.

'""' . ' ... '· •'

. ~····...:--

.>-

·.

,.. •.

~

,..J o;'o~

;..J ··-~

·'

~.:.:-~ ' , ;- ·~ ,.

.~ . J .'/ .. ;',:~ ......

"' -\:-; _- -·:.'* ~ ). ;t ~ ..... "'!~!

'· ~ .::, .... ~ "'\. .

~:.... . . . '

.:: ... PF3066. L352 1988 . ;~~:~~~.~~L~ ~lll llllllllll ll~llllll~ llll/lll ll lllll llllll~~l/ ~~~~11 ' -:;· .;- · .. -"0;:;~; ~

]'

;: ~' 3 4067 01462499 2 ....

·......:. .· ~ .. ' .. . •'

·c :.~" ;_, ;•

.r.;, ~-

PF 3066

·L35Z ,q 8 ~

L36/84

-

Language Skills THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLA~JD

LIBRARY

I • -:-t. SEP. .1997

ne ss

»logy

'Needs

_camp le

tik, W. Veit; md V. Wolf

Proceedings of a Round Table convened by the Goethe-Institut Melbourne, Canberra 9-13 January 1988

PF 3obb ·L3Sl

19~~

.::?011 8801360

1'1A//V

Edited by: J . Lo Bianco, H. Stefanik, W. Veit; I. Waechter and V. Wolf

198& Goethe-Institut, Melbourne ISBN 0-9593775-2-2

Designed and Printed by Contemporary Press Pty. Ltd., Bayswater Victoria

Table of Contents

(i) Preface

(ii)

Round Table discussion on the introduction of practice-oriented German courses at Australian tertiary institutions (I. Waechter and V. Wolf).

Introduction (J. Lo Bianco)

Section 1: Background

1. Setting the scene (J. Lo Bianco)

2. German Studies at Australian Universities (Waiter Veit)

3. Language Studies and Business (Michael Niebel)

4. German in the world and in Australia; its economic and community dimen­sions: A. German in the world B. German-speaking countries in trade relations with Australia C. German-speaking tourists in Australia D. German in the Australian community E. German in the Australian education system.

Section 2: Australian and Overseas Approaches 1. Interpreting and translating at the Western Australian College of Advanced

Education (Mary Mennicken).

2. Joint degree courses at New Zealand Universities (Monika Smith).

3. A practice-oriented alternative to the traditional studies of philology in the Fed­eral Republic of Germany: the translator and the interpreter (Peter Bretthauer).

Section 3 : Workshop Reports and Recommendations 1. Workshop Report "Straw Persons and Devils Advocacy" (Denise Grannall,

Lee Kersten. Tim Mehigan, Volkmar Sturm, Judith Wilson).

2. Workshop Report "Interpreting and Translating" (Alfred Barthofer, Peter Brett­hauer, Eva Conway, Denis Cunningham, Hein Hesse, Mary Mennicken, Paul Sine/air).

3. Workshop Report "Business German" (Charles Cull. Charles Meyer, Michael Niebel. Hubertus Opalka, Waiter Veit).

4. Workshop Report "Science and Technology" (Gerhard Bickes, £/enor Guir­guis, Louise Jansen, Bill Maude, Heinrich Stefanik. Nic Witton).

Section 4: List of Participants Bibliography

88

SECTION 3

Workshop Reports and Recommendations

The first of the workshop reports is entitled Straw Persons and Devil's Advocacy. This is the report of a group which was expressly asked to take a constructive but critical look at the societal demands for more practically oriented tertiary language offerings. They respond to their set task with insight and challenging conclusions.

The second of the workshop reports on the issue of Interpreting and Translating. This report makes a series of important recommendations regarding the establish­ment of advanced professional interpreting and translating at the post-graduate level, the appropriate course structure and required resources. lt also proposes a questionnaire, which is described briefly to survey the needs and uses. The tables need to be read in conjunction with those attached to the Mennicken paper in Section 2.

The third workshop report deals with German for Business purposes. In addition to addressing the justifications for dealing with language issues in a business con­text the group analyses ways of satisfying the demands and needs. It recommends a survey similar to the one undertaken by the UK of its overseas trade posts be undertaken by the Australian Trade Authorities and devises a draft questionnaire. The UK survey results are appended with a foreword from the Duke of Kent.

Workshop four discusses briefly the community, world and trade dimensions of German as they apply to science and technology. lt then details the provision of courses: their construction, target groups and required resources among other areas. In addition the report describes how courses in language for specific pur­poses can fit into existing structure of tertiary institutions with minimum disruption: capitalising on existing resources. The workshop report concludes with a draft questionnaire on science and technology for relevant target groups.

89

~I ..

90

1 Straw Persons and Devil's Advocacy

The Green Paper and the rumours and rhetoric surrounding it should be ques­tioned. Its criticisms remain, as yet, unsubstantiated. The Minister's stated aim of increasing the number and quality of tertiary graduates is not going to be achieved by reducing the autonomy and variety of tertiary institutions. It will not increase efficiency and effectiveness to attempt to control institutions from a centralized bureaucracy which has no direct contact with the needs and wishes of the stu­dents and the community.

The Green Paper assumes that tertiary institutions are inefficient and the Minister said in launching it that the only changes that have been made in such institutions have been effected from outside. This is wrong. Universities, TAFEs and CAEs are engaged in continual discussion about the aims and effectiveness of their teaching and research programmes. They are internationally competitive in attracting staff and their graduates are accep ted internationally. This is equally true of language graduates. We are concerned, as language experts, with the problems of the Australian Business sector which is not internationally competitive and we are making specific proposals to help it become so. We must insist. however, that the present funding of Language Departments be maintained at least at the present level so that we can continue to do the essential job of providing a basic general education in the language and culture o f foreign countries - in this case, of the Gerrnan-speaking ones. Our graduates need a solid foundation of skills in speak­ing and writing the language and in acquiring an historical and modem perspec­tive of the culture and politics of Gerrnan-speaking countries. Graduates with these basic, general skills will be able to learn quickly and effectively to extend and adapt them to meet the short-term and utilitarian needs of the public and private sectors in Australia.

The Green Paper and the rumoured and recorded additional comments of the Minister seem to wish to destroy the autonomy and present structure of tertiary institutions. The Green.Paper has the ideological conviction that bigger institutions are better than small ones. that universities are " ossified bodies incapable of change" (Minister IJawkins, quoted by Senator Teague, Daily Hansard, 10 Dec. 1987, p. 2853). These ideological assumptions are not proven, nor could they be. since they are fundamentally wrong. The Government is presently engaged in restructuring the Public Service Board (now " Commission") to devolve its deci­sion-making powers to individual departments and it is also engaged in privatising and deregulating various bodies to increase efficiency and reduce cost. So why

91

centralize and bureaucratize decision-making for tertiary teaching and research? Why maim and starve these internationally competitive institutions? Why restrict their freedom and reduce their staff when Australia demonstrably needs more and more skilled people.

The universities are the conduits and reservoirs of knowledge from overseas and from the past. These functions would certainly be impeded by the proposed fund­ing curbs and cuts.

In the Senate debate on tertiary funding Senator Haines pointed out the curious anomaly of the Green Paper that the intention of increasing the numbers of graduates is to be effected by provisions (including the imposition of an adminstrative fee and "user-pay" courses) which will reduce the numbers of women and people from disadvantaged socio-economic groups who have access to higher education and will reduce the number of choices they will have if they get there:

" ... this is happening at a time when this country is crying out for a skills-based workforce. Ironically. many of those cries are coming from the private sector. which not only does not contribute in the way of research and development funding or higher education assis­tance but actively resents the very institutions that now and in the future will provide them with the benefits they need. •·

(Daily Hansard, 10 Dec. 1987, p. 2861)

Australia needs people who have direct contact with other languages and societies. German Departments can provide direct contact with the German­speaking countries and with changes and developments there. Australia should not have to rely on diluted or edited information in an English translation or on comment through the external agency of, say, the UK and the USA. Nor should we let ourselves be restricted to Pacific rim languages - this is not the way to increase knowledge, efficiency and national independence.

The myth that everyone who counts speaks English and the misplaced conviction that if they don't they should, have for far too long served as a justification for Australia's linguistic complacency. Any tourist who travels outside major met· ropolitan areas overseas will be aware that English is not so widely spoken at all, any businessman dealing with smaller business concerns will know how difficult it is to conduct business transactions without an adequate understanding of the bus­iness partner's language and culture. Governments and representatives of impor­tant companies in other Anglo-Saxon countries have recognised the need to pro­mote foreign language teaching and the development of cultural awareness if they are to compete successfully on the international market:

" . .. The United States can no longer afford to remain a monolin­guist nation. expecting the rest of the world's people to adjust to our ways. Thus the need for Americans to learn foreign languages is more urgent than ever. "

(Richard Morrow, President of Standard Oil Comp .. in: The National Policy on Languages. p. 52)

There is increasing evidence that economic opportunities are in fact lost due to inability to communicate in other languages and to lack of knowledge of other cul­tures. To mention just one example. but one which hits home - our own inter-

92

national airline Qantas lost the lucrative Hong Kong · Beijing route because it didn't have Cantonese speakers to put its case.

In 1986 and 1987 Germany was Australia's 4th most important trading partner, as a non-English speaking country 2nd in importance only to Japan. Our trade relations with Germany are, however, rather one-sided - we import far more than we export. In 1985 the German trade Minister warned the British:

" If you wish to buy from us, there is no need to speak German. But if you wish to sell to us .. . "

(Quoted from The National Policy on Languages, p. 53)

If our trade imbalance with Germany is to be redressed we must follow the lead of our other trading partners and recognise the role foreign language skills and cultural understanding play in our trading relationship with Germany.

German is not only spoken in West Germany but in Switzerland, Austria and East Germany as well. There are approximately 100 million people who speak Ger­man as their 1st language and about the same number who speak it as their 2nd language. In a number of Eastern bloc countries it is one of the most imJ?Ort~nt media of cultural and business exchange. As a neutral means of commumcation it has even been used in Chinese trade negotiations in preference to English and Japanese.

Since the early 19th century Australia has had close cultural links with Germany. Germans in Australia represent our 4th most populous non-English-speaking community group; German is the 3rd most widely used langu~~e other t~an English in Australia after Italian and Greek. In a multicultural, multihngual soc1ety like Australia it is clear that Language Departments at tertiary institutions serve the internal and external needs of the community. German is one of those needs.

Yet is is often assumed that Language Departments devote most of their time and resources to activities which are esoteric and largely irrelevant to the needs of the Australian community. This is a misconception which has even gained expression in formulations of the National Languages Policy. To demonstrate the question­able view that current university practice is inadequate the Hawley Report is quoted (p. 30):

"University language departments generally emphasise reading and written skills and the study of literature, rather than extensive development of oral fluency or the development of registers relev­ant for business or international relations."

Many of those formulating government education policy at high levels today may not have had the benefit of studying language at tertiary level. A particular gen­eration may even have had unfortunate experiences at secondary level where lan­guage learning was previously based on the same prose or translation methods as were used for Latin and Ancient Greek. Dim but powerful school memones may be responsible for much uninformed criticism of present-day Language Depart­ment courses at tertiary level.

German Departments nowadays use communication-oriented methods and stress practical language skills. They aim to provide their students with high-level lan­guage proficiency and a kn0wledge and understanding of as many aspects of Ger­man culture as possible. Culture is understood in its broadest sense - we offer courses on social issues in contemporary German-speaking countries, we offer

93

Western European Studies, Media Studies and Linguistics as well as studies in lit­

erature. We also have a range of special needs-based courses like Reading Skills for specialists, Science German and German for Reading and Research which attract students from areas as diverse as Musicology, Physics and Town Planning. In con­sidering the role that German Departments play it should not be overlooked that they provide almost all of Australia's German teachers.

The shortsighted approach that would subject university courses to the currently perceived pragmatic ends ignores the value - even in practical terms - of, on the one hand, a nation's culture and, on the other, the culture of a nation's trading partners. Australia will be successful in international markets only when respected and regarded as an equal by its trading partners.

In all civilised societies, the study of the humanities at tertiary level is a major factor in cultural enrichment. an essential part of the nation's culture and of its interna­tional profile. Australia has only recently emerged from a period of advanced cul­tural cringe. Our own perception of ourselves as backward relative to Mother Eng­land and more recently Father America has been matched by corresponding per­ceptions of us from abroad. The decision that Australia can ill afford the "luxury" of culture cannot enhance our international reputation. Anyone will sell to barba­rians, but who will buy from them? Who will believe in the quality of their goods?

This is certainly not to say that culture replaces good marketing, reliable products, competitive tenders and punctual delivery of goods. But cultural enrichment enhances a naiion's international reputation, cultural impoverishment diminishes it. Even sound marketing principles would decry the diminution of a nation's inter­national standing. In the National Language Policy the importance of cultural awareness is constantly· emphasised:

"There is substantial evidence that Australian economic activities, particularly in competitive situations requiring market penetration, would benefit from skilled use of the host countries' languages and active knowledge and appreciation of cultural values and behaviours." (p.49)

In meeting this aim Language Departments must and do offer much more than the mechanics of language competence alone. Among other things the study of literature is indispensable to the broadening and enriching of cultural perspective and has an immutable place on Language Department curric.ula.

There is a tendency in some political and business circles to blame language teaching institutions for not appreciating and responding to current needs. This is not the case. Economic opportunities in external trade have not been lost as a result of the inadequacies of language teaching programmes, but because signific­ant sectors of the community, particularly the business community, have failed to recognize the importance of language skills and cultural understanding in the con­duct of international business.

The Hawley Report suggests that tertiary Language Departments should focus more on the development of courses relevant to business or international rela­tions. This may be an area where there is indeed room for experiment and change. but there are several factors which would make the implementation of such courses in our present circumstances extremely difficult.

94

Members of Language Departments are already required to be experts in the spo­ken. and wntten lan~uage they are teaching, specialists in other areas of their dis­ctphne, h1g~ly specialised and productive researchers, teachers and adminis­trators. Their normal.workloads far exceed the number of hours spent on actual teachmg: It IS unrealistic to demand that they design and implement specialist courses If no prOVJSIOn IS made to alleviate present workloads and to fund the proposed courses.

For such courses to be successful they must be tried and tested over a consider­able penod of time and many more secondary school students must be equipped to ~.eel the demands th~t such courses would pose. As an extremely high level of proficiency IS necessary m exchanges of a very specialised nature courses would be labour an?. resource intensive and time-consuming both for st~ff and students. If no recogmtion IS given to staff for the time and energy invested in specialist cours~s, and if there is no guarantee that the students participating in them will benefit upon thetr completion, financially or career-wise, is it reasonable to sugg~st that either ~hould. make the type of commitment such courses would require? In companson wtth other professions which require considerably less trammg a~demtC:S are poorly paid; there is no evidence which suggests extra

. rem.u.neration IS given for the acquisition of the skills we already provide and the additional skills we would be providing.

Given these difficulties it is clear: If we are to design and implement such courses then we do not want: · '

1. Further reductions in staffing funds. 2. Threats to job security which will stifle innovation. Staff must be allowed to

research •. develop and test such courses over an adequate period of time and to use. th1s expenence as a basis for further courses which can meet the ever­changing demands of modern business and technology.

3. Cuts in .secondary level language teaching funding and staffing which would undermme the current and proposed developments at tertiary level.

What we do need is:

1. That the go~emment and the community recognise the need for language competence m languages other than English and the need for specialist lan­guage sk1lls.

2. That the public and private sectors acknowledge that what we do already is valuable and that they make available to us adequate funding to continue and . expand courses, or introduce new ones.

3. That there be increased emphasis on languages other than English in secon­dary schools so that a!~ students have the opportunity to study a language other than English continuously from primary level through to the HSC.

95

11. Dr. Louise Jansen 21. ANU - Department of Modem Languages G.P.O. Box 4 Canberra, ACT 2601

22. 12. Ms. Lee Kersten

University of Adelaide Department of German Adelaide, SA 5001

23. 13. Commissioner Jo Lo Bianco

Commonwealth Schools Commission P.O. Box 34 Woden, ACT 2606

24.

14. Mr. Bill Maude Canberra Grammar School Red Hill, ACT 2603

15. Dr. Tim Mehigan Sydney University 25. Department of Germanic Studies Sydney, NSW 2006

16. Ms. Mary Menniken Western Australian College of 26. Advanced Education Department of Language Studies 2 Bradford Street Mount Lawley, WA 6060

27. 17. Mr. Charles Meyer

Chisholm Institute of Technology School of Education 900 Dandenong Road

28. Caulfield East, Vie. 3145

18. Mr. Michael Niebel German-Australian Chamber of Commerce P.O. Box 4247 Sydney, NSW 2001 29.

19. Dr. Hubertus Opalka University of Queensland German Department St. Lucia, Qld 4067

20. Ms. Eva Schulz Goethe-lnstitut Melbourne 606 St. Kilda Road Melbourne, Vie 3004

120

Mr. Paul Sinclair NAATI P.O. Box 309 Jamison, ACT 2614

Ms. Monika Smith Victoria University of Wellington 47 Sunbrae Drive Upper Hutt, New Zealand

Dr. Heinrich Stefanik Convenor NLP - Liaison Group 541 George Street Sydney, NSW 2000

Mr. Volkmar Sturm German Advisor in the Education Department P.O. Box 4367 525 Collins Street Melbourne, Vie 3000

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Waiter Veit Monash University Department of German Melbourne-Clayton, Vie 3168

Ms. llsemarie Waechter Goethe-lnstitut Melbourne 606 St. Kilda Road Melbourne, Vie 3004

Ms. Judith Wilson University of Adelaide Department of German Adelaide, SA 5001

Dr. Nic Witton Macquarie University School of Modern Languages German Section North Ryde, NSW 2113

Dr. Volker Wolf Goethe-lnstitut Melbourne 606 St. Kilda Road Melbourne, Vie 3004

l \

Bibliography

Blackburn Report {1985). Victoria, Ministerial Review of Post-Compulsory

Schooling.

Department of Sport, Recreation and Tourism {1987) Annual Report, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service.

Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt, (1986) Report 9f the Federal Government of the Federal Republic of Germany, Foreign Office. 2nd ed.

Directory of German Studies in Australia, (ed.) W. Veil, German Academic Exchange Service, Bonn 1984.

Higher Education: A Policy Document Paper (1987) circulated by the Hon. J.S. Dawkins, Minister for Employment, Education and Training. Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service.

International Trade Policy Council Paper, No. 18. Canberra. Economic Planning Advisory Committee, March 1986.

Lo Bianco, J. (1987) National Policy on Languages, Canberra, Australian Gov­ernment Publishing Service.

Overseas Arrivals and Departures, September Quarterly ( 1987), Cat. No. 3401.1. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The Sixth School Day: German Schools in Australia, edited by Die Brucke.

Windows on-to Worlds (1987). A report of the committee to review Australian studies in tertiary education. Canberra, CRASTE.

Yearbook Australia {1986) No. 70. Canberra, Australian Bureau of Statistics.

121