ABSTRACT
The implementation of the language certificate requirement in 2007 has given rise to a new market for the German language. Before 2007, it was essentially Moroccan students, academics and professionals who were interested in studying German. Over the past years, a new group of clients for language courses at the Goethe Institute and other schools has emerged: Moroccans married to someone in Germany. The 2007 legal change not only required language schools to offer additional German courses, but also to introduce a new exam, the ‘Start Deutsch 1’. This exam had already existed, but was not in demand. In 2007, the Goethe Institute was the only institution in Morocco entitled to examine these candidates and to issue the language certificate. A few years later, an Austrian institution, the ‘Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch’, also got the license, a situation that has triggered certain conflicts and inter-institutional competition, as these exams are an additional source of income. The courses for family reunification are called ‘pre-integration courses’, following the German
government’s idea of facilitating integration ahead of entry into Germany. In these courses, the participants prepare for the ‘Start Deutsch 1’ test. The preparation classes last 15 weeks, take place three times a week and include three levels (A1A, A1B, A1C) which cost 1750 Dirhams each (Goethe Institute 2014). In addition to the course fees, the candidates have to pay for the final test. At the Goethe Institute, the fee for the new test was set at 1500 Dirhams – the same amount as the B1 exam, although the work in preparing and delivering ‘Start Deutsch 1’ is considerably less for the employees. Compared to an average monthly income of 5000 Dirhams, this amount of money is not easily affordable: a first obstacle for marriage migrants who do not have adequate financial means. The relatively high prices were justified by the argument that the spouses in Germany would pay anyway. Compared to the student courses, the ‘pre-integration courses’ are more heterogeneous: a single
class may include participants who cannot read and write easily or at all, have never attended school or only for a couple of years, and for whom German is the first foreign language. And at the same time, there are participants with a Bachelor or Master’s degree, who have been employed, and speak at least French or more languages. Language teachers I interviewed told me that at the beginning they had difficulties with these courses and that the teaching was very exhausting. The head office of the Goethe Institute had sent educational material to Morocco
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Skout – and dating sites – like Badoo or Jappy – provide unlimited opportunities to search for a partner. On the other hand, the new communication technologies facilitate the situation of ‘mixed couples’ forced to maintain a long-distance relationship because the Moroccan partner is not allowed to move until he or she has obtained a visa. The visa issuing procedure can be long and tough, even more so because of the required language certificate. In the last two decades, cyber cafés and the Internet itself have become important spaces for Morocco’s young generation to get in contact with people from all over the world, and especially with the other sex, as the anthropologist Ines Braune demonstrated in her study on the role of Internet in the everyday life of Moroccan youth (Braune 2008).
