The Latest at Goethe

The Goethe-Institut has been in India for fifty years – a unique success story. Goethe is particularly strong here with six institutes and five other presences. Yet, it’s hardly enough to satisfy the Indian people’s huge interest in the German language and culture.

Every passionate relationship experiences bumps and lumps sometimes – and it’s best when it happens at the very beginning, so that all parties learn their lessons early. This is what happened when Pina Bausch first toured India. The show was a complete flop and even had to be removed from the stage in Kolkata when it incited outrage among the Indian audience: they were not accustomed to seeing so much permissiveness on the dance stage.

When the choreographer returned a few years later, her journey was a triumphal procession – India celebrated the dance of Pina Bausch and she gained a significant following. “Isn’t that wonderful?” asks Goethe president Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, who just returned from a tour of five Indian Goethe-Instituts where he was constantly asked about Pina Bausch. “Her dance is transformed by the magic of India and reciprocally India learns the social and political dimensions that dance can demonstrate. It was a perfect example of international cultural dialogue.”

Fifty years of the Goethe-Institut in India was the motto under which Lehmann travelled to Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata. In 1959, five Goethe-Instituts were founded in only one year – a singular accumulation of institutes. Later, a sixth full institute in Chennai was added to the list.

How a German brought Sanskrit to India

Nonetheless, you will search for the name “Goethe-Institut” almost in vain – it can only be found in the small print. It is officially called “Max Mueller Bhavan” in India, a naming that is also singular in the world. It was actually a PR gag because Max Müller, who is hardly known in Germany, is quite famous in India. The 19th century researcher never set foot on Indian soil, but he was the most important scholar of Sanskrit literature worldwide. He was able to write down and translate the sacred Indian hymns, the Rig-Veda, in a critical edition. Hence, in a way he brought the sacred words of the Indians back to India and they never forgot it. This is why “Max Mueller Bhavan” sounds far more appealing to Indian ears than the name of Goethe ever could.

Photo gallery: An Indian Journey

It doesn’t matter, though, whose name stands over the portals; the number of those learning German is not growing faster anywhere in the world than in India. The Goethe-Instituts in India have over 20,000 registered students and the number just keeps rising. While the number of German learners worldwide has diminished for years now, Indians – most of them young, well-educated professionals – are crowding into the institutes.

Most of the Indian people consider German an important additional skill. The majority already speak three to four languages, including English, Hindi and their respective regional language (Bengali, Tamil, etc.). Many aspire, though, to the traineeships offered by the growing number of German companies in India and the companies attach importance to their staff knowing the German language and culture as this strengthens their bonds to the firm.

Six Goethe-Instituts and their disseminators

If you observe the many people in front of the Goethe-Institut in Delhi, for instance, you may be surprised at how many young, good-looking and highly motivated people are crowding into the classrooms – in an atmosphere that one could almost describe as jovial. “We can hardly satisfy the demand,” says Stephan Dreyer, director of the Goethe-Institut in Delhi and responsible for the entire region of Southern Asia. While in other countries advertising is needed to encourage the study of German, in India it sells itself.

In 1959, Max Mueller Bhavans were set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Pune and Kolkata. Later, Chennai on the east coast joined them. These are cities of magnitudes that are entirely unknown in Europe. Even a relatively small city like Bangalore has seven million inhabitants, one million of which are IT specialists and the IT people in particular are interested in the courses offered by the Goethe-Institut. There are also five so-called Goethe Centres, which are not full institutes, but partners in the GI network operated by local organizations. These institutes cost nothing, yet earn something, just as all of the work of the Goethe-Institut in India practically pays for itself.

The Goethe-Institut offers not only German lessons. It also cooperates with Indian partner organizations in cultural management. India does not yet have an “arts house” similar, for example, to Hebbel am Ufer or the Radialsystem in Berlin or the Muffathalle in Munich. The Max Mueller Bhavan is helping to plan interdisciplinary production facilities by conveying the expertise, inviting to workshops and flying German experts in to Kolkata, for example, where the new Kolkata Museum of Modern Art is being planned.

The Goethe-Institut is also helping in the generation of art for the public space. It promotes training and further education programmes, for example for art restorers, dramaturges, museum educators and art historians.

PASCH: The run on German in Indian schools

The Goethe-Institut receives great response in India among intellectuals and artists because it develops platforms – without hierarchies, indoctrination or paternalism – in which everyone can get involved. This is by no means a matter of course; there are quite a few European countries whose sole aim is to export their own culture.

The principle behind the PASCH schools (“partner schools”) where German is taught and learned, developed by the last Federal government, is particularly successful in India. The first partner school was the Delhi Public Schools, a district of no less than 138 schools. Today, there are agreements with 45 such school associations, including the best chain of public schools, the KVS with 981 schools. Approximately 1,500 schools aim to introduce German lessons and each of them has about 3,000 pupils. The number of potential learners is estimated at between two and four million.

In India, education is traditionally considered a valuable asset. People read a great deal and families consciously invest in their children’s educations. Indians who learn German are not doing it for a green card to come live in Germany. Most of them wish to remain in India to work for a German firm. Here, German is an important additional skill.

German industry is aware of this. In November a pact was signed in Mumbai in the presence of Goethe-Institut president Klaus-Dieter Lehmann between industry, business and the arts – also with an eye to Germany Year 2010/2011, during which Germany will present its many aspects in India.

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