Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 External Linguistic Politics and Policies in the German-speaking Countries of Central Europe in Early Modern Times and in the Nineteenth Century: With Some References to the Present Age
- 2 German Global Soft Power, 1700–1920
- 3 French as a Polemical Language for Russian Writers in the Age of Nicholas I
- 4 The External Cultural and Linguistic Policy of the Italian Government in the Mediterranean Region and the Issue of the National Association for Aid to Missionaries (1886–1905)
- 5 Expansion Du Français Et Des Manières Françaises en Europe Aux Dix-septième Et Dix-huitième Siècles: Résultat d’une Politique Royale Extérieure Ou Effet D’un Certain Prestige?
- 6 Literary Translation As a Foreign Language Policy Tool: The Case of Russia, Mid-eighteenth – Early Nineteenth Centuries
- 7 L’usage Diplomatique De La Langue Française, Instrument De La Puissance?
- 8 The Political Implications of the Idea of Génie De La Langue in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
- Index
2 - German Global Soft Power, 1700–1920
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 12 December 2020
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Introduction
- 1 External Linguistic Politics and Policies in the German-speaking Countries of Central Europe in Early Modern Times and in the Nineteenth Century: With Some References to the Present Age
- 2 German Global Soft Power, 1700–1920
- 3 French as a Polemical Language for Russian Writers in the Age of Nicholas I
- 4 The External Cultural and Linguistic Policy of the Italian Government in the Mediterranean Region and the Issue of the National Association for Aid to Missionaries (1886–1905)
- 5 Expansion Du Français Et Des Manières Françaises en Europe Aux Dix-septième Et Dix-huitième Siècles: Résultat d’une Politique Royale Extérieure Ou Effet D’un Certain Prestige?
- 6 Literary Translation As a Foreign Language Policy Tool: The Case of Russia, Mid-eighteenth – Early Nineteenth Centuries
- 7 L’usage Diplomatique De La Langue Française, Instrument De La Puissance?
- 8 The Political Implications of the Idea of Génie De La Langue in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
- Index
Summary
Abstract
This chapter examines the reach and ‘soft power’ of German language and culture in Europe and beyond, from 1700 to shortly after the end of the First World War. It discusses the role of the state – weak, until deliberate policies began to be formulated from the late nineteenth century. In addition, it shows the role of language societies; religious, educational, and scientific institutions, and other sociocultural and political factors (including migration and colonization) in promoting German soft power in Europe, the Americas, Africa, and China. It also considers the changing status of German language and culture in these parts of the world, and the extent of local and ‘home’ support – through explicit policy or otherwise – for German as a first, foreign, or additional language abroad.
Keywords: German as a foreign language (GFL), colonialism, migration, language societies, Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Jiaozhou Bay concession (Kiautschou)
In 2013, Monocle magazine ranked Germany top in its global soft power index, beating the USA (second) and the UK (third). With about 100 million native speakers (sixth behind Chinese, English, Hindustani, Spanish, and Russian), German also has some claim to be a world language. Its advocates point to its global reach: a map titled Weltsprache Deutsch (‘German-World language’) in a recent textbook for English learners of German suggests that German is spoken in Europe, Africa, Australia, North and South America, and Asia. A series of high-profile publications reflect concern about German's status on the world stage: Thierfelder's Die Deutsche Sprache im Ausland (‘The German language abroad’, 1957); Ammon's comprehensive Die Stellung der deutschen Sprache in der Welt (‘The status of the German language in the world’, 2014, updating his earlier Die internationale Stellung der deutschen Sprache); and Gardt and Hüppauf's more anxiously titled Globalization and the Future of German (2004). A historical perspective is provided in two recent monographs by Glück.
Germany is today assiduous in promoting German cultural and scientific endeavour internationally, as well as its linguistic study – through the Institut für Deutsche Sprache (since 1964) – and/or its ‘preservation’ or ‘protection’, for example, through Verein Deutsche Sprache (since 1997). But for most of the period 1700–1920 there were no such official or semiofficial bodies to promote German language and culture nationally or internationally; and a German empire immateriel de la langue was carried, unintentionally, by civic institutions: churches, schools, universities, and societies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Linguistic and Cultural Foreign Policies of European States18th–20th Centuries, pp. 45 - 68Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2016