprache%2C%209%20Prozent%20mehrere%20Sprachen.
Abrufdatum: 20.05.2023