The Latest at Goethe

A scandal in the Halle Archaeological Museum: the sky disc of Nebra is said to be a crude fake. To clarify the facts, even the Goethe-Institut has gotten involved and sent countless detectives around the world. The result: better language skills. By Gitte Zschoch

The toughest mission is at the very end: the moon, sun and stars on the sky disc have to be shifted in such a way that a secret casket opens. It is the only way to find out whether the disc is real or a fake. One user is stuck. She desperately asks for assistance on Facebook. “Help, I’m in the museum, but no matter how I position the moon, sun and stars, I can’t get any further. What do I need to do?”

The player receives help immediately. Joachim Quandt advises her to begin with the sun. “Remember, the riddle mentions a line.” Quandt is the head of the project team at the Goethe-Institut that developed the game Lernabenteuer Deutsch – Das Geheimnis der Himmelsscheibe (German Learning Adventure – the Secret of the Sky Disc). His hint proves helpful. “Thanks, it worked,” the user informs him.

Seemingly unsolvable tasks are a frequent part of the game. “That’s part of the fun,” says Quandt, “and the final puzzle has to be the most complicated, of course.” Before that, though, objects need to be collected, people interviewed and tasks completed. “An adventure game is an excellent learning game,” confirms Manuela Beck. “You can’t lose and have no opponents. It’s just that the way to the goal might take a bit longer.” Beck heads the division of Multimedia and Distance Learning at the head office of the Goethe-Institut. The division is developing ideas to acquire and improve German language skills using the Internet. Lernabenteuer Deutsch – Das Geheimnis der Himmelsscheibe is the first game of this kind for mobile devices. Soon, it can be played on the computer as well.



In Lernabenteuer Deutsch, the player takes the role of Vincent Mirano, an art expert. He receives a mysterious e-mail: the sky disc of Nebra, an archaeological find that measures time, is a fake. Vincent then undertakes a journey to Germany, where he dives into detective work. He meets the journalist Jasmin, who assists him in his investigation. Along the way Vincent learns how to cook Rote Grütze and builds a drone. He must communicate with a kiosk operator, an insurance salesman and many other people, and understand what they tell him. It is the only way to achieve his goal.

“The best thing about this app is that it uses speech,” reports Zeng Qi from China, who is studying German as an exchange student in Munich. “You can train your listening comprehension, because you can only find out what the next step is in spoken dialogues.” The 25-year old is playing the game for the first time and soon encounters obstacles. “Right now, I’m searching in the hotel, but I don’t understand the directions very well.” But, after repeated listening, Zeng gets on the right track.

Erica Cabrini doesn’t have any comprehension problems. “The game is not linguistically difficult; you simply have to listen closely.” The 26-year old already taught German in São Paulo and is now completing her Master’s degree in German as a Foreign Language. “I can imagine using the game later in lessons. It offers situations from real life: how to read a menu or ask for information.” Yet some of the tasks are even difficult for her. “I found the supermarket, but it’s closed. Still, I have to shop here. How do I get in?”


This was exactly what the designers wanted: to implement real-life communication scenarios in a playful way. Players need not solve any grammatical problems to get ahead in the game. Instead, they use the language to manage the game’s various tasks. For example, players have to find out what ingredients are needed to make Rote Grütze, and then go out and search for a supermarket. But, of course the game is also a linguistic challenge for the German learners. “They have to comprehend what is said and then draw conclusions from it,” explains Beck. “It’s about using German to communicate, not about perfectly mastering adjective declensions.” You can get through the game even with intermediate German skills – constant progress is important so that players do not lose their motivation to learn. “Self-taught learners in particular need great motivation to keep learning,” according to Quandt. “The game offers this through its story. It’s even a little addictive.”

One desired side effect is that information about culture and geography are also learned: who knows about the sky disc of Nebra, and who is familiar with Halle an der Saale? The required vocabulary is not problematic for Cabrini. “There are still some unfamiliar words, but they’re either explained by the game or you can derive them from the context.” Such as Rote Grütze? “Exactly. I didn’t know what Rote Grütze was, but now I even know how it’s made. And the supermarket is finally open again.”