This conference explored the German language within the context of global migration, past and present. The empirical focus was two-pronged. On the one hand, we considered the social and linguistic consequences of the migration of German-speakers beyond Central Europe, especially to North America, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, we examined the situation of migrants to Germany after the Second World War and also German unification, especially Turks and ethnic Germans from the East and former Soviet Union.

The goal of the conference was to examine the parallels between history and the present to understand better the diverse sociolinguistic situation of German around the globe.

The foundation for “The German Language and Immigration in International Perspective” was laid in a collaborative seminar on the topic sponsored by the Center for German and European Studies, which took place during the spring of 2006.

In that seminar, approximately fifty colleagues and students were linked live via video at four universities: the UW–Madison, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, the Free University of Berlin, and the Europa-Universität Viadrina in Frankfurt/Oder, Germany. An important goal of the conference is to link instruction with international scholarship and local outreach, which will afford the students from the four partner universities a unique educational opportunity.