School Languages between Economy and Politics: The Foreign Language Curriculum in Northern German Schools (1850-1900)

• Published in: Documents pour l'histoire du francais langue etrangere ou seconde Vol. 53; no. Dec; pp. 33 - 48
• Main Author: GIESLER, Tim
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 01.12.2014
• ISSN: 0992-7654

The modern foreign languages French and (later) English found their way into the German curricula over the course of the 19th century. This process ended in 1901 when English was awarded acceptance as a final examination subject in Prussian Gymnasien. Before that, French and English had already played a substantial role in middle schools and were major parts of the curricula of Realschulen all over Germany, especially in the merchant Hanseatic cities. The obvious need for modern foreign languages there continually contended with the older view of languages being part of general and formal education; the prospective merchants' need for communication competed with traditional grammar-translation methods. Whether English or French were taught not only depended on trade partners but also on other aspects, such as literature or linguistic features of the respective language discussed in the schools' publications. The following article takes a closer look at reasons and justifications for the choice and sequence of school languages in Hanseatic cities like Bremen and Hamburg.