Herzlich willkommen! Drawing from the Humanities tradition at SCU, our program focuses on developing students’ proficiency in German as well as enhancing their understanding of the cultures of German-speaking countries. We include cultural facets from performing and visual arts, literature, mass media, science, sports, and lifestyles, into our classes and introduce students to cultural icons including Beethoven, Mozart, Tokio Hotel, Einstein, Humboldt, Richter, Hundertwasser, Max Planck, Siemens, among many others. Throughout our standards-based classes, students develop intercultural communication as well as critical thinking skills to explore and establish bridges to other disciplines, among them Business and STEM fields.
Why not! After all, with so many similarities with English - think Hand/Hand, schwimmen/to swim, Ring/ring, just to name a few - when learning another Germanic language English speakers already have a head start. Knowing German also offers the benefit of being a gateway to the largest economy in Europe and the third strongest in the world. Study German along with your Business major to open up that opportunity. Moreover, German connects you with the largest number of native speakers in the European Union and, by extension, to one of the world’s ten most commonly spoken languages. Knowledge of German opens up a cornucopia of opportunities such as: working for a German company abroad or in Silicon Valley, traveling in and learning about German-speaking countries, or enjoying the literature, music, art and philosophy in their native language. Learning German can broaden your cultural horizons.
Still need more convincing? Consider these facts and figures (source: ACTFL)
- Knowledge of German gives you an average annual salary boost of 4% in the US and even more in Europe.
- About 3,500 German majority-owned business operations are present in the US
- German companies such as Adidas, BASF, Bayer, Bosch, Lufthansa, SAP, Siemens, T-Mobile or Volkswagen employ over 640,000 workers in the US.
- German businesses accounted for 10.5% of the 6.1 million insourced jobs in the US in 2013.
- Almost half of the jobs created by German companies are in manufacturing.
- Most surveyed companies in the US would choose someone with German literacy over an equally qualified candidate.
Don’t wait! Tell your friends about German, invite them to films from renowned directors like Fatih Akin (Gegen die Wand) or TV shows such as Babylon Berlin or The Man in the High Castle and then, sign up for German!
Elementary German (GERM 1 Fall, GERM 2 Winter, GERM 3 Spring)
Intermediate German (GERM 21 Fall, GERM 22 Spring)
Advanced German (GERM 100 Spring)
German Conversation (GERM 106 Fall)
German Fairy Tales (GERM 140 Winter)
German Film - Fassbinder to Akin (GERM 113 Spring)
German Studies is currently undergoing significant program and curricular changes. Students currently enrolled in both the German major and minor programs will need to finish their degree requirements by June 15, 2021.
Interested in studying in Austria, Germany or Switzerland? Good news! In cooperation with IES Abroad (Institute for the International Education of Students) Santa Clara University offers students of German access to programs based in Berlin, Freiburg, Geneva, Munich and Vienna. Whether you are interested in Global Health and Development, International Studies and Multilateral Diplomacy, European Society and Culture, the European Union or you’re just determined to further your passion for German language and its cultures, studying abroad can pave the way to becoming a global citizen.
Visit the
German Studies maintains partnerships with two community organizations: the South Bay Deutscher Schulverein (SBDS), a German Language Saturday School, and the Germania Verein, the German-American Club of San Jose. Both are an easy 15-minute drive from SCU and have hosted our students either as paid teaching assistants (SBDS) or course participants (Germania Verein). Starting fall 2019, our students will be able to get involved at SBDS in a variety of roles: as volunteers or paid teaching assistants.
German "Super" Site
Dr. Becker’s (NIU) Super Site
The Hans Wehr Dictionary may be found in multiple digital formats online. Here is a site which allows you to search scanned pages or download:
Arabic Learning Resources provides a few handy word lists of standard Arabic as well as Egyptian colloquial expressions.
Radif is an excellent place for an online thesaurus in Arabic for advanced students.
Goethe Institut
Musik in Deutschland
Peter Fox
Die offizielle Homepage
Die Prinzen
Offizielle Webseite
Rammstein
Die Band
Bundesliga
Official Website
GASANC
German American School Association of Northern California
Deutschland
Deutschland.de & DE Magazin Deutschland
DAAD
German Academic Exchange Service - Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst
AATG
American Association of Teachers of German
ACTFL
American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages
Traveling around the beautiful village of Monschau, Germany, and Brittany captured this beautiful foggy day and classic architecture.