Diversity in Practice: Personal Stories from the ÖSD for IDT 2025

The motto of this year’s largest conference for teachers of German worldwide, the IDT 2025 in Lübeck, is: “Daring Diversity”. As already mentioned in our first blog post, this topic is far more than a guiding principle for the Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch (ÖSD). It is part of our daily work.

Diversity in German exams

The ÖSD embraces diversity in a variety of ways, for example through our
• pluricentric approach to the German language,
• comprehensive range of examinations,
• open, international collaboration with over 500 examination centres worldwide,
• multilingual, multicultural team.

But what does this diversity mean in concrete terms – for people who work, examine or learn with the ÖSD?
In this post, we give three of them the floor. Their stories stand for many others: participants, examination officials and staff members who show how vibrant, multifaceted – and human – diversity at the ÖSD really is.

We begin with an ÖSD examination participant. His personal story shows how linguistic diversity opens up new paths – and what German means to him.

Ali Behrouzinia, ÖSD examination participant. Iran and Paderborn, Germany

The 26-year-old software developer Ali Behrouzinia comes from Iran. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering and currently lives in Paderborn. He loves diversity – not only in relation to languages, but also in thinking, learning and life in general.
His analytical and creative perspective also shapes the way he learns German. “I’m always looking for ways to develop myself – professionally and personally,” says Ali. And this attitude is reflected in his learning path.

Multilingualism and the joy of learning

Having grown up with Persian-Kurdish as his mother tongue, he now also speaks English fluently at C1 level. He learned German at B2 level: at first, his motivation was the desire to undertake vocational training in Germany. But soon he discovered the beauty of the language itself: “I’m fascinated by how precise and structured German is. I really enjoy playing with its linguistic subtleties.”
This openness to linguistic nuances also helps Ali in dealing with diversity. He uses German-language YouTube channels, podcasts and other digital media not only to train his listening comprehension, but also to understand cultural differences. Topics such as everyday life, social values and language in Germany are just as important to him as grammar rules. “It really motivates me when I can communicate better and better in everyday life,” he says.

Exam preparation as motivation

A milestone in his learning process was preparing for the ÖSD examination – a challenge that demanded a lot from him: “You can’t just get by through memorizing. The exam goes deep.” For him, this was not an obstacle, but an incentive to take a closer look at how language really works.
Ali Behrouzinia’s journey shows how diverse and individual language learning can be – especially when you are ready to engage with new ways of thinking and different cultures. Curiosity, perseverance and courage are, for him, the keys to development – values that have meaning in every language.

And what does diversity mean in the daily life of an ÖSD examination centre? A dedicated examination official provides insight into her work – and her attitude.

Amra Sinanović, head of ÖSD examination centre. Tešanj, Bosnia & Herzegovina

The theme of IDT 2025 and this blog post hits the mark for Amra Sinanović, professor of German and owner of the ÖSD examination centre “deutsch.ba”: she loves diversity both professionally and privately. Her motto is: the more colourful, the better. It also takes courage to show your own diversity. And a willingness to accept – and promote – the diversity of others.
The broad spectrum of ÖSD German exams and the many accompanying resources are of great importance to Amra: “The knowledge provided to me so far by the ÖSD shows an impressive diversity, even though it was ‘only’ about examinations.”

Common ground despite differences

Living in a country – Bosnia – that offers so much variety in terms of language, culture and religion, Amra considers a great fortune. She is amazed at how much differences can also connect: “When working with course participants whose cultural background is different, we often come across customs that have been adapted to each other or even developed together. Or we discover similar ones in the German-speaking world,” she says with delight.
Her aim is to convey to participants of German as a foreign language courses the beauty of diverse expression – and to encourage them to embrace diversity. Some learners do not initially find it particularly helpful when the same language uses different terms for a certain object in different countries – as is the case in pluricentric languages such as German.

Joy in learning German

For Amra, it is always enriching and touching to observe the joy that accompanies language learning. When participants rejoice over even small successes to the extent that the whole group laughs and everyone feels connected. For example, when playing with the ÖSD memory cards – and discovering that a Brathähnchen in Germany is called Brathendl or Brathuhn in Austria and Güggeli or Poulet in Switzerland …

The perspective from within the ÖSD completes the picture. A staff member speaks about how she perceives diversity in the team, in cooperation – and in language.

Karoline Janicek, ÖSD examiner and trainer of ÖSD examiners, quality assurance. Vienna, Austria

“Diversity” is, for long-standing ÖSD employee Karoline Janicek, a beautiful and at the same time difficult word – especially in the context of examinations, which are standardised. However, she believes it’s important that the topics and interpretation options in the communicative ÖSD exams are so diverse.
“From the everyday practice of central assessment and examination monitoring, I can say that it is always astonishing how colourful and varied the answers in the exams can be,” reports Karoline. Background: The ÖSD B2 exam includes a question: How do you deal with the topic? This open question prompts a wide variety of responses and statements – depending on the participants’ country of origin. “This regularly opens up new, diverse worlds for the ÖSD team!”

The variants in the ÖSD examinations

At the Österreichisches Sprachdiplom Deutsch (ÖSD), every variant of the German language is permitted in the exam, provided it is correct and applied consistently. The standard reference is the Variantenwörterbuch des Deutschen by Ulrich Ammon, Profile deutsch and similar works. Karoline is delighted when participants from all over the world apply the different standard varieties of German, depending on where they have learned or live. She says: “In the oral part, it is particularly nice when learners at higher levels show, through pronunciation and vocabulary, which standard variant of German they master.”

Travelling internationally for German examinations

Karoline Janicek frequently travels worldwide to conduct examinations. Her work trips have taken her to India, Morocco, Vietnam, Mexico and many more. For her, this is pure diversity. In oral exams in African examination centres, such as in Benin, she observed that public squares with a statue are treated both as meeting places and as important sights – practically the equivalent of the European concept of museums. “In my work environment, diversity is reflected not only through language – but also through places with collective memory, through smells and clothing.”

Dialogue for authentic language production

For her work at the ÖSD, Karoline hopes to see the same openness in the choice of topics and tasks in the future – an openness that already characterises the organisation and its German examinations. And, in the oral exam, she wishes for interlocutors to continue demonstrating the skill of picking up on participants’ statements and turning them into a dialogue. This enables participants (in line with the principle that they themselves are the focus – the so-called human approach) to demonstrate their authentic and individual language production and draw on their experiences. “It also helps to counter the drill of teaching only to the test,” she notes.

A new language, a new way of thinking

For Karoline, one thing is clear: learning a language means daring diversity. Those who learn a new language enter a new world of thinking, which is, ideally, different from the one they knew before. “Diversity also means formulating thoughts that you might never have had without the stimulus of the new language. As in our case, the pluricentric language German.”

Diversity is relationship

Three perspectives, three stories – and one common denominator: Diversity is nothing abstract. It thrives in interaction.
In the exam, in the classroom, among colleagues. Between people who come together with different languages, experiences and expectations – and find connection through German.
What IDT 2025 places in the spotlight with Daring Diversity is everyday reality at the ÖSD. And yet we remain curious, open – and ready to discover diversity anew, time and again.