Starting on the 14th of October, the third edition of Woche für Deutsch / Week van het Duits / Semaine de l’allemand will unfold countrywide until 20 October 2024. There will be a large and colourful range of activities, events and programmes around and about the German language. The aim of Week of German in Belgium is to discover the language in all its diversity and in a relaxed manner.
The event is organised by the German Embassy in Brussels with a multitude of partners – the Belgian Association of Germanists and German language teachers (BGDV), the German-speaking Community of Belgium, the Goethe-Institut Belgium, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), the Deutschcafé Antwerpen, the KULTURforum Antwerpen, the Belgian German-speaking broadcasting station BRF, the Embassies of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Austria and Switzerland and also numerous schools and universities.
In the words of H.E. Mr. Martin Kotthaus, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany to the Kingdom of Belgium – “More than 130 million people in the EU speak German and more than 79,000 people live in Belgium’s German-speaking Community! Germany is Belgium’s most important trading partner. Thus, there too, exchanging in German helps a lot! And learning German is not so difficult as one thinks, which will be demonstrated in the course of our third Week for German …playfully, creatively, interactively and using multimedia means. We are very much looking forward to meet you!”
Linguistically artistic kick-off
The Week for German 2024 will festively start with a German-English performance of the well-known Spoken-Word-artist Bas Böttcher, who is one of the co-founders of the German-speaking Spoken-Word-scene and who will be musically assisted by trumpeter Frank Braun. On the same day, the writer Margret Kreidl who lives in Vienna will be reading excerpts from her works at the Free University of Brussels (U.L.B., Département de Langues et Lettres).
Many highlights & a large variety of activities for all age groups
After that event, there will be a week with plenty of events and activities for young and old, film screenings, poetry slams, lectures, exchange forums, language workshops and much more…
In the big Kafka memorial year 2024, many workshops, seminars and lectures on the famous writer will take place as part of the Week for German, as well as the exhibition of the comic strip biography Komplett Kafka. Among other things, there will be a literary discussion on Kafka with the author Nicolas Mahler on “100 Years of Kafka” on Thursday, 17 October, in cooperation with the Austrian Cultural Forum Brussels (Österreichisches Kulturforum Brüssel).
Another highlight is the film week at Cinematek Brussels, where German films will be in the spotlight, featuring cinematographic gems like the silent movie Faust by Friedrich W. Murnau with live piano accompaniment, Berliner Ballade by Robert A. Stemmle, Kameradschaft by Georg W. Pabst and Gegen die Wand by Fatih Akin.
At the Cinéma Sauvenière (Les Grignoux) in Liège, you can watch Matthias Glasner’s multi-award-winning film experiment Sterben (in German with subtitles in French) on Tuesday, 15 October 2024 at 7.30 p.m.
The 2023 German Book Prize winner and Austrian writer Tonio Schachinger will present his novel Echtzeitalter (Real-Time Era) at various locations in Belgium (Antwerp, Brussels – for further information, see the website www.wochefuerdeutsch.be).
On Wednesday, 16 October 2024 at 6 p.m., the Agora Theatre from St-Vith will perform the play Nebensache (Secondary matter) in German and French at the German Embassy (tbc).
On Thursday 17 October, a German-language poetry slam will take place in Ghent with texts that were developed during a workshop with students.
A whole week of GERMAN … in schools, colleges and universities!
A wide range of activities and events – online or in person – give pupils and students in Belgium the opportunity to discover the German language in all its diversity in a relaxed way for a whole week. It doesn’t matter whether you have just started learning German, have previous knowledge, are a professional or speak German as a native language. Everyone is welcome at the Week for German and is actively involved. The Week for German is a participatory week and thrives on the creativity, curiosity and interest of young people.
The “German” kahoot quiz for school classes, which was very popular throughout Belgium last year, will take place again. In Antwerp, Bierges and Ostend, pupils will be offered the possibility to discover the big stage at theatre workshops run by the Junges Theater Liechtenstein, in German, of course (in collaboration with the Liechtenstein Embassy and the KULTURforum Antwerpen).
For more information and the complete programme, you can visit the Week for German 2024 project website: www.wochefuerdeutsch.be
