Syed Ibrahim has a box of chocolate in front of him. A Honorary Consul of the Federal Republic of Germany for Kerala and the head of Goethe Zentrum Trivandrum, Syed says the box is from a former student who is settled in Germany. He laughs saying that more than half of the people travelling from Kerala to Germany are former students of the institute.
Completing 10 years in the city, the centre, established in the year 2008 with the primary objectives of offering German language classes for the levels A1 to C2, has come a long way. “When we began the centre, we had just four teachers and 420 students. Currently, we have 25 teachers and 3,500 students.”
The staff at Goethe Zentrum Trivandrum | Photo Credit: Special arrangement
According to Syed, most of their applicants learn the language as they want to pursue their higher education in Germany. “Study in Germany is free, so there are quite a few aspiring doctors and engineers in our classes. We also have several doctors, engineers and nurses who want to shift to Germany taking up the language. We have linguaphiles attending our courses too. Some like Ayurveda doctors Devi Balan and Ginu Valsan fell in love with the language that they gave up their profession and are now German instructors.” And with more and more people keen on learning the German language, the centre introduced a branch in Kochi in 2013.
Schools too have been bitten by the bug to learn the language. Christ Nagar Senior Secondary School, Thiruvallam was one of the first to introduce German in their curriculum. German is now a language offered for study in schools such as Trivandrum International School, Lécole Chempaka and the Kendriya Vidyalaya in Perookada, Pattom and Akkulam. The language will also be introduced at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya at Vithura from November.
A class in session at Goethe Zentrum Trivandrum | Photo Credit: Liza George
Says Syed, one of the the movers behind bringing Goethe Zentrum to the city: “Kerala and Germany have strong relations that go back a long way. It was Hermann Gundert, a German missionary based in Kerala, who wrote the Malayalam-English dictionary and translated the Bible into Malayalam. So, when people asked why there is no German language centre in Kerala, I too asked myself the same question.”
He recalls how he and a group of lovers of German had to work hard to convince the Goethe Insitute to start a centre here. “We told them that a German institute teaching German would be welcome here.”
Having decided on the capital city as the venue to start Goethe-Zentrum, Trivandrum, which is affiliated to Max Muller Bhavan, New Delhi, the hunt was on for the perfect locale to start the centre. “We wanted a place where we could blend Germany and Kerala together. We looked high and low and finally found what we were looking for - a traditional Kerala-style house, near University College. We have also started an annexe nearby.”
Syed Ibrahim | Photo Credit: S Mahinsha
Goethe Zentrum Trivandrum is also a cultural hub. The centre introduces residents to the German culture through screening of movies, staging of plays, music concerts, conferences…the works. “I was keen that the centre be a cultural bridge between Germany and India. And of course that more and more people learn the German language. Touch wood, we have been successful thus far and I hope we continue going from strength to strength. In fact, with a rise in the number of people visiting Germany, a German Honorary Consulate was opened in the city. The Consulate was opened because of the success of the Goethe-Zentrum here providing Consular assistance to hundreds of people to get their documents attested, or for other Consular services. ”
(A close encounter with people and places in Thiruvananthapuram)