Speaking the German Language—A Key to Top Job Posts in Saudi Arabia

In Saudi Arabia today, speakers of the German language are more likely to get top job posts. While globalization made trading immensely easier among nations, it also posed greater demands on job seekers, as many companies now require them to be multilingual.

Saudi Arabia’s economy is petroleum-based and most of the bigger companies are locally owned. In their desire to join the World Trade Organization, the country had to open its doors to foreign companies, which agree to provide employment for local residents. While there are many international companies that have sought to gain entry into the Kingdom, Saudi Arabia is very choosy about the companies they allow to have operations in the country.

Business relations with Germany

Saudi Arabia and Germany have maintained their diplomatic relationships since 1954. Today, over four hundred German companies are actively operating in Saudi Arabia and these companies are seeking employees who speak German. They are also looking for skilled linguistic and cultural translators that could help them understand one another faster.

German language training

According to Walid Soliman, the director of the Goethe Language Center based in Riyadh, Saudi nationals who speak fluent German have all the opportunities for employment today. The Goethe Language Center is located at the compound in Al Boustan of the German International School, where it provides German language training.

Likewise, KSU (King Saud University) is offering Saudi nationals a bachelor’s degree in “German for Translators.” This year, 30 Saudi students have already enrolled in the course and more are expected to follow. The course will take five years to complete, with 2 years out of the 5 focused solely on the German language.

The program receives support from the government. Students who can make it to the merit list will be allowed to spend one of the two years of their German language specialization in Germany. The Ministry of Higher Education supports the student’s stay there, and several Saudi students have already gone to Freiburg for their one-year German language immersion.

In the same token, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) continues to send “permanent long-stay lecturers” to Saudi Arabia, with the agency covering majority of the costs of these language lecturers. Moreover, the DAAD had also sent a lecturer to Effat University in Jeddah to establish German as a subject for female Saudi students.

The German Embassy in Riyadh reports that close to 1,000 Saudi nationals are learning German in different German universities, taking up courses in architecture, chemistry, engineering and medicine. The King Abdullah Scholarship Program is generously supporting their studies.

It is not only in the German language program that the two countries are cooperating. They have also established collaboration programs with the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics and are working on new laser technologies with Prof. Abdallah Azzeer and Nobel laureate Prof. Theodor Haensch. There are also cooperative programs between Saudi Arabia and German universities on subjects such as tourism and archeology.

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