German envoy confident of finding a solution to language

Invoking German writer Johann Goethe and Rabindranath Tagore, German Ambassador to India Michael Steiner today expressed confidence of finding a solution to the issue of dropping of German as third language in Kendriya Vidyalayas.
"I am deeply confident that the political fraternity of both the countries will find a practical solution to the issue so that two purposes can be solved. First is to preserve the cultural identity and the second is to continue our successsful German learning programme," he said while speaking at an inter-school German language festival here.
Calling India as "the most fascinationg place in the world", the Ambassador congratulated the students for showing their willingness to learn a foreign language.

"It is amazing to see young students showing deep interest in embracing a new culture. They show us how it is 'fun' as well as 'make sense' to learn German. Our language is taught in various places in the world but Indian students are the best German learners," Steiner said.
Quoting Goethe's famous saying 'those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own', Steiner said a language is the best tool to the outside world.
"A language, irrespective to the region, is a tool to the globalised world. As Tagore said that the highest education is that which makes our lives in harmony with all existence and that is exactly what learning a language does," he said.

The festival saw the participation of around 50 schools from the capital where German is taught from class 4 to 10. Exhibitions on nature and environment, fancy dress competitions and poetry recitation with the common theme of Germany were the highlights of the day.
Many students were awarded scholarships by the Ambassador to study in Germany and Colombo.
The festival 'Namaste Deutschland' was organised by Delhi Public School society and Goethe-Institut.