Majors & Minors
German Studies
Major, Minor
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
The German language is more relevant than ever. More than 100 million people speak German as their native language, and Germany has the largest number of native speakers in the European Union.
German Studies offers first and second-year courses that support students in developing grammar and vocabulary skills through speaking, reading, listening and writing, with increasing emphasis on vocabulary building, idiomatic expressions, conversation and composition based on cultural and literary texts.
Our upper-level courses deal with social, political and cultural challenges in German-speaking countries through history, treating literature, visual arts, film, music and historical products of these periods. All courses emphasize skills of critical thinking and expression, whether oral or verbal, as well as fostering a broader cultural awareness.
Other learning opportunities
In conjunction with our active German Club, the German program offers a wide variety of events and activities, including film screenings, hikes, dinners, board game nights, soccer matches and field trips to German theater events, restaurants and beer gardens. We celebrate Oktoberfest and Fasching with style.
In addition, we have staged German cabaret nights and poetry slams in recent years, and continually add a variety of culturally enriching, entertaining offerings.
A sampling of courses
German Fairy Tales, Folklore and Fantasy
The genre of the German fairy tale, its reception within various cultural frameworks and its influence on later literature of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries, with a special focus on identifying aesthetic, sociological, psychological and gender issues.
Reading German Sports and Culture
Looks at how sports have reflected and influenced German culture through the 20th century, analyzing links between athleticism and conceptions of gender, nationhood, individuality and race set out in literary texts, films and visual arts.
The Holocaust in Film
Through films of German, German-Jewish and other European filmmakers, explores fundamental questions of about the relationship between art and history, representation and experience, and memory and responsibility.
After Union
Here is what some of our alumni have been up to:
- Educator, Teach for America
- Sales and support associate, Progeos
- Associate attorney in tax law
- Master’s candidate, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
- Marketing coordinator, Jakarta, Indonesias
- Fulbright Teaching Assistant, Austria
