Eighteen students and persons studying for their doctorate from Germany are attending Romanian language and literature courses at the Romanian Language House “Nichita Stanescu” in Chisinau within the sixth summer school “Moldova and its neighbors – crossborder cooperation and regional development”.

The courses are staged between August 24 and September 14. One of the moderators, teacher Alexei Axan, has told IPN that the goal of the project is to create a tie between the young people from both banks of the Nistru and to increase the German students’ interest in Moldova and the Romanian language. “The Europeans have the culture of studying a language and they easily learn any language,” said the teacher.

Many of these students will continue to study Romanian when they return to Moldova. “Many of them learn the language not because it is exotic, but because they will use it in their work in the future. They will either work in Brussels or will manage certain areas related to Romania and Moldova,” stated Alexei Axan.

The 18 participants in the courses are bachelors of political and administrative sciences, cultural studies, social sciences and history. Participant Katharina Braisch is studying cultural sciences in Frankfurt. She wants to know the history and languages of Eastern Europe also because she lived in Sibiu, Romania, and Lvov, Ukraine, for a period. She admitted that she speaks Romanian better than she writes it because she learned the language more in the street. She likes to travel and see interesting places and is sure that there are many things to be discovered in Moldova and the region.

Within the summer school, the participants will have a series of presentations and meetings with representatives of different governmental institutions and civil society organizations so as to familiarize themselves with history aspects, the sociopolitical situation and the relations of Moldova with the countries of the region. They will also interact with representatives of state and international institutions working in Chisinau.

The summer school is supported financially by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research, being initiated by the president of the Moldova- Leipzig Institute, teacher and academician Klaus Bochmann in 2009. The courses are organized together with the History and Philosophy Faculty of the State University of Moldova and the Romanian Language House “Nichita Stanescu” in cooperation with the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).