Learning foreign languages with native speakers

"Language is, as it were, the outward manifestation of the spirit of the peoples; their language is their spirit, and their spirit their language; one cannot overstate the extent of their common identity."

^{(Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1767-1835)}

What Wilhelm von Humboldt describes can be illustrated using an example from everyday life. The dictionary tells us that "pain" is the French equivalent of "bread" in German. What the dictionary does not tell us, however, is that while the German thinks of a loaf of grey or wholemeal bread when he thinks of the word "bread", the Frenchman most probably has a crispy white bread in front of his eyes. And how does something that we Germans think of as Spanish appear to the Spaniard... yes, how does it actually appear?

A true understanding of a language requires knowledge of the culture associated with it. That is why our foreign language teachers are native speakers. In addition to language competence, they can also impart cultural knowledge. Since they have learned German as a foreign language, they are sensitized to the great and subtle differences between the language systems. Of course, this also applies to the phonetic characteristics of the individual languages, i.e. the authentic sound. The foreign language teachers currently teaching at  GPB college come  from England, Scotland, Australia, Spain, France, South Korea, Japan and the People's Republic of China.