Federal Minster Guido Westerwelle is hosting an evening of homage to the German language on Thursday, 25 February at Radialsystem Berlin. The event will mark the launch of the new Federal Foreign Office campaign “German – Language of Ideas”. The event is being hosted in cooperation with Berlin Festival Ltd, which is organizing the evening programme. Participants will include the writers Péter Esterházy and Yoko Tawada, singer Christoph Prégardien, Goethe-Institut President Klaus-Dieter Lehmann, the performance group Maulwerker, rapper and slam poet Nina ‘Fiva’ Sonnenberg and concept artist Babak Saed.

German is the most widely spoken language in Europe and over 100 million people call it their native language. Nearly 15 million people speak and learn German as a foreign language. The Federal Foreign Office is working with various organizations to promote the German language worldwide. The campaign “German – Language of Ideas” will coordinate and present these initiatives in a series of individual events all around the world.

The German language itself will be the focus at the launch event, which will feature renowned figures, artists, writers and the Foreign Minister. Amusing reflections on the German language, humour and fun will set the tone for the evening. The artists that will perform at the event are border-hoppers when it comes to language. They feel at home in several cultures and have worked with the German language in many different ways.