Eight Osnabrück students took on the finals of the Great Dictation Competition in Frankfurt am Main - Andreas Schreiber came in second among teachers

Osnabrück, June 15, 2016

Success for Team Osnabrück in the Great Dictation Competition: Andreas Schreiber won second prize in the "Teachers" category at the finals in Frankfurt on Tuesday evening (June 14). With six mistakes, the teacher for German and religion at the Gymnasium Bersenbrück won the first prize for the delegation of the Friedel & Gisela Bohnenkamp Foundation. This was the second time that the foundation had invited participants to take part in the competition, which was launched five years ago by the Polytechnic Society Foundation in Frankfurt am Main. The competition is now held annually in seven regions and cities across Germany. Invitations are extended not only to high school students, but also to parents, teachers and anyone else who would like to compete in the German language. The regional winners travel to the finals in Main. The eight-member Osnabrück delegation had set off together with the participants from Münster in the "team bus of the Westphalian Peace," as Michael Prior, the managing director of the Bohnenkamp Foundation had christened the vehicle.

"It's interesting because you can also motivate the students to take another look at the German language," says Schreiber, who is especially happy about his second place because of this factor. "It's also an impetus for the school to turn its attention to the subject again," adds the educator, who is eager to see the reactions of his students. Some of them had taken part in the dictation at the regional competition in March. Now Schreiber wants to write the dictation with them to show how tricky the German language can be - and to prove that relying on the auto-correction of computer programs is of little use.

The punctuation marks were read along with them in Frankfurt. But that was the only concession made by the organizers. No other aids were allowed, it was announced, before the dictation entitled "Furore im Schrebergarten" was read out. The 193 words revolved around forsythia accidentally trimmed, people who can't be satisfied, rhubarb, and mannered smart alecks. It wasn't just about orthographic pitfalls. Also challenging were questions of capitalization, hyphenation, hyphenation, and collation. The 300 participants made an average of 17.7 errors, according to the 24-member jury chaired by Dr. Kathrin Kunkel-Razum from the Duden editorial team. As a member of the jury, Michael Prior had also been able to see for himself quite directly the language skills of the participants. "I am delighted that we were able to participate with such a motivated team. Language competence not only makes people confident in their dealings with others, it also helps them participate in society." No one had fewer than five errors in this form of "language sport," as Dr. Roland Kaehlbrand, Chairman of the Board of the Polytechnic Society Foundation, describes the competition.

With seven errors from the Osnabrück regional competition, Sylke Ditting was the favorite in the "Parents" category going into the final. "As a cultural technique, language is the prerequisite for communication," said the trained editor before the competition. Rules are necessary for this communication to succeed, Ditting emphasized, stressing that much of the world is ill because people do not communicate enough with each other. Ditting narrowly missed third place among parents with eight errors.

At the award ceremony, the participants not only received a certificate and the winners a trophy. High-quality prizes such as tablets, book vouchers, leather bags, soccer and concert tickets were also presented. It is not so much the prizes that motivated the Osnabrückers to take part. For them, it's about the honor. That's why some of them want to take part in the competition again next year. Until then, the Stiftung Polytechnische Gesellschaft Frankfurt am Main will be providing training materials and dictation texts on its website at www.dergrossediktatwettbewerb.de to help them practice.