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More Italians learning German in crisis

Published: 28 Oct 12 15:08 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.de/national/20121028-45825.html

Thousands of Italians are swotting up on their German language skills in the hope of getting a better paid job north of the Alps, new figures show.

As the financial crisis continues to take its toll on their homeland, large numbers of Italians old and young are struggling with impenetrable grammar rules and unfamiliar pronunciation in a bid for employment in Germany, reported Der Spiegel.

“It's getting worse,” Massimo, an Italian freelance handyman, told the magazine. His clients cannot afford to pay him his fees on time and he often has to buy materials on credit. Massimo has decided to learn German so he can try his luck in the north, where workers like him can earn higher wages.

Long scorned, German courses are now di moda in schools and universities across Italy, the magazine wrote. Over 400,000 Italian pupils are now choosing German as their second foreign language, with numbers up 18 percent last year. Meanwhile, the numbers of French and Spanish learners are dropping.

Even older, professional Italians are flocking to take specialized German courses for doctors, lawyers and engineers in the hope of getting ahead in Europe's strongest economy, the report said.

Similar trends are noticeable in Spain, Portugal and especially crisis-ravaged Greece, where numbers of German learners have jumped 30 percent in the past six months. And in contrast to the Gastarbeiter influx of immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s, today's Germany is able to offer challenging employment for skilled workers from southern Europe.

Yet not all German learners will make the leap and emigrate north as there are jobs to be had at home in business and tourism once applicants have mastered the language.

The Local/jlb

What do you think? Leave your comment below.


Your comments about this article:

16:16 October 28, 2012 by Berlin fuer alles
Better off learning English, Russian or Chinese.
17:37 October 28, 2012 by Englishted
"an Italian freelance handyman " is that a posh builder? because he had better be prepared to work for poor wages as the job market is flooded with Eastern Europeans working for very little money.
19:10 October 28, 2012 by GloriousNewsComrades
Great News Comrades! Soon only great Languages of German, Russian and Chinese need taught in Great Glorious European schools.
19:56 October 28, 2012 by smart2012
This is the only way that pro Verkel press has to keep saying Germany is doing great, when reality shows that Germany is falling apart.

I would like to see the origin of the study. Also, they may learn German to go to live in Switzerland, which is more clever than to go to Germany..
12:01 October 30, 2012 by raandy
A lot of Spanish and Italian people learn German for the tourist trade,which is dominated in their respective countries by Germans.

I am sure there are those that would consider immigrating to Germany for work, but most would not qualify under German requirements for good paying employment.
18:09 October 31, 2012 by chris berlin
@ smart2012: In Berlin it is so visible, language schools are struggling with too many applicants, most of them from italy and spain. I also have more friends here form southern Europe than from Germany... feels like southern europe here in berlin-xberg - if it would not be november ;)

unemployment figures are still very good in germany, among young people even the best in the whole of europe:

bbc.co.uk/news/business-20153497
01:49 November 13, 2012 by grazhdanin
The 'crisis' only exists in some people's imagination.
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