Deutsch Durch Dhrupad’ a German language book along with an audio CD was launched here on Wednesday at Swami Vivekananda library. Notably, the book is launched by Swami Vivekanand library and Max Mueller Bhavan New Delhi. The Book has been published by Goyal Publishers & Distributors Delhi.
While talking at the book launch, Manager at Swami Vivekananda library, laxmi SHaran Mishra said, “he Idea behind the book is to make German learning more enjoyable by adding some music to it, and at the same time introduce the students to the beauty of Indian Classic Music in this case specifically, The Dhrupad Style.”
Indian Classic Music is known all over the world for its ability to reduce stress. Needless to say that in general too, Music relaxes the body and heightens mental receptivity. Words of knowledge have been learnt and passed on to generations through songs for centuries. The transition from singing to speaking is said to be a natural process, and this is precisely the basis for developing the Sing-lingual method.
This method (Sing-lingual method) was initiated about 30 years back at Harvard University and tested at several universities and schools in Germany, Japan and USA. The results showed that students of all ages can be taught rapidly and effectively by combining this method with the traditional ones. However, this method so far has used familiar tunes, like Folk Songs or Nursery Rhymes, to introduce the expressions, functions and grammatical patterns often used in the language.
The new and unique concept being introduced in this book is the assimilation of German language and Indian Music. It is an attempt to familiarize the students of German with this music. Dhrupad, being the oldest form of Hindustani Classic Music and having slow and stable notes, appeared to be the most suitable for the purpose.
The Songs in the book are written and composed by Bhopal based German language trainer Nandini Datta Jha. Each song is based on a different Raag and Beat. It makes us happy that this book and CD is coming out in the Centenary year of German language Teaching in India. “We hope it will bring the people of the two countries even closer,” he added.
