KDR: Hi, welcome to the third episode in our podcast series Talking Languages. I’m Klaus-Dieter Rossade from the Open University’s Department of Languages and with me are my colleagues Inma Álvarez and Sara Heiser. Together we will lead you through this programme.

Last episode we listened to some important preparation you need to consider before going abroad … In this episode we talked to people at the Goethe Institute, Alliance Française and Instituto Cervantes. They are well established language institutions supported by the governments of the countries they represent and they have lots to offer for people learning languages in the UK. The languages they offer are some of the languages currently available for study via the Open University.

When I prepared myself for a longer period of travelling in Latin America, I found the course of intensive Spanish lessons I took for about half a year the most valuable part of it. I soon found that when I travelled with people who had less Spanish than I did, everyone’s attention in a conversation would naturally turn to me. Locals considered me to be the most likely candidate to understand them, and my fellow travellers, once they realised they hadn’t quite understood everything, thought I would be the one to fill their gaps.

I wish though, I had spent as much time preparing for the different cultures as well. I think if I had used the facilities of institutions like the ones covered in this podcast, I would have found out much more about the different cultures while travelling, and would have had a better understanding when talking to the people. Sarah and Inma, how do you prepare for another culture when you plan a trip abroad?

SH: When I am going somewhere where I speak the language like France or Spain, I find out what’s in the news so as to know what people will be talking about. Over the months before, I’ll often read a novel, listen to music in that language or tune into the radio. When I visited China, which was going to be culturally very unfamiliar to me, I started by finding out a bit about their history and philosophy of life. For Greece, which is linguistically and culturally closer, I spent time on the alphabet and in particular the pronunciation in order to give myself access to words that sound the same in other European languages, on signs and menus.

IA: When I go abroad these days, unfortunately, I never have much time to prepare, but I do take with me some books with local information and even a phrasebook if I don’t know the language. Then I try to pay attention to the way the local people communicate and behave, and I always attempt interaction in the foreign language, and in my experience the response is always good.

KDR: Ok, thank you, let’s have a closer look at the three institutions.

Learning a language is probably the first element of preparation that comes to mind for most of us. All three institutions offer language courses at all levels, catering for different kinds of needs and at varying degrees of intensity. In the case of German, students can even continue their courses at Goethe Institutes in Germany, which operate in a similar way. But let’s hear from Karl Pfeiffer, director of educational links at the Goethe Institute in London, how else they can help:

Karl Pfeiffer: They can use our website, they can use the personal contact they will have established with the teachers here. Very often I get an e-mail from somebody who has just gone to Germany saying “happily arrived, I’ve got a quick question, would you help?” And of course we always do that.

The second element is: You can prepare yourself for the cultural elements that might be of interest for you in Germany, you can do that by using our library obviously and read up on things, you can use our website to do it but you can also come to our events, you can watch a film, can listen to a talk and of course we organise exhibitions with partners in London so you could even have a look at the very latest modern paintings that come out of Germany.

IA: So you prepare yourself for your stay abroad, go there, and then come back with better language skills and much richer in cultural experience. Now you’re looking for ways to help you stay in touch with the language and the culture. The Instituto Cervantes might help even if you don’t live nearby. Gemma Belmonte, Spanish teacher at the Instituto Cervantes in London explains:

Gemma Belmonte: We have a distance learning course which has been created by the Instituto Cervantes itself. Also we offer free for everyone who has access to the internet what we call Cervantes virtual centre which is a compendium of resources for teachers, students, for everyone who wants to study Spanish as a second language including Hispanists and specialists in the language.

We offer all types of cultural events. At the moment we have a very outstanding exhibition on Velazquez the painter in conjunction with the national gallery.

SH: With all this on offer, what is the most popular with the students? Well, the classes, libraries and websites emerge as a clear favourite. All three institutions support their activities through websites that provide links, up-to-date information about French, Spanish and German speaking events and projects happening in Britain. This could be a series of French, Spanish or German films showing in a cinema with the support of the institution or a national competition relating to a popular theme like the football World Cup. The websites, of course, attract people internationally, but for those living within travelling distance of the institutions, the classes are often the most important provision. Chrystel Hug, Managing Director of the Alliance Française in London.

Chrystel Hug: We’ve tried to organise cultural events etc but we find that in the centre of London people are very busy. They have got so many other commitments and actually coming to one weekly class, let’s say, is already quite a big commitment on their part.

IA: The history of these institutions is varied and goes back, in some cases, to the times when European countries were waging war with each other. The Instituto Cervantes has roots in the 1940s.

Gemma Belmonte: Before becoming the Instituto Cervantes, this institution appeared in this country in the form, under the name of Spanish Cultural Centre and that appeared in the UK in the 1940s and then in the early 1990s the institution became what is now called Instituto Cervantes, in the early nineties. The institute first of all is Cervantes, the only official Spanish government language centre and it is a public institution founded in 1991 to promote Spanish language teaching and the knowledge of Spanish culture, so that gives us our added value.

IA: The Instituto Cervantes can be found in London, Manchester, Leeds and Dublin. The Goethe Institute also has four branches in the UK and Ireland, in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Dublin. Karl Pfeiffer points out how important it was to open the Goethe Institute in the UK in the 1950s.

Karl Pfeiffer: First of all, historically it was important for the Goethe Institute to be based outside of Germany and for people to have an opportunity to get to know Germany after the second World War. So initially of course in the UK because of the special relationship with Germany and the UK on the basis of the two World Wars that went between the two. The Goethe Institute has been in London since 1958 so we almost have history of 50 years in London and it has always been very much accepted within the cultural scene of London.

IA: The Alliance Française will be celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2007, but Alliance Française French circles have existed in the UK since the beginning of the last century.

Chrystel Hug: In 1982 when Alliance de Londres started, it was also the time when Alliance Glasgow started and Alliance Cambridge started. Now there had been French circles for a long time, since about 1908, since actually just after the Entente Cordiale was signed, and the Alliance as language schools came later. There’s about 10 alliances … what we call alliance in the UK is a language centre.

It’s not a state organised thing, it’s a local thing and actually we only open an Alliance when it comes from the local people we are really all about being ‘bi-cultural’- and not French if you see what I mean.

SH: We hear a lot about the reasons for learning a language these days. It is generally accepted that learning a language is an enriching experience which broadens the mind. For Chrystel Hug, it is a natural choice, since France is very close and can easily be visited from the UK. Also, the French language is close to English in word order and grammar, so there are many words that sound similar which helps learning the language. For Monserrat Aguirre, Head of studies at the Instituto Cervantes, Spanish language skills are essential in the context of globalisation. Speaking Spanish can be a great advantage in tourism, trade and many other professional areas, and of course, this applies not only to Spain but to the whole of Latin America. German is spoken in Europe as a first language by about 100,000 people, more than any other language in Europe. The expansion of the European Union might give you another reason to learn German.

Karl Pfeiffer: All the countries that have acceded to the EU from the east or from middle Europe; they will have German at least as a second foreign language so it is very easy to communicate with them. On top of that, German is the third language officially in the EU and I think it is of course culturally very important for people to at least know some of the language if they are interested in the culture of the country that is right in the middle of Europe.

KDR: Before we finish, let’s hear what some of the students have been saying about studying with one of the institutions:

Student 1: It has given me the confidence to practice the skills I have learnt. And through the lessons, we learned about the Spanish culture, food, history, customs etc.

Student 2: Goethe institute is a school but it is not a school like you used to go to in childhood, so you really feel free to learn and you find yourself very voluntarily learning languages which is really delightful.

KDR: We do hope that your language learning experience is as enjoyable as that of these students. For more details of the institutions covered in this podcast, and more about this podcast, visit our website at open2.net.

KDR, IA, SH: Thank you for listening!