The 8th Congress of the Central European Association of German Studies, dedicated to the theme “Digital Turning Points in Language, Culture and Literature: Challenges for German Studies,” was held at the Faculty of Teacher Education of the University of Zagreb, bringing together a large number of German studies scholars from across Europe. The diverse congress programme included plenary lectures, specialised sessions and numerous individual presentations, providing ample opportunities for discussion and diverse perspectives on the changes and transformations affecting language, culture and foreign language teaching in the digital and social contexts of the contemporary world.
Inspired by the words of the renowned German linguist Wilhelm von Humboldt, “Language is the organ of thought formation,” the congress covered five thematic areas. One of the highlights was the theme of digital culture and its impact on identity, society and intercultural communication. Within this thematic area, Assistant Professor Sandra Lukšić, PhD, and Martina Parčina presented their co-authored paper entitled “Tradition trifft auf Moderne: Traditionelle deutsche und kroatische Sprichwörter im neuen (digitalen) Gewand” (“Tradition Meets Modernity: Traditional German and Croatian Proverbs in a New (Digital) Garb”). Their presentation examined how traditional German and Croatian proverbs are transformed and adapted to digital formats and social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
