Willkommen in der Germanistik
Welcome to the German Program

Learning German makes a great deal of sense. Students who become proficient in German can communicate with about 100 million people living in a number of countries in the heart of Europe. The Federal Republic of Germany in particular is a significant "global player" with longstanding, strong ties to the United States. In fact, Germany is the United States' biggest European trading partner, and the German language the second most commonly used business language in the world. Knowledge of German improves students' chances on the job market, enabling them to compete for attractive, highly paid positions in a wide variety of fields: The arts, business, communication technologies, education, engineering, finance, journalism, law, national security, politics, publishing, science, and tourism. For more on why German is a good choice, see the Goethe Institute's 10 reasons for learning German.

The German Section prepares students to succeed in whatever profession they eventually choose through its well-balanced, communicative, stimulating and intellectually rigorous approach to teaching the German language. Students acquire not only important speaking, reading and writing skills but are also introduced to methods of literary and cultural analysis. Most importantly, we aim to foster an atmosphere of openness and curiosity about German civilization, its history, and the rich cultures of the German-speaking countries.

 

Students of German benefit from the extensive and continually supplemented holdings pertaining to all matters German in the Western libraries and in the Language Media Center.