APPRENTICES FROM ROLLS-ROYCE POWER SYSTEMS WIN NATIONAL FOREIGN LANGUAGES COMPETITION IN GERMANY

• Video clip judged the best of 140 submissions
• Top places in foreign languages tournament too

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, GERMANY – Four apprentice trainees from Rolls-Royce Power Systems in Friedrichshafen won this German national foreign languages competition. Their self-produced multilingual video clip helped Alina Martin, Hannah Noger, Jessica Burghardt and Katrin Plocher beat off competition from 140 company and technical college teams from across Germany to win the competition organized by talent promotion agency Talentförderzentrum Bildung & Begabung in Bonn. The trainees also landed top places in the subsequent foreign languages tournament.

“In a more and more globalized world, language skills are becoming increasingly important. Good knowledge of foreign languages, and also intercultural skills, are key to business success, and this is certainly true at our company which has become much more international in recent years. With this in mind, I'm delighted at this fantastic achievement by our trainees,” said Marcus A. Wassenberg, HR & Labor Director at Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

The seven-minute winning clip entitled 'Making coffee is not the only challenge' is about a student sent to work as an assistant in Sales for two months. At first, the young woman feels over-qualified for the role, but by and by she realizes that making coffee is not the only challenge in this job. As the title suggests, the story is told with a good helping of humor, and one or two clichés as well. “The panel of judges just loved it. Our trainees aren't just language heroes – this film also shows masses of creativity and acting skill, and the group gelled brilliantly,” said Frank Rogall, who is responsible for international apprentice training at Rolls-Royce Power Systems.

These skills also helped the four young ladies in the foreign languages tournament in which the 14 best teams then took part. The trainees, hailing from right across Germany, were split up into mixed groups and given 12 hours to write and perform a theatrical piece in a foreign language. Here too, our apprentices came through with flying colors, winning more prizes with their teams.

“Taking part was just a fantastic experience for us. It didn't just bring us closer together, we also learned a lot language-wise, and would absolutely encourage anyone who has the chance to take part,” said Hannah Noger. The ladies are going to use the € 1,500 prize money to do something as a group. “We'll probably go off and see a nice musical together,” said Hannah.

Link to film: https://goo.gl/UsV3To