German

GERM BC2050 VIENNA EXPERIENCE:CULTURE, HISTORY, LANGUAGE. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: (GERM UN1102) Or the equivalent based on a language placement test taken with Professor Motyl.
In this intensive four-week summer study abroad language and culture course in Vienna, students will practice and expand their German-language skills on the Advanced level in real-life situations by exploring Austrian culture, history and politics in one of Europes most diverse cities. Students will experience language and culture first-hand. Aside from practicing and developing their linguistic competency and ability to engage in critical thinking in German, students will develop cultural literacy and broaden global competence. Prerequisites: completion of German Intermediate II (GERM UN2102) or at least two years of college German language study or the equivalent

GERM UN2101 INTERMEDIATE GERMAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent. If you have prior German outside of Columbia’s language sequence, the placement exam is required. Intermediate German UN2102 is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four basic language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. A wide range of topics (from politics and poetry to art) as well as authentic materials (texts, film, art, etc.) are used to improve the 4 skill. Practice in conversation aims at enlarging the vocabulary necessary for daily communication. Grammar is practiced in the context of the topics. Learning and evaluation are individualized (individual vocabulary lists, essays, oral presentations, final portfolio) and project-based (group work and final group project)

GERM UN2102 INTERMEDIATE GERMAN II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent. Intermediate German UN2102 is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four basic language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. A wide range of topics (from politics and poetry to art) as well as authentic materials (texts, film, art, etc.) are used to improve the 4 skill. Practice in conversation aims at enlarging the vocabulary necessary for daily communication. Grammar is practiced in the context of the topics. Learning and evaluation are individualized (individual vocabulary lists, essays, oral presentations, final portfolio) and project-based (group work and final group project)

GERM BC2210 GRAMMATIK AKTIV. 2.00 points.

An intensive study of key features of German grammar, with an emphasis on skill-building exercises and practical solutions to common problems of writing and speaking on the intermediate level; aims at building confidence in using simple and more complex sentence structures

GERM BC2212 GRAMMATIK ACTIV. 3.00 points.

Students have the option to register for 2-point or 3-points. Please check the course number when registering.

An intensive study of key features of German grammar, with an emphasis on skill-building exercises and practical solutions to common problems of writing and speaking on the intermediate level; aims at building confidence in using simple and more complex sentence structures. For an additional point, students will hand in a weekly 150-200 word summary in German in which they highlight what they have learned, explain the rules and applications of the linguistic feature on hand. In the last portion of the summary students will reflect on their learning process during each week to document their progress. Individual meetings with the Professor to clarify and practice student specific grammar issues will be scheduled

GERM UN3002 ADVANCED GERMAN II. 3.00 points.

Corequisites: Course either taken before or after GERM V3001.
Corequisites: Course either taken before or after GERM V3001. Intensive practice in oral and written German. Discussions, oral reports, and weekly written assignments, based on material of topical and stylistic variety taken from German press and from literary sources

GERM BC3009 News and Views. 3.00 points.

This German-language course for students on the Advanced proficiency level will offer students the opportunity to improve their comprehension of German media language through viewing, reading, writing and digital film production. Course materials will be drawn from German-language periodicals, newspapers, TV newscasts, TV documentaries and features digitally available. Students will hone their media competence by analyzing the material at hand and write, film and edit their own digital newscasts and documentaries in German. Through this process students will acquire the media literacy needed to understand cultural differences in media production and presentation and how to successfully communicate and convey messages in a digital format. Finally, students will familiarize themselves with the technical aspects of filming and will learn how to edit digital material. The cultural aspect of the course will give students greater insight into current issues and discourses in German-speaking countries and in the U.S. In the final project students apply their skills and findings, after conducting research in German and working with German, Austrian and Swiss cultural institutions, newspapers, companies, cultural centers located in New York. At the end of the semester, students will create and write their own German-language documentary film, edit the documentary and present it to the class and other students of German

GERM BC3010 CURRENT ISSUES: GER ＆ AUSTRIA. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM V2102 or equivalent.
Prerequisites: GERM V2102 or equivalent. Advanced students improve language skills through exploration of political, cultural and intellectual debates and self perceptions in Germany and Austria. Discussion and analysis of print media, Internet, film and T.V

GERM BC3012 TELENOVELAS. 3.00 points.

This advanced German language course offers the opportunity to explore the successful German telenovela Verliebt in Berlin. Students will work on typical features, the marketing and intercultural aspects of this genre, and compare the culturally specific facets of Verliebt in Berlin to other international versions – specifically the American version Ugly Betty and the Spanish version Yo Soy Betty La Fea. While familiarizing themselves with German popular culture, students will improve listening (viewing), speaking, reading and writing skills. In groups students will write their own telenovela. develop a plot, stock characters, write dialogues and produce (film and edit) two sequences from their own telenovela as their final project

GERM BC3022 VIENNA STORIES. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: (GERM UN3002)
Prerequisites: (GERM UN3002) Students explore film, podcasts and digital technology as tools for analyzing culture, language and identity. Integrated in this course is an in-person, on-site segment involving faculty leading study abroad in one of Europe’s most diverse cities: Vienna, Austria. During a one-week stay in Vienna during the spring break, students will put their German-language, filming and digital technology skills to use and gather ethnographic material to produce a short German-language documentary film on identity, the notion of homeland, and stereotypes. Live encounters with native Viennese as well as with recent migrants from Turkey, Ukraine, Poland, former Yugoslavia, and/or Syria in formal and informal settings and a field study project will serve as the main sources for the video. After the on-site and out-of-classroom segment, students will edit their film material and present the final video in the class, Advanced German II: Vienna now and then, which will take place during the same semester. A course website will be created to host final video projects for future reference. Student videos will thereby serve as authentic classroom material for German courses at Barnard and elsewhere. This course includes a one-week study abroad project in Vienna during spring break

GERM BC3028 Contemporary German Prose Fiction (English). 3 points.

Study of short prose texts and recent literary developments. Discussions of aspects such as: memory and Germany identity; fantasy and storytelling; borderlands and Berlin in contemporary literature. Readings include works by major writers and younger generations, from Grass and Christa Wolf to Biller, Honigmann, Johnson, Schneider, and Sebald.

GERM BC3031 Major German Poets. 4 points.

BC: Fulfillment of General Education Requirement: Literature (LIT).
Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Prerequisites: GERM V1202, the equivalent, or sophomore standing.

Survey of major poets in the German language from classicism to modernism and postmodernism, paying attention to the transition from traditional verse to avant-garde forms. Readings from Goethe, Heine, Rilke, Celan, Bachmann. Relevant areas of literary theory will be included.

GERM BC3050 German Migrant Literature. 3 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN2102, Sophomore standing or the equivalent or permission of the instructor.

Examination of migration and the nomadic experience in the 19th and 20th centuries. Emphasis on the comprehension and construction of the"other" culture by travelers and migrants in fictional texts; and on questions of orientalism, colonialism, and multiculturalism. Texts by Chamisso, Heine, Seghers, Th. Mann, Ören, Atabay, Deleuze, Said, and Sassen.

GERM BC3057 PICTURING THE REAL: THE POWER OF IMAGES IN GERMAN FICTION. 3 points.

Examines the profound influence of popular and private images on literature in the modern era, with an emphasis on how writers have used icon, snapshot, family album, collage, poster or post in their works. Discussions revolve around German authors’ critical and creative responses to the photographic image and its aesthetic, documentary or mnemonic appeal to 20th-century storytellers. Readings include major figures such as Kafka, Rilke, Benjamin, Brecht, Mann, Maron, Sebald, and Wolf.

GERM BC3061 Senior Seminar/Tutorial. 4 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

German majors will write their senior thesis under the supervision of the instructor.

GERM BC3062 Senior Essay: Literature or German Studies. 3 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Prerequisites: Open to senior majors. Permission of instructor required.

Supervised research into German literatures and cultures culminating in a critical paper. Regular consultations with the instructor at hours to be arranged.

GERM BC3105 Comical Expression in Multicult Lit/Film. 3.00 points.

This course is designed for participants who are interested in learning more about the role of humor in 20th/21st-c. literature and film. The survey begins with an introduction to key elements of the comical in literature and film, including slapstick, clowning, mime, or stunts. Discussions revolve around the issue of how or whether humor is universally recognizable or whether it is regionally, historically, and culturally defined. To shed light on this difficult question we will consider both historical and geographical settings. In close studies of popular films and literary texts we will examine the characters’ proclivities and discuss their gender-based perspectives as well as the influence of racial, religious or age-related identities. Our weekly readings—which include excerpts from major novels, selected scenes from films as well as short stories--provide us with rich and instructive examples of how eating habits, choice of food, calendrical events (holiday vs. weekday) may be related to the formation and expression of cultural identity. Romantic comedies reveal not only personal preferences and the joy of eating—they also signal collective taste patterns and indicate what kind of fantasies or constraints have governed the daily or festive dietary practices from the early 20th c. on. While the comical is first and foremost represented in time-honored genres such as comedies or jokes, we will concentrate on the modern tradition in this course. This approach allows us to address the social, political, and cultural issue of multiculturalism and to build bridges between individual text/film and their historical contexts in the German-speaking countries. The emphasis of the course lies on a critical investigation of how cultural identity is related to self-expression and to physical interaction on the page, the stage or the screen. The course is taught in English, all readings are in English, and there are no prerequisites

GERM BC3215 From Text to Screen: German Literature and Film. 3 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Prerequisites: Sophomore standing or the equivalent or permission of the instructor.

Survey of screen adaptations of literary texts beginning with Weimar cinema and proceeding through to the present with a particular focus on cinematic modes of narration, spectatorship, and visual pleasure, as well as on the role of institutional frameworks. Readings in neo-Marxist, psychoanalytic and semiotic film theory. Texts by Wedekind, Fontane, H. Mann, and Musil and films by Pabst, Fassbinder, Wenders, and Trotta. [In English, extra sessions for German majors.]

GERM BC3224 GERM TRAVELING CLTRES(IN ENG). 3.00 points.

Examines accounts of traveling or living in South America, Africa, and Germany from a postcolonial and transnational perspective. Discussion of German explorers, colonialism, global tourism, multiculturalism, focusing on the relationship between mobility and the formation of African, Jewish, Turkish bicultural identities in different historical contexts and geographical settings. Close attention to the role of language, ideology, and itinerary in visual, aural, and written records by A.v.Humboldt, Merian, J. Baker, Massaquoi, Wackwitz, Oezdamar, Akin. [In English]

GERM BC3232 From Decadence to Dada. 3 points.

BC: Fulfillment of General Education Requirement: Cultures in Comparison (CUL)., BC: Fulfillment of General Education Requirement: Literature (LIT).
Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Examines the transition from Viennese Modernism to Expressionism and Dada. Topics include: the emergence of the modern psyche, the play of word and image, and the relationship between ecstatic experience and social unrest. Texts by Schnitzler, Hofmannsthal, Döblin, Kafka, Freud, and Salomé. Film and montage by Hannah Höch, and others. (In English.)

GERM GU4520 Ariadne's Thread: Contemporary German Women Writers [In German]. 3 points.

Not offered during 2023-2024 academic year.

Examines prose works of women writers in the late 20th c. century; emphasis on new modes of writing and topical issues such as family conflicts, cultural memories of Eastern Europe, the Balkan wars, the impact of media; discussions are informed by theorists such as L.Adelson, S.Benhabib, N.Fraser; focus on inequality and gender-conscious views of the politicized personal or cosmopolitan plurality. Readings incl. I.Bachmann, J.Franck, K.Hacker, Y.Kara, H.Müller, J.Zeh and others.

GERM UN1101 ELEMENTARY GERMAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: No prior German. German 1101 is a communicative language course for beginners, taught in German, in which students develop the four skills -listening, speaking, reading, and writing- and a basic understanding of German-speaking cultures. Emphasis is placed on acquiring the four language skills within a cultural context. Upon successful completion of the course, students will be able to understand, speak, read, and write German at a level enabling them to communicate with native speakers and provide basic information about their background, family, daily activities, student life, work, and living quarters. Completion of daily assignments, which align with class content, and consistent work are necessary in order to achieve basic communicative proficiency. If you have prior German, the placement exam is required

GERM UN1125 Accelerated Elementary German I & II. 8 points.

Equivalent to GERM V1101-V1102.

This intensive semester provides all of elementary German enabling students to understand, speak, read, and write in German. Topics range from family and studies to current events. Conducted entirely in German, requirements include oral and written exams, essays, German-culture projects, and a final exam.

GERM UN2101 INTERMEDIATE GERMAN I. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN1102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent. If you have prior German outside of Columbia’s language sequence, the placement exam is required. Intermediate German UN2102 is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four basic language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. A wide range of topics (from politics and poetry to art) as well as authentic materials (texts, film, art, etc.) are used to improve the 4 skill. Practice in conversation aims at enlarging the vocabulary necessary for daily communication. Grammar is practiced in the context of the topics. Learning and evaluation are individualized (individual vocabulary lists, essays, oral presentations, final portfolio) and project-based (group work and final group project)

GERM UN2102 INTERMEDIATE GERMAN II. 4.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: GERM UN2101 or the equivalent. Intermediate German UN2102 is conducted entirely in German and emphasizes the four basic language skills, cultural awareness, and critical thinking. A wide range of topics (from politics and poetry to art) as well as authentic materials (texts, film, art, etc.) are used to improve the 4 skill. Practice in conversation aims at enlarging the vocabulary necessary for daily communication. Grammar is practiced in the context of the topics. Learning and evaluation are individualized (individual vocabulary lists, essays, oral presentations, final portfolio) and project-based (group work and final group project)

GERM UN2125 Accelerated Intermediate German I, II. 8 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN1102 Elementary II

Accelerated language study as preparation for Study Abroad in Berlin.

GERM UN3001 ADVANCED GERMAN I. 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN2102 or the Director of the German Language Program's permission.
Prerequisites: GERM UN2102. If you have prior German outside of Columbia’s language sequence, the placement exam is required. Note: UN3001 and UN3002 are not sequential. German UN3001 is an ambitious socio-cultural exploration of Berlin. Designed to follow up the language skills acquired in first- and second-year language courses (or the equivalent thereof), this course gives students greater proficiency in speaking, reading, and writing German while focusing on topics from German society today through various German media, such as internet, film, and literature through the lens of Germany’s capital, Berlin. Topics discussed include: cultural diversity in Berlin's multi-cultural neighborhoods; questioning and reflecting upon Berlin＆#39;s recent past; developing your own Berlin experience and presenting your interests in various forms, such as presentations, an essay, your CV, an application letter and interview for an internship in Berlin. The course represents a gateway class to literature courses and counts towards the major and concentration in German. Taught in German

GERM UN3002 ADVANCED GERMAN II. 3.00 points.

Corequisites: Course either taken before or after GERM V3001.
Corequisites: Course either taken before or after GERM V3001. Intensive practice in oral and written German. Discussions, oral reports, and weekly written assignments, based on material of topical and stylistic variety taken from German press and from literary sources

GERM UN3333 INTRO TO GERMAN LIT (GERMAN). 3.00 points.

Prerequisites: GERM UN2102 or the equivalent.
Prerequisites: GERM UN2102 or the equivalent. Examines short literary texts and various methodological approaches to interpreting such texts in order to establish a basic familiarity with the study of German literature and culture