On April 12, students in our German for the Professions class (German 4602) visited Hirschvogel, Inc., the only American subsidiary of Hirschvogel Automotive Group. This company is among the world's largest automotive suppliers in the area of steel and aluminum forging and machining.

Marwan Tantash, head of HR for Hirschvogel, arranged the visit, which began with an introduction to the company's history in Columbus. Mr. Tantash then introduced Robert Sonntag, a German who has been working at the Hirschvogel plant in Columbus for the past nine years. Mr. Sonntag is a maintenance engineer and lead planner, that is, he leads and supervises the maintenance engineering/planning team and both coordinates and oversees projects and timelines with the department.

Mr. Sonntag responded to questions the students had prepared in advance (in German) focusing on cultural differences - both in day-to-day life and in the world of business - personal characteristics that are helpful in working abroad, differences in the educational system, particularly with respect to apprenticeships, a technical education, degree of preparedness for such jobs in the US, differences in company expectations of employees and how employees are trained at Hirschvogel. The class enjoyed the visit and felt that they learned a great deal from Mr. Sonntag.

Both Mr. Tantash and Mr. Sonntag emphasized that they would be happy to have a closer relationship with the Department of Germanic Languages and Literatures at Ohio State should instructors wish to have their students visit or interview German-speaking employees there.

A good time was had by all!
 

Photo: Mr. Robert Sonntag engages in discussion with our German 4602 students.