Hostel Dictionaries

What do Heimatadresse, Putzplan, Partyraum mean in Arabic or Russian? Illustrated hostel dictionary now in eight languages

Heimatadresse, Putzplan, Partyraum: Words that are everyday vocabulary for German students can be quite incomprehensible (with all their peculiarities and subtleties) to foreign students. Since 2011, the multilingual Illustrierte Wohnheimwörterbuch (Living at a Student Dorm - An Illustrated Dictionary) published by the Deutsches Studentenwerk (DSW) has been making it easier for foreign students to enter the world of student accommodation. Now the DSW is presenting new editions in French, Spanish, Arabic, Polish and Russian, funded by the Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung (German Federal Ministry of Education and Research / BMBF).

The first edition of the dictionary was created in 2010 in the language combination German-English-Chinese as a joint project of Bielefeld University and the Studentenwerk Bielefeld, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) as part of its “Programme for the Promotion of the Integration of Foreign Students" (PROFIN). The texts and translations were written by foreign students themselves.

"The demand from students, universities and the Studentenwerke themselves is enormous", DSW General Secretary Achim Meyer auf der Heyde is pleased to say. "With the dictionary, the Studentenwerke can give foreign students a wonderful explanation of the microcosm of hostels and student residences.”

The 57 Studierenden- und Studentenwerke offer more than 1,000 student hostels with around 192,000 places at German universities. The hostel is the most popular form of accommodation for foreign students; currently, about 65,000 of them live in a Studentenwerk hostel. There are currently around 250,000 foreign students studying in Germany.

Printed copies of the dictionary can be ordered here at a price of 50 cents each:

Service Centre for Intercultural Competence of the Deutsches Studentenwerk

Tel.: 030 29 77 27 71
Email: sikNO SPAM SPAN!@studentenwerke.de