Why German?

Students in German Immersion Score Higher on the S.A.T. *

The scores of students who study foreign language increase up to fourteen percent over students who do not study a foreign language.

Verbal and math scores climb higher with each additional year of foreign language.

Students of the German language achieve the highest scores.

Some more great reasons...

1. English and German are closely related (English is a Germanic language), thus the study of German enriches understanding of the English language in the same ways that are often claimed for Latin. Almost 200 of the most common English words are really German.

2. German is a phonetic language. Students who learn to read first in German transfer their phonetics-based reading method to English.

3. More German firms are represented in Charlotte than any other foreign country. Since 1999, the number of German companies in the Charlotte area has grown from 93 to 165. The second country on the list is Britain with 90.

4. The Federal Republic of Germany has the third-highest GNP in the world. Germany is one of our most important trading partners. German is the second most frequently used business language. When markets are defined by language, the German-speaking countries form the world's second largest.

5. German is the third most studied foreign language in the world. Only English and Japanese have more students worldwide.

6. The cultural heritage of the United States is closely tied to Germany. Over 20% of the American population claims German ancestry.

7. Since 1945, more Americans have lived and worked in Germany than in any other country in the world.

8. Travel all over Europe is easier with a knowledge of German.

9. Over 25% of foreign tourists visiting the U.S. come from German-speaking countries.

10. German continues to be one of the main languages of scientific publications. An enormous amount of material is made available first sometimes only in German in academic fields such as banking, engineering, the sciences, ANY humanities field, medicine, social sciences, etc. German companies and research institutes are world leaders in many of these areas. For example, almost half of all US pharmaceuticals come from Germany and Switzerland.

*Cooper, T., "Foreign Language Study & SAT Verbal Scores." Modern Language Journal. 7.4 (1987): 381-387.