Action items for implementing the Languages Policy

TU Darmstadt’s Languages Policy includes a catalogue of action items to foster functional multilingualism on an individual and institutional level All members of the University are invited to participate. Here you will find ideas and impulses.

The Languages Policy implementation team is currently working on planning and implementing the following action items of the Languages Policy:

Below you will find some examples of action items that the team of the Language Resource Centre, the Department of Linguistics – Multilingualism and other organisational units have already implemented. This list is constantly being updated:

Issue 4/2025 hoch3, published on 15 November 2025, contains a detailed section on the Languages Policy of TU Darmstadt , which aims to raise awareness of the Languages Policy and the topic of multilingualism at TU Darmstadt.

In addition to an overview text and an article by two of the three authors of the Languages Policy, the thematic section also includes an interview with Dr. Mônica Holtz, who reports on the use of multilingualism in her everyday university life.

hoch³ 4/2025
hoch³ 4/2025

In 2025, the Language Centre at TU Darmstadt organised the European Day of Languages at TU Darmstadt for the second time – this time on 6 November 2025, to enable even greater participation during the active semester period.

Aligning with the goals of the Council of Europe, the linguistic and cultural diversity of Europe and beyond was once again celebrated. The extensive programme offered students and staff numerous opportunities to discover languages in a creative, playful and interactive way.

Throughout the day, hundreds of visitors took part in a wide range of activities: from the Language Hunt to an interactive lecture on German sign language, AlphaBeta Lab, a multilingual collage workshop, the Language Café, and the Creative Evening, which brought the importance of multilingualism to life with presentations, games and team activities.

A special aspect of 2025 was the close cooperation between the Language Centre, ESN Darmstadt , Tutor International and other committed student initiatives, as well as several units of the TU Darmstadt (including Directorate VIII , European Documentation Centre, Unite! ). This cooperation resulted in a unique day full of encounters and exchanges on the topics of language(s), multilingualism and language learning.

The six-hour workshop, which was held as part of the Ingenium Qualification and Networking Programme, focused on the role of multilingualism and languages other than German and English for young researchers and doctoral students.

On 12 February 2025, Robin Breit and Melanie Lipinski took part in the HDA format EinfachDidakTisch with their contribution Understanding multilingualism as an opportunity: How functional multilingualism can enrich teaching and learning and presented the Languages Policy of TU Darmstadt and answered questions on the topics of language(s) and multilingualism in teaching, as well as the Languages Policy at TU Darmstadt.

The description of the event and the video recording with German subtitles are both available online.

On 15 January 2025, the Unite! Online Language Café is another online programme that gives students at TU Darmstadt and all other Unite! partner institutions the opportunity to practice and enhance their language skills in the Unite! languages.

The Unite! Online Language Café takes place every two weeks on Wednesdays during term time. It is supervised by student language tutors from the partner universities which successfully applied for the seed fund project in 2024.

On 30 October 2024, the Language Resource Centre launched “Deutsch zum Kaffee” (German Coffee Hour), a new support service for international employees at TU Darmstadt.

The Sprachencafé (language café) offers international colleagues the opportunity to practice and improve their German language skills every two weeks.

The Sprachencafé (language café) is hosted by a GFL teacher, and various topics are offered for discussion during the meeting.

In 2024, TU Darmstadt’s Language Resource Centre organised the European Day of Languages at TU Darmstadt for the first time.

Celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity in Europe and beyond is an integral part of the Council of Europe’s language policy.

All members and associates of TU Darmstadt and their families were invited, and more than 200 people dropped in throughout the day.

The cooperation with Unite! combined with the X. Unite! Dialogue at TU Darmstadt contributed to the event’s success in 2024.

With increasing internationalisation, the number of new degree programmes taught in English is rising.

For many international students, English facilitates access to studying in Germany. However, communicating in the lingua franca poses a linguistic challenge for students and lecturers alike, which requires consistent planning and support.

PALS conducted a comprehensive survey to identify the linguistic and academic needs of international students enrolled on degree programmes offered in English. The results of this survey were incorporated into a support programme focusing on specialist languages. The programme was piloted for the first time in the winter semester of 2024/25.

An important goal of the Languages Policy is to improve the (pluri-)lingual competencies of members of TU Darmstadt. To improve usability and clarity, the wide range of services offered by the SPZ has been summarised in a new overview.

Since 2015, the SchreibCenter has been fostering plurilingualism among those seeking advice in a constructive manner through its individual consultations. Writing advice is currently available in more than five different languages. It can also be provided in a mixture of languages. Since 2023, the SchreibCenter has also been offering a certified short training on “Mehrsprachiges akademisches Schreiben begleiten” (Supporting multilingual academic writing).

Functional multilingualism can be particularly successful if the communication partners are aware of their plurilingualism. It can also make communication easier and less stressful when giving or receiving advice. This gives people seeking advice the opportunity to use a language they feel more comfortable with. The Department of Linguistics – Multilingualism has encouraged its employees to include their communication languages on their door signs.

At SPZ events, employees increasingly wear multilingual name tags. They clearly indicate the languages in which the employees can be addressed.

ZediS was launched in autumn 2022 as one of the first centres for digital language learning in the German-speaking world. It is a point of contact for teachers, learners and anyone interested in digital language learning.

What can you do?

TU Darmstadt’s Languages Policy seeks to encourage all members of the University to take small steps to foster functional multilingualism. Here you will find ideas and impulses for putting multilingualism and plurilingualism into practice.

Do you have any other inspiring ideas? Then write a message to