Undergraduate Information: Department of Germanic Languages & Literatures
The University of Virginia's German Department ranks in the top 10 among American university German departments.
We offer a wide array of language, literature, and culture courses, taught by top-ranked scholars and graduate students.
Language instructors have native or near-native fluency.
The University offers study-abroad programs at the Universities of Dortmund and Freiburg.
The Max Kade German House is the University's center for German culture, featuring:
- an all-German-speaking residence for students
- access to German T.V. and radio
- colloquia and discussion groups
- German films
- celebrations of German holidays and festivities
Why
German?
Academics
German culture is know for its great thinkers, writers, and artists:
German scientists are world leaders in: Engineering, pharmaceuticals, pollution control, and natural resources.
Business
25% of Americans claim German heritage.
Similarity to English
German and English are both Germanic languages. You can read these words even if you don't know German yet: der Finger, die Hand, das Haus, das Bier, der Kindergarten, etc.
German culture is know for its great thinkers, writers, and artists:
- Literature: Goethe, Kafka, Nobel Laureate Elriede Jelinek, Christa Wolf, Rainer Maria Rilke, Ingeborg Bachmann, Paul Celan
- Sciences/social sciences: Einstein, Planck, Heisenberg, von Humboldt
- Social sciences: Freud, Max Weber, Karl Marx
- Philosophy: Kant, Hegel, Nietzsche, Hannah Arendt
- Music: Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Robert and Clara Schumann
- Film: Wim Wenders, Margarethe von Trotta, Doris Dörrie, Rainer Werner Fassbinder
German scientists are world leaders in: Engineering, pharmaceuticals, pollution control, and natural resources.
Business
- German is the most widely spoken language in Europe (100 million speakers, vs. 60 million for English, French, and Italian).
- German is especially important as a language of business in the emerging markets of Eastern Europe where 13 million students are currently studying German as a second language.
- Germany is the largest European trading partner of the U.S., with more than 750 American firms doing business there.
- More than a thousand German companies do business in the U.S., and many have formed strategic partnerships with American firms. Germany's is the third-largest economy in the world, and is the largest exporter relative to its population.
- The German firm Bertelsmann is the world's largest publisher, and Germany publishes 35% more titles annually than the U.S.
- Greater Munich boasts more than 1,800 computer firms with more than 100,000 workers total. Only Silicon Valley, Boston, and London have a greater concentration.
25% of Americans claim German heritage.
Similarity to English
German and English are both Germanic languages. You can read these words even if you don't know German yet: der Finger, die Hand, das Haus, das Bier, der Kindergarten, etc.