2008-2009

„Die Grenzen meiner Sprache bedeuten die Grenzen meiner Welt.“

-Ludwig Wittgenstein

 


German is among the five world languages significant by numbers of speakers, by geographic location, and by educational distinction. Even as Europe gathers strength in economic unity, it relies more than ever on the individual richness of its partner states. In a radius of 1000 kilometers (625 miles), Germany lies at the center of a European population of 300 million people. In this capacity, she plays a key role in the political, economic, and educational dynamics of the continent. Although English has become the language of the marketplace, German continues to drive innovation from bio-fuel technology to lyrical compositions. For centuries German has been a tool in the advancement of arts and sciences.

Germany participates in the Erasmus credit exchange system among partner universities in Europe. The system facilitates financial and curricular reciprocity unique to the continent with a growing tendency to stretch the transfer value to countries around the globe. For Germans, study abroad is a way of life built on the academic freedom of students from medieval times to travel from university to university on the trail of preferred professors and courses of study. Since 1945 Germany has opened its academic doors to the world, for only nominal tuition fees, sharing its research in science and technology, its specialized training in the fine ats, and its rich archival collections in the humanities, with only one requirement: German language proficiency.

As Goethe wrote in his Propylaeum to higher education, learning a foreign language is directly proportional to the knowledge gained from it. That is why language placement becomes the starting point for education in the liberal arts. The students' first contact with the German program at St. Olaf College is the on-line placement exam that assures smooth transitions into the courses offered in the department and in study abroad programs in Germany. The exam is keyed to a curriculum of situational encounters shared by students in the modern world. As students advance through our German program, they engage some of Europe's greatest writers, scientists, artists, musicians, theologians and philosophers. Learning German takes students beyond the vocational benefits of bi-lingual skills to innovation and understanding found in the liberal arts.

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Fachbereich Germanistik

 

CONTACT INFORMATION:

Department Chair (Karl Fink):
kjfink@stolaf.edu
(507) 786-3864