Interns Like Me
Blog Post 2: Sarah Neil
In her final blog post, Sarah looks back on the last three months of her internship to tell us about her everyday tasks, newly acquired skills and her updated perception of contemporary Germany.
By Sarah Neil
How was it working within a German company as a non-native speaker? Do you feel like you would want to learn German now?
Working here as someone who doesn’t speak German wasn’t easy, but I knew that would be part of the challenge when I applied. I’ve enjoyed learning a bit of German every day, and it was a bit easier than learning a language in a classroom because it was much more immersive - I had context for the new words I was hearing. Even though my vocabulary is very limited to office-related words, I would love to keep learning more - I can confidently talk about attaching files to emails, and hopefully, soon I’ll learn how to order a coffee!
What have you learnt about what it’s like to work in a cultural institution? Would you consider this in the future?
It’s been so interesting seeing how many moving parts are going on behind the scenes of a cultural institution. So much preparation goes into all of the offerings that they provide. It has also been cool learning about the digital element of different Goethe Instituts around the world - seeing how communication is dealt with between different institutes and the ways they’re all collaborating towards the same goals has been a great lesson in how these types of global institutes operate. I would definitely consider working with a cultural institute in the future! I have seen firsthand what great work is done that benefits local communities.
What did your daily tasks look like? What new skills did you learn?
My main responsibilities daily included preparing social media posts for the upcoming days. I was looking ahead towards future events and coordinating with other departments to make sure that everything they needed publicised was put out on time. A lot of what I was doing, I learnt on the job and had no previous experience in - monitoring social media accounts, writing for online platforms such as this blog, and editorial work on the website and newsletter.
How has your initial image of modern Germany changed? What have you learnt?
I’ve enjoyed learning about contemporary German culture, especially through all of the films and literature that we promote on our social media. Before this, I didn’t have much exposure to modern Germany, but now I know much more about what is created there and what to watch out for.
How do you think we can continue to cultivate the British-German relationship?
I think the new language learning initiative that launched a few months ago is a great step towards a strong British-German relationship. Especially as it will become more difficult for Germans to come to the UK, growing the language here will be a good contribution to maintaining that relationship.
What would you like to see the Goethe-Institut doing more of/differently?
In my opinion, the Goethe-Institut is doing a great job already! I can see how the Institut is a really valuable presence on Exhibition Road as well as having a varied amount of online resources, so there really is something for every interest.