The Ups and Downs of Philology
German Slavic Studies and Czech German Studies
Deutsche Fassung
Abstract
Slavicist Alfrun Kliems and Germanist Lenka Vaňková examine the ups and downs of their respective disciplines. The starting points differ, but the trend is the same. In the Czech Republic, English has overtaken German in schools, whilst philology programmes are under pressure at universities. German studies, which have been well-established since the 1990s, are facing cuts. Czech studies in Germany are so small that any cut threatens their very existence. Yet the same applies to language learning: those who do not honour their neighbours are not worthy of the EU. Instead of outsourcing language learning to AI, we’d be better off leaving the chopping of onions to the Thermomix. Otherwise, we risk cognitive capitulation.
(Osteuropa 5-6/2026, pp. 117–130)