Germans love the Southwestern United States.
At Kartchner Caverns State Park, the spectacular limestone cave about 60 miles southeast of Tucson, German tourists are among the most frequent international visitors. Last spring, park rangers realized that translation cards that had been used for two decades were outdated and slightly incorrect.
Park Ranger Max Hewitt said some of the Kartchner Caverns materials in English were being updated, which made it a good time to evaluate the materials in other languages. For non-English-speaking visitors, Germans are among the most common, along with Spanish speakers and French-Canadians. So, Hewitt emailed the Department of German Studies and connected with Barbara Citera, Associate Professor of Practice who was teaching German for Professional Purposes.
The class, taught in German, focuses on career-oriented projects, with students preparing a professional portfolio, working on interview and job-search skills. Other projects involve research and class presentations into connections between Arizona and selected German companies and organizations. The Kartchner Caverns project fit in perfectly with the other work and goals of the course, Citera said.
“It’s a great class anyway, but this project really created some additional excitement. It was so much fun for the students to be able to use their German in Arizona and do something with the language that helps the state as well,” Citera said. “You don’t have to go to Germany to do something meaningful. You can do it right here and that was an a-ha moment for the students.”
The class visited Kartchner Caverns, which opened to the public as a state park in 1999, in April, working in groups to translate and re-envision information about Big Room.
“It was really wonderful. The students made all this happen,” Hewitt said. “They asked a lot of really good questions about cave science and tourism and why it’s important. We had a great time when they were on site working with us.”
Maddix Sledge, a German Studies and engineering major, said the project was not only an amazing experience, but something that demonstrated how language skills can be useful in unexpected ways.
“My class and I were able to leave a genuine mark on our state for years to come rather than staying in our educational comfort zones around campus. This partnership with Kartchner Caverns showed me how seemingly random and wide the application of a foreign language can be,” he said.
The partnership between German Studies and Kartchner Caverns worked out so well it will continue. For spring semester 2025, another group of students will work on German language materials to help guide visitors through the Rotunda Room.
“Right now we’re working on Kartchner caverns, but there are other opportunities to work with Arizona State Parks in the future. It’s a great opportunity for us to collaborate,” Citera said. “The Parks service can use the university as a resource and the students bring so much to the table. It’s really fun and meaningful to apply German language and transcultural skills to projects like this.”