Getting started

Starting at the beginning

Without exchange we couldn’t live in a ­community. It is language that enables us to ­communicate and interact with one another, ­language contains our cultural, historical and ecological knowledge, and language shapes our identity.

Issue 1 | 2023
Three gestures in sign language making the word "beginning".
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This edition reveals just how important ­language is in the DAAD’s work, and how DAAD alumnae and alumni are making important academic contributions to German studies and ­research fields such as multi­lingualism, minority languages and artificial intelligence. Be it the sign languages that DAAD alumna Dr Cornelia Loos is studying at Universität Hamburg, the previously unresearched languages in the South Seas or the use of Tarifit Berber in social media: languages ­connect people, build bridges and are what make genuine exchange possible in the first place. The sign in the illustration above means “Beginning”. So let’s get started! —