1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites

Deutsche Welle reporting live from Westeros

Guido Baumhauer/cwSeptember 15, 2014

Deutsche Welle sees the need for reliable information on the current conflicts in "Game of Thrones." Users worldwide have also been called upon to help DW develop "Valyrian" and "Dothraki" as official DW languages.

https://p.dw.com/p/1DCS0
CRM_Testbild_17
Director General Peter Limbourg meets Daenerys TargaryenImage: HBO/DW

In celebration of the 20th anniversary of its first website, Deutsche Welle has expanded its online reporting to include the continents Westeros and Essos. Specifically, a focus will be on the current conflicts that have been made public in the series "Game of Thrones."

"The international bestseller by George R.R. Martin presents a multifaceted albeit notoriously subjective view of the events. The TV series from HBO is a global phenomenon - but the standard of reporting leaves a lot to be desired," says DW Director General Peter Limbourg, emphasizing DW's role as being a reliable source of information.

DW has been offering news and information worldwide for more than 60 years. It has become a tradition at DW to use special anniversaries to provide a tongue-in-cheek look at what "worldwide" actually means. For example, to celebrate 10 years online in 2004, DW expanded its multi-lingual online content to include the Klingon language.

Starting today, the new online special answers the most pressing questions from "Game of Thrones" at http://dw.de/game-of-thrones, such as: What qualifies the Night's Watch to be the arctic special forces? And what secrets are lost in a raven-based communications system?

In order to reach new target audiences, DW constantly explores new ways of providing information in the respective languages. In the world of "Game of Thrones," the most used languages are "Valyrian" and "Dothraki." But these have just recently become a topic among the audiences. New words are discovered and deciphered each day, with new rules and dialects that are discussed by fans.

"It's that type of diversity that we want to highlight here," says Limbourg. "That's why you won't find any complete articles in Valyrian and Dothraki, but rather interactive translation pages. Piece for piece, we will be completing a new version of the website and everyone can take part."

DW launched its website on September 15, 1994, and thus became the first German public broadcaster to offer online content. Today, dw.de is available in 30 languages - not including Valyrian and Dothraki - and has 33 million unique visitors per month.