COLLEGE OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE
Department of German
Degrees Offered:B.A.
TO Webpage:
Chair:Jung-Chih Wei
The Department
German studies at Tamkang began in 1963 with a German program within the Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures. In 1975 the program became an independent department. Since 1984 students of the German Department have had the opportunity to participate in summer courses in Germany. In 1994, the Department established the Junior Year Abroad program. Since then, about one third of all students have spent their junior year as program students at Bonn University, Germany.
During the first two years of the four-year program, a strong emphasis is given to build a solid foundation in practical German. In their junior and senior years, students choose their specialization according to their interests and career plans. Some pursue a classical humanities syllabus in German literature and cultural history. Some others who develop a deeper interest in one particular author or issue can pursue their interest in individually designed tutorials. Another option of specialization prepares students for a career in the business environment. The Department offers courses in business German, German-Chinese interpreting and, in coordination with a course offered at the college level, in intercultural communication.
The German Department considers each student as an individual with particular interests, a more or less articulated career plan and personal circumstances to deal with. The overall policy of the department may be characterized as customized internationalization. Students have the opportunity to organize their studies at the Department according to three different modules, each of which offers a study experience internationalized in a different way.
Standard Module: Students complete a four-year program at Tamkang University. They are encouraged to participate in one or more summer courses in Germany. The Department is doing its best to include a localized form of internationalization into this module by providing opportunities for students to develop contacts with the German community in Taiwan.
Internationalized Module 3 Plus 1: Students participate in the Junior Year Abroad program. They study for two years at Tamkang University and one year abroad. There are two versions of this module. Students may spend their junior year either as program students at the University of Bonn or as exchange students at one of our sister universities in German speaking countries. Presently, exchange programs have been established with the University of Bonn, the University of Cologne and the University of Vienna. Arrangements with other universities are under preparation. Exchange students usually go to their host universities either individually or in groups not larger than three.
Internationalized Module 3 Plus 3: This module is designed for students who plan to study abroad for an advanced degree after graduation from Tamkang. Students participate in the exchange version of the Junior Year Abroad program. Their work as exchange students will be arranged in such a way that it facilitates study for an advanced degree later on at the host university. After graduation from Tamkang, students return to the host university to participate in an M.A. program. Due to their work during their stay as exchange students, the time frame necessary for completing the program will be reduced. The time required depends upon the qualification of the student and the regulations of the particular university. A time frame of two years may be realistic. Students interested in this module should talk to the chair of the Department as early as possible.
Faculty
Professors
Chung, Ying-yen ; Düßel, Reinhard ; Lai, Li-show
Associate Professors
Wei, Jung-chih
Assistant Professors
Chang, Hsiu-chuan ; Bednarsch ,Roland
Visiting Professors
Schwabbauer, Monika ; Klausnitzer, Ralf
Degree Requirements
Requirements for a degree of B.A. in German:
Successful completion of 136 credits of courses, including 114 credits of required courses and 22 credits of elective German courses.
Course Descriptions
A0098 Intermediate German Reading (4/4) This course emphasizes building up students' reading ability by reading different types of articles and analyzing the constructions of sentences to expand their vocabulary and familiarize themselves with the grammar they have already learned.
A0320 Mythology and Theology (2/2) This course introduces Greek and Roman mythology and Bible reading to acquaint students with the social manners and spiritual world of Western civilization to help them understand better the related fields.
A0644 German Juvenile Literature (2/2) An introduction to German fairy tales, folklore and picture stories.
A0766 German I (2/2) This course helps students understand the habits and manners of communication in German and practice the basic sentence patterns in the hope that students will master those habits. This course is restricted to non-German majors.
A0772 German Composition I (2/2) This course is an introduction to German composition for Chinese students, who are new to this area. In addition, emphasis is placed on the correct semantic use of vocabulary in compositions. Students have to write a number of compositions which are corrected by the teacher.
A0773 German Composition II (2/2) This course emphasizes the use of written German to express personal experiences and the basic form of the research essay. Students learn to collect information on issues of their choice from the German pages of the Internet, take notes, organize their notes, and present the information collected in short essays.
A0774 German Composition III (2/2) The main objective of this course is the writing of German essays and term papers. Students also become familiar with a wide variety of text types and writing styles ranging from practical purposes to creative writing. Academic writing is also introduced.
A0781 German-Chinese Translation I (2/2) This course helps students learn and practice theories and techniques in translating German into Chinese. Students will be given many examples and exercises to translate correctly.
A0782 German-Chinese Translation II (2/2) This course puts stress on problems of translation and on analysis of typical difficulties in translation.
A0786 History of German Culture (2/2) This course is a comprehensive survey of German cultural history, including such periods as Germanic, medieval, religious revolution, baroque, enlightenment, classicism, romanticism, realism and twentieth century.
A0787 History of German Literature (2/2) This course gives an overall view of the trends and epochs of German literature from the Chivalric period to 1945 and studies those representative works of each period or trend as well as various literary approaches, and further compares some of them with Chinese writers.
A0796 German Conversation II (2/2) In the course, students are taught to make conversation in the German language with special emphasis on grammar and colloquial use of the German standard language. A0797 German Conversation III (2/2) This course provides conversation training at the advanced level: content based conversation to develop fluency and conversation strategies. Also, students expand their vocabularies.
A0800 German Language Laboratory I (2/2) This course tries to improve students' ability in pronouncing words, reading sentences and articles correctly and in improving their listening and speaking ability.
A0801 German Language Laboratory II (1/1) This course is a continuation of German Language Laboratory I with an intention to further improve students' ability in speaking and listening ability in German.
A0878 Study Guide (2/2) This course introduces students into effective study techniques: bibliography, literary categories, gathering study materials, research methods and design, thesis writing and techniques.
A1507 History of German Art (2/2) This course provides an overview of German art history with an extensive discussion of artistic trends, including Impressionism, Cubism, Surrealism, etc. In the class, to stimulate students' interest, tapes, CDs, slides with music, dance, costume, house design, and merchandise design, will be presented.
A1508 Journalistic Reading and Writing in German (0/2) This course offers practice in reading German newspapers, teaches major elements of the language of journalism and provides an introduction into feature news writing. It will also help students get acquainted with the German speaking world by making use of different media and styles of reporting. Background information in various areas, among them politics, economics and education, will be provided to facilitate the understanding of what is being presented in the media.
A1514 German Business Letters (2/2) An Introduction of German Business Letters: Structure and Form, Inquiry, Price, Quality, Quantity, Packing, Market, Offer, Order, L/C, Documents, Insurance, Shipment, Draft, Payment und Claim.
A1516 Basic German Grammar (4/4) This course introduces the fundamental German grammar with emphasis on the sentence patterns and basic grammar to build a good basis of studying German for students.
A1517 Basic German Reading (4/4) This course aims to promote students in understanding the German sentence so as to strengthen their writing ability through basic sentence patterns and interesting articles.
A1569 German Conversation I (4/4) This course aims to improve students' ability in listening and speaking German through practice by listening to language tapes, group discussion and class communication.
A1669 Business German (2/2) This course is mainly in reading and writing texts of a business nature: to help students understand some special traits in business transaction, the procedures of international trade and the process in doing business like inquiry, offer, quotation, contract, B/L opening, etc.
A1824 Secretary Practice (0/2) This course introduces the linguistic and other skills in a German office environment, emphasizing the procedure, character and function of secretary work. It also provides special knowledge and technique of being a secretary, ability to deal with problems, and ways to communicate and get along with others.
A1838 Modern German Literature (2/2) This course is about the study of German literature from the beginning of the 20th century to the present, introducing various literary periods and their representative writers, including Neo-Romanticism, Expressionism, New Criticism, Political Writing etc.
F0052 Intermediate German Grammar (2/2) This course aims to help students to study and understand completely German grammatical rules, especially those particularly difficult rules for Chinese students. The students are required to take Basic German as the prerequisite.
F0112 Chinese- German Interpreting (2/0) Competency in oral interpretation, situations for oral interpretations (protocol routine, weather, dinners and parties, Taiwan agriculture, visiting places of Interest, culture in Taiwan, on international economic relations and foreign trade, Taiwan industry, politics in Taiwan).
F0238 Practice in German grammar. (0/1) The course emphasizes aspects of German grammar notoriously difficult to Chinese students. Dedicating more time to such aspects in their first year, students will acquire a basis in German grammar more solid than the regular grammar course alone could provide.
F0239 Drama (0/2) A historical as well as practical introduction into the world of German drama and theatre. Part of the course is the production of one play each term.
F0347 International Trade (2/0) This course is designed for students to learn some special traits in business transaction, the procedures of international trade and the process in doing business.
F0552 German Films and Literature (2/0) The course includes the history of German films, important directors such as Werner Herzog, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Wim Wenders and Volker Schloendorff, and discussions about some representative movies like "Emil and the detectives", "The Tenth Summer", "Summerstorm", "The Death in Venedig", "Napola" and "The Lives of Others".
F0638 A Glance of German Speaking World (2/0) This is a course on the discussion and presentation of issues significant to understand contemporary Germany, to help students better understand the social, political and economic affairs of German-speaking countries.
F0639 Comparative Studies in Chinese and German Culture An introduction of cultural policy situation, economy today, Chinese/German youth(A generation at the turning points of trends), the educational system, research and science, Chinese/German women, press, radio, television and cultural scence.
