Results of New York Sprachkonferenz

On 17 September 2011, major representatives from American and German organizations, professional associations, and educational institutions, as well as representatives from the German Embassy and the German-American Chamber of Commerce, met at the Goethe-Institut New York to develop forward-looking ways to strengthen German programs in the United States.

With the difficult economic situation in the U.S. and the resulting nationwide budget cuts in education, more and more high school and college German programs are being discontinued. Although German remains the third most popular foreign language in the U.S. and is being learned by a slightly growing number of young Americans, German, measured against the number of other language programs as well as against population growth in the U.S., is on the decline. Participants at the conference agreed that an increased common effort was required to counter this trend.  At the same time, it was pointed out that representatives of the American organizations have to make U.S. policymakers more aware of the importance of foreign language instruction, particularly in regard to German.

Conclusion documents are linked below.