Dainius Sabaliauskas, head of the Eurotradus translation agency and President of the Association of Lithuanian Translation Companies, speaking at the international workshop “German Studies and Market Requirements” (Germanistik für den Beruf), drew attention to the importance of the German language in the translation sector. The value of trade between Lithuania and Germany is counted in billions of euros. Germany is Lithuania’s second-largest trading partner on the basis of annual turnover. Therefore, there is always a demand in Lithuania for German-speaking specialists, especially qualified translators of the German language. This workshop was held at the end of March 2018 on the initiative of the Department of German Language at Vilnius University.

About 100 students are studying German Philology and German Language in the Faculty of Philology at Vilnius University as their principal or accompanying subjects (Bachelor’s and Master’s studies). It’s true that in secondary schools, German as a second foreign language is chosen by only a few students – less than one tenth. Employer representatives who participated in the discussion stressed that people who learn not only English, but also German, have a much greater range of employment opportunities. “Englisch ist ein Muss, Deutsch ist ein Plus.” (“English is a necessity, German is an advantage”).