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Transfer Student Courses in GermanThis page was created at 7:15 PM on Mon, Jan 21, 2002. Winter Academic Term, 2002 (January 7 - April 26)Open courses in German Wolverine Access Subject listing for GERMAN Winter Academic Term '02 Time Schedule for German.
GERMAN 101. Elementary Course.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: All students with prior coursework in German must take the placement test. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 100 or 103. (4). (LR). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ German 101 is an introductory course for students who have not previously studied German. Few things are more fun and exciting than learning a new language for the first time, and we hope students will approach the course in this spirit. The course focuses systematically on the development of all four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), and aims to do this by taking advantage of the cognitive advantages adult language learners have over children. This means focusing on material that will engage learners' interest, creativity, and sense of humor, as well as on the development of effective language learning strategies. The course will include in particular a series of videotaped lectures by distinguished University of Michigan German studies faculty on culture, history, economics, philosophy, music, linguistics, and literature, televised over UMTV, which will give students a taste of how they can eventually take advantage of the wide range of language opportunities at the University of Michigan, such as the specialty 232 courses (see below) and the subsequent sequences of courses in areas of study ranging from Business and Science to Literature and Philosophy. By the end of the term, students will have a firm foundation in some of the fundamental elements of German grammar and will be able to understand and respond appropriately to a variety of texts and basic conversational situations. Required Texts:
Recommended:
GERMAN 102. Elementary Course.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 101. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 100 or 103. (4). (LR). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ German 102 is the continuation of German 101; please see above for a description of the general philosophy underlying this course. By the end of the term, students will have been exposed to all the essentials of German grammar, which will then be reviewed and extended in the third and fourth term. Students will be able to cope with a variety of conversational situations and written texts. In particular, they will have the necessary "survival skills" for a visit to a German-speaking country, as well as a foundation for doing intellectual work in German. Required Texts Recommended Recommended Texts for "Free Reading" [see description of "Language Learning Journal" online or in the first few pages of the course pack!]
GERMAN 103. Review of Elementary German.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: Assignment by placement test or permission of department. No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 100, 101, or 102. (4). (LR). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ German 103 provides a review of the fundamental components of the German language for students who have had prior German language instruction before entering the University of Michigan. The course focuses systematically on all four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing), and aims to take advantage of the cognitive advantages adult language learners have over children. This means focusing on material that will engage learners' interest, creativity, and sense of humor, as well as on the development of effective language learning strategies. The course will include in particular a series of videotaped lectures by distinguished University of Michigan German studies faculty on culture, history, economics, philosophy, music, linguistics and literature, televised over UMTV, which will give students a taste of how they can eventually take advantage of the wide range of language opportunities at the University of Michigan, such as the specialty 232 courses (see above) and the subsequent sequences of courses in areas of study ranging from Business and Science to Literature and Philosophy. By the end of the term, students will have been exposed to all the essentials of German grammar, which will then be reviewed and extended in the third and fourth terms. Students will be able to cope with a variety of conversational situations and written texts. In particular, they will have the necessary "survival skills" for a visit to a German-speaking country, as well as a foundation for doing intellectual work in German. Required Texts:
GERMAN 112. Second Special Reading Course.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 111 or the equivalent (placement test). (4). (Excl). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ The objective of this course is to teach students to read German for research purposes with the aid of a dictionary. Course content includes an intensive review of grammar and syntax followed by translations from texts in the humanities, the natural and social sciences. Choice of reading texts is determined in part by the composition of class. Course requirements include daily preparation and recitation, one examination following the completion of the grammar review, and one examination during the reading of assigned texts. The final examination requires the translation of sight passages with the aid of a dictionary. This course does not satisfy the LS&A foreign language requirement.
GERMAN 206. Conversation Practice.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 102 or 103. Students previously enrolled in a 300- or 400-level German conversation course may not register for German 205 or 206. (1). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. May not be included in a concentration plan or minor in German. Credits: (1). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ The unwritten German class! In this course, you will dramatize everyday situations that ask for spontaneously expressing an opinion or formulating an argument. The topics that nourish our discussions are both inclusive and inconclusive: current cultural events, German etiquette, popular magazines. By cross-analyzing various resources, you will hone your conversation skills while you learn simultaneously about German cultural institutions. Although far from being exclusive, this course may address in particular those of you who are currently enrolled in German 221, 231, or 232 and those who intend to participate in the junior-year-abroad program. Graduates of previous German 305 classes are regretfully barred from this course.
GERMAN 231. Second-Year Course.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 102 or 103, or the equivalent (placement test). No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 230 or 221. (4). (LR). Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ In this course, the four basic language skills (reading, writing, listening, and speaking) developed in the first year will be reviewed and extended. The course includes a selection of recent feature films such as Lola rennt , as well as a variety of shorter video clips and movie excerpts. Readings will be taken from print and online sources and will cover a variety of fields and themes ranging from popular culture, contemporary social issues and history to classical music, art, poetry, and a short text by Nietzsche. By the end of the course, students will be quite familiar with all the basics of German grammar, and be able to survive and hold conversations in a German-speaking country. They will be comfortable surfing the web in German, and able to read and write independently about short texts covering a wide range of topics, so that they will be able to pursue their own specific interests in German 232 and beyond. Course requirements include daily homework assignments (reading, writing, learning vocabulary, etc.), regular attendance, video assignments, tests, and quizzes. Instead of a final examination, students will work in groups to produce short videos, which will be screened on the last day of classes. A $250 prize is awarded each academic term for the best final video in German 221/231. Required Text:
Recommended Grammar Text [All the grammar you are required to know is in the course pack and on the web, but this book is an excellent reference that would also be helpful to you in the future, and would provide information on many topics for which we do not have enough time in the course.]:
Recommended Texts for "Language Learning Journals" [see description of "Language Learning Journal" online or in the first few pages of the course pack; more info on these books is on the main 221/231 course page]:
Other Recommended Texts:
GERMAN 232. Second-Year Course.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 221 or 231 or the equivalent (placement test). No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 230. (4). (LR). All sections of German 232 address special topics, <i>e.g.,</i> music, philosophy, science, current political issues, <i>etc.</i> Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ In this course, students complete the four-term introductory language sequence by selecting one of several "special topics" courses intended as an introduction to the study of an academic discipline, such as Music, Philosophy, History, or Science, in German. Students should emerge from the course prepared and motivated to do work (or read for pleasure) in German in this field throughout their academic career and beyond. Students are strongly encouraged to arrange their schedules so they can enroll in the section whose topic interests them the most, in order to get the maximum benefit from this course. Interest in the course content is the most effective motivation for language study, and students can emerge from German 232 with the genuine pride in what they are able to do with their German. More generally, by the end of the course, students will be ready to pursue an internship or study abroad in Germany, and are strongly encouraged to take advantage of the assistance offered by the German department and by the Office of International Programs in this regard. The special topics and course requirements for this term's sections are given below.
GERMAN 232. Second-Year Course.
Section 002 Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm: Their Lives, Scholarship and Collection of Fairy Tales.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 221 or 231 or the equivalent (placement test). No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 230. (4). (LR). All sections of German 232 address special topics, <i>e.g.,</i> music, philosophy, science, current political issues, <i>etc.</i> Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ This course will explore the lives of the nineteenth-century scholars Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm and their ever-popular collection of fairy tales. The primary goal of the course will be to situate the most famous work of the Brothers Grimm into their wide-ranging scholarly interests. The course will include an introduction to their lives and scholarship. Both the intellectual motivations behind the fairy tale project and the manner in which the tales were collected will be explored in depth. The course will devote significant time to the tales themselves, including many that are not well-known in the U.S. A wide range of materials and assignments will be employed in the course. Required texts include an edition of the tales and a course pack containing excerpts from biographies of the Brothers Grimm, passages from the Grimms' scholarly publications and personal correspondence, and exercises to improve students' reading and writing skills.
GERMAN 232. Second-Year Course.
Section 007 Classics of German Literature.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 221 or 231 or the equivalent (placement test). No credit granted to those who have completed or are enrolled in German 230. (4). (LR). All sections of German 232 address special topics, <i>e.g.,</i> music, philosophy, science, current political issues, <i>etc.</i> Credits: (4). Course Homepage: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/german/hmr/ This section offers an introduction to German literature through the reading of some of the most important texts in German (as well as world) literature. Our readings will proceed backwards, from Dürrenmatt (20th century) to Lessing (18th century), passing by such other eminent authors as Kafka, Heine, Goethe, and Schiller. Through these texts we will not only deal with literary history, but also touch upon political and social developments, and central issues of German culture. In pursuit of this goal we will read the texts at a moderate pace to allow ample opportunity for exploring their meaning and discussing them under a large variety of aspects and perspectives. This means that class participation will be strongly encouraged and, in order to improve both speaking and writing skills in German, a fair amount of writing will be integral to the course. Text used: Dürrenmatt, Friedrich. Der Besuch der alten Dame , ed. Paul Kurt Ackermann, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
GERMAN 306. Conversation Practice.
Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 232; concurrent enrollment in a 300-level course is encouraged but not necessary. Students who have previously participated in a 400-level German conversation course may not register for German 305 or 306. (1). (Excl). Offered mandatory credit/no credit. This course does not satisfy the language requirement. May not be included in a concentration plan or minor in German. Credits: (1). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Students entering this stage of the German conversation cycle do not need to have taken German 305. This course harbors all of you who are presently or have previously been enrolled in a German 325 (or higher) class. The goal of this course is to increase your confidence in speaking on any topic. Henceforth, we will speak on any topic that relates to current cultural events. This course focuses on finding synonyms and varying the spoken styles which are necessary to fully appreciate life in German-speaking communities. In addition, creative and compositional exercises (concocting and completing prose and poetry; writing extemporaneous letters) will alternate with impromptu conversational situations. You are expected to learn, apply, and expand vocabulary. In addition to energetic class participation and perennial e-mail contact (in German) with the instructor or/and with fellow students, short oral presentations complete the requirements.
GERMAN 307. German for Medicine.
Section 001.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 232. (1). (Excl). Credits: (1). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In this course, students will read a variety of texts of special interest to students interested in studying medicine. Readings will be taken from newspaper articles on medical issues, from scientific and medical textbooks used by Medizinstudenten at German universities, and from medical journals. Class time will be devoted to clarification of the content of the readings, and, where applicable, to a discussion of theoretical and ethical issues raised by the texts. Course requirements include thorough reading of 2-10 pages of German per week; weekly journal entries on the readings (graded for content, not grammar); development of a "personalized" vocabulary list, 20 words per week, tested every three weeks; attendance and participation; a 15-minute presentation, and a written version thereof to be handed in at the end of the term.
GERMAN 310. Readings in German Culture.
German Literature and Culture in EnglishSection 001 Histories of German Cinema. Meets with German 821.002 and Film-Video 603.002.Instructor(s): Johannes F Von Moltke (moltke@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Residence in Max Kade German House; others by permission of instructor. (1). (Excl). May be elected for a total of four credits. May not be elected more than once in the same academic term.
Credits: (1). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This one-credit course introduces students to some of the landmarks in the long history of German cinema. From the earliest single-shot shorts presented by the brothers Skladanwosky in Berlin's "Wintergarten" in 1895 and so-called "sensation dramas" from the teens, we will follow the rise of German film to international renown with the masterworks of the Weimar era, its uses and abuses by National Socialism, and its various trajectories after World War II: from the "rubble films" of the immediate postwar years to East German DEFA Cinema and the New German Cinema in the West, to the current reconfiguration of German cinema in the wake of unification. Titles to be screened will include, among others: Trick of the Light (Die Gebrüder Skladanaowsky , dir. Wim Wenders et al., 1995); The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (Das Kabinett des Dr. Caligari , dir. Robert Wiene, 1919); M (dir. Fritz Lang, 1931); Hitler Youth Quex (Hitlerjunge Quex , dir. Hans Steinhoff, 1933); Yesterday Girl (Abschied von Gestern dir. Alexander Kluge, 1966); I Was Nineteen (Ich war 19 , dir. Konrad Wolf 1968); Germany Pale Mother (Deutschland bleiche Mutter , dir. Helma Sanders-Brahms, 1980) and The Harmonists (Comedian Harmonists , dir. J. Vilsmaier , 1997). All films will be in German with English subtitles.
GERMAN 319. German for Engineering and Industry (LAC).
Section 001.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 232. (1). (Excl). Mini/Short course Credits: (1). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. In this course, students will work on the linguistic skills needed for an internship (or permanent employment) with a German engineering or manufacturing company. Readings will include excerpts from technical manuals and company memos. In the second half of the term, students will choose readings individually in accordance with their specific interests; ideally, they will choose materials provided by an employer with whom they have arranged or are trying to arrange an internship. Students will be required to develop personalized weekly vocabulary lists based on their readings, and to use these to write a journal of dialogues or memos. The course will include one or more guest lectures in German and English by employees of area businesses with connections to Germany, such as Daimler-Chrysler. The course is intended for concentrators and non-concentrators with a particular interest in science who wish to maintain or augment their German or intend to pursue internships in Germany.
GERMAN 322 / HISTORY 322. The Origins of Nazism.
German Literature and Culture in EnglishSection 001.Instructor(s): Kathleen M Canning (kcanning@umich.edu) , Kerstin BarndtPrerequisites & Distribution: (4). (HU). (R&E).
Credits: (4). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted.
GERMAN 326. Intermediate German.
Section 001 Cabaret.Instructor(s): Vanessa Agnew (vagnew@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: German 232. (3). (Excl). May be elected for a total of six credits. May be elected more than once in the same academic term. Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Explore the seamy side of Berlin in the 1920s. In this course on cabaret and the metropolis, we look at the way in which cabaret, - songs, comic monologues, skits, dances and short films formed a basis for topical commentary on love, sexuality fashion, race, politics and urban life during the Weimar period. The course provides background information on Germany between the wars, and, against this backdrop, we examine cabaret as a critical response to changing social and political conditions. We watch films and read texts by, for example, Hollaender, Reinhardt, Brecht and Tucholsky, and work on improving German writing and speaking skills, We will also create a 'Schall und Rauch' theater of our own, singing and performing cabaret numbers. Not just for Marlene Dietrich wannabes.
GERMAN 326. Intermediate German.
Section 003 The World According to Alma.Instructor(s): Robert L Kyes (rlkyes@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: German 232. (3). (Excl). May be elected for a total of six credits. May be elected more than once in the same academic term.
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. At the dawn of the 20th century, Alma Schindler was regarded as the most beautiful, talented and intelligent woman in all Vienna. As we read her autiobiography, Mein Leben, we look into the lives and works of artists, writers, composers, musicians and political figures whom she influenced, including her several spouses (Gustav Mahler, Walther Gropius, Franz Werfel) and intimate friends and lovers. We try to understand how art could flourish so brilliantly in the shadow of impending chaos, as Vienna the city of dreams came to embrace German Fascism. Readings from Alma's autobiography are supplemented by videos; paintings by Oskar Kokoschka, Gustav Klimt, Egon Schiele; musical compositions by herself, Gustav Mahler, Alexander von Zemlinsky, Richard Strauss, Alban Berg, Maurice Ravel, Hanz Pfitzner, Arnold Schönberg, Ernst Krenek; and passages from works by writers such as Georg Büchner, Franz Werfel, Heinrich Mann, Thomas Mann, Bertha Zuckerkandl, Franz Kafka, and others. Class time is devoted to students' oral presentations, viewing videos and paintings, listening to and discussing music (songs, symphonies and operas), discussing representative works by contemporary authors, and surveying the political events of the time. Requirements: at least three oral presentations in class, one two-page essay every second week, a 15-page term-paper, and active participation in class discussions. Alles auf Deutsch, natürlich. Matters of German grammar, style, pronunciation etc. are treated according to the needs of the students. Since students are exposed to far more than they can possibly learn, there are no quizzes, no tests, no final examstudents choose what they want to learn and write about it. Required text: Optional but recommended:
GERMAN 349. Working in Germany.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Janet K Van ValkenburgPrerequisites & Distribution: German 231. (1). (Excl). Credits: (1). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course will prepare students for the experience of a summer internship with a German company. It will help them prepare for the practicalities of living in a German-speaking country for a longer period of time. Topics to be studied include documents and bureaucratic structures, cultural sensitivity, German business practices, and practical aspects of everyday life in Germany. This course is intended for any student about to embark on a summer internship in Germany. One hour per week. Discussion. Students will read and discuss a selection of apposite readings; learn and be tested on the specialized vocabularies of German bureaucracy and business; and write three 3-page papers, in German, on German social forms and business practices.
GERMAN 350. Business German.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Janet K Van ValkenburgPrerequisites & Distribution: German 232. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course introduces students to the language of business German and gives them insight into Germany's place in the global economy. The course is organized around major business and economic topics, such as: the geography of business in German; the European Union and Germany's roll therein; trade; traffic and transportation, marketing, industry; money and banking; and ecology. In addition to the basic text, students will read actual business, merchandising, and advertising material, newspapers and magazines. There will also be short videos on business and related topics. There will be three major exams, a number of short reports, papers, and projects and a final exam. The language of instruction is German.
GERMAN 351. Practice in Business German.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Janet K Van ValkenburgPrerequisites & Distribution: Internship in a German-speaking country. (3). (Excl). (EXPERIENTIAL). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course allows students to receive credit for an internship in a German-speaking country completed previous to registering for the course. During the term, the student will complete and turn in a three part report written in German. Part one will be a research paper on the city, area, and country where the student completed the internship. Part two will be a research paper on the company or business which provided the internship. Part three will be a longer journal concerning the daily conduct of the internship and the living situation. Finally, the student will make an oral presentation concerning the internship to either the 350 or the 430 Business German Course.
GERMAN 415. The German Language Past and Present.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Julio Sanchez HernandezPrerequisites & Distribution: One year beyond German 232. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The objectives of this course are to introduce students to the assumptions, terminology, and methods of descriptive linguistics, historical linguistics, and sociolinguistics and to apply these to a survey of the German language in both its current and past states. We will be concerned with the internal structure of the language; however, we will relate the internal structure to the cultural and social contexts in which the language has evolved and in which it is currently used. We will pay attention to the differences between spoken and written varieties of German as well as the relationships between standard German and the many German dialects and regional standards. The class is oriented around group discussion, lectures, and presentations. Requirements include brief homework assignments and short essays, a midterm, a final term paper and an oral presentation of the final paper. Readings will be in German and English. No previous knowledge of linguistics is required.
GERMAN 426. Advanced German.Section 002.Instructor(s):Prerequisites & Distribution: German 325/326. (3). (Excl).
Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. No Description Provided Check Times, Location, and Availability GERMAN 430 / BA 499. Doing Business in German.
Section 001 Meets with German 430.451Instructor(s): Janet K Van ValkenburgPrerequisites & Distribution: German 350, or one 300-level courses beyond German 232. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The goals of German 430 are to increase the level of proficiency in all four areas of German (speaking, listening, writing, and reading) while expanding and expounding on particular topics and areas of interest in the German business world. In addition to becoming more competent in appropriate interactive forms and practices of the German business world, such as forms of communication, organization, and negotiation, students will also delve into such other aspects of German business as business technology, product fairs, partnership in the EU, trade, raw materials and protection of the environment, agriculture, marketing and advertisement, competition, and some very German concepts such as "Mitbestimmung" and "Berufslehre." This course further develops the student's competence to function both knowledgeably and culturally correct in a German business setting. The materials used in the course consist of a course pack, German business texts from major German professional journals and newspapers, German business reports, and videotapes. Short papers and one term research paper will be required, as well as oral reports on findings of the papers and on other topics of interest. The course is conversation-oriented, and will be conducted in German. This term, German 430 will also include a two-week unit on producing Power Point business presentations. This unit will be offered through the computer lab in the LRC.
GERMAN 493 / SOC 493. The Politics of Fascism and Right-Wing Movements.
German Literature and Culture in EnglishSection 001 Meets with Political Science 489.002.Instructor(s): Andrei S Markovits (andymark@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: (3). (Excl).
Credits: (3). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. This course will analyze a very particular form of political participation, namely the social and historical aspects of fascism and right-wing movements. What is fascism? When does it arise? Who are its supporters? Who are its beneficiaries? What is its relationship to established political institutions? Above all, what is its relationship to that ubiquitous and fascinating social process known as "modernization"? Was it a unique phenomenon "in its own time and place" (i.e., the Europe of the 1920s and 1930s) or does it continue to exist albeit bearing different names and altered disguises? The course is divided into two sections. The first section will illuminate certain key aspects of fascism and right-wing movements in a general comparative framework. The emphasis will be on concepts and analyses rather than descriptions and events per se. Still, this section of the course will be deeply anchored in history and empirical reality. We will mainly, though not exclusively, use Germany as our empirical case during this first segment of the course. The second section will concentrate on a few countries other than Germany, so that we can compare and contrast realities of fascism which we discussed in the first, conceptual part of the course with the help of added examples. The countries discussed will be Austria, Spain, Italy, Romania, Hungary, Argentina, Japan, and Russia. We will end the course with a discussion of the New Right forms of contemporary right-wing politics so that we can have a fine temporal comparison with the original fascism fifty years later and thus answer the question better as to whether fascism was something unique in its time or rather a larger and more lasting phenomenon of political rule. Course requirements: There will be an in-class midterm examination. In addition, there will also be a final paper which will be due on the last day of our class meeting. The paper should be double-spaced, typed, and not exceed twenty (20) pages. It should be on a topic which involves the concepts and materials used in the course. The exact topic will have to be approved by the instructor. All books used in this course will be available at the bookstore and also willbe placed on reserve in the library.
GERMAN 499. Seminar in German Studies.
Section 001 Krautrock.Instructor(s): Michael R Latham (mrlatham@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: One year beyond German 232. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. A tour of post-war German culture through the radio-waves, nightclubs, and record shops of the divided nation. From the in flux of American popular culture in the immediate post-war years, to the folksinger/activist/poets of the 1960's, to the electronic experimenters of the 1970's, the particulary German take on "punk" in the late 70's and early 80's, the artful banalities of the Neue Deutsche Welle, an uneasy look into the musical culture of the far right, ending with an investigation of post-wall, post-Wende, multicultural Germany's appropriations of rap, hip-hop, and electronica. Song texts in German and English. Discussions in English.
GERMAN 499. Seminar in German Studies.
Section 002 Language variation in translation: American films dubbed into German. Meets with Linguistics 492.007.Instructor(s): Robin M Queen (rqueen@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: One year beyond German 232. (3). (Excl). May be repeated for credit. Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. Linguistic variation ( e.g., regional dialects, Ebonics, youth slang etc. ) is often a critical component of character and plot development in film. For instance, in the film Rush Hour , the differences between an African-American police detective and a police detective from Hong Kong are accentuated through differences in their language use. Similarly, in Clueless, differences in a group of high school students' language use helps distinguish the preps from the stoners and jocks. The central question for this course concerns how linguistic variation is dubbed into German. We will spend the first part of the course exploring the boundaries of linguistic variation and the similarities and differences between variation in German and variation in American English. The remainder of the course will be devoted to the analysis of mainstream American films that have been dubbed into German. Students will construct their own corpora from a larger corpus of 35 films representing action, drama, comedy, and children's film genres and from those develop research questions ( e.g. How is the English second person pronoun 'you' dubbed into German? How is slang dubbed?) based on individual and group interests. The course is oriented as a collaborative research seminar, in which students are highly encouraged to work in independent teams oriented around a single problem or corpus ( e.g., action films or children's film). Students will be expected to present their research to the class, write short reports about their projects, and maintain a research diary. Although students should be proficient enough in German to be able to understand a full-length feature film, native-like fluency is not required. Discussion will be in English and German.
GERMAN 504. History of the German Language.
Section 001.Instructor(s): Robert L Kyes (rlkyes@umich.edu)Prerequisites & Distribution: Graduate standing; or permission of instructor. (3). (Excl). Credits: (3; 2 in the half-term). Course Homepage: No homepage submitted. The main focus of this course is the development of the German language and its dialects, beginning with the earliest reconstructible stages and working forward through time to the present day. We shall investigate traditional questions of Germanic linguistics changes in sound patterns, grammatical structures and vocabulary, the role of German vs. Latin as an acceptable written medium, German "under attack" from foreign influences in the context of social, cultural, economic, religious, and political trends and events that shaped central Europe. We shall read and discuss previous research in Germanic linguistics, thus gaining an understanding of the development of the discipline as well as of the language itself. The linguistic data with which we will be working will be in German; readings will be in German and in English. Familiarity with basic linguistic terminology will be helpful, but by no means required. We will not dwell on the intricacies of Indo-European and Germanic sound laws or of theoretical debates, but will strive to develop an ability to analyze and discuss important historical issues. Readings (available in a course pack at Accu-Copy) will be heavy. Students will give several informal reports in class during the academic term, write a term paper, and give a formal presentation of the term-paper in class. No quizzes, no tests, no exams. Only reading, writing, and discussing. Undergraduates are more than welcome.
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