Students learn to communicate in German through verbal interaction with instructors and classmates. Particular emphasis is placed on developing conversational and reading skills. Whereas the comprehension of spoken German is stressed in the classroom, basic concepts of grammar are regularly introduced and practiced outside of class in written homework assignments. An intensive language lab program accompanies classroom activities. Conducted in GERMAN. No prerequisite.

This course has three goals. First, students will explore and gain insights into both the idea and reality of “patriotism” in Germany and the USA through texts, videos, music, and classroom and online discussion. This subject is a fruitful topic for comparison and contrast between the American and the German traditions and current situation. In addition, we’ll use a one-year-later view of the U.S. presidential election season (and its reception in Germany) as source material for our investigation.

Second, the course is designed to help students improve their German speaking, reading and writing skills, expand active vocabulary, and develop the discourse tools and techniques needed to communicate in German at an advanced level.

The third goal involves what language teachers call “intercultural competence”: through online discussions (email, chat, etc.) and live, real-time video-conferences we will carry out collaborative projects with university students at the University of Leipzig in Germany. It is an opportunity to engage in authentic communication in German with real speakers of German. The course is taught almost entirely in German. For questions about placement/language level contact Professor Levine at glevine@uci.edu.

Reinforcement and further development of first-year language skills. Emphasis is placed on understanding and conversing in contemporary German. Thorough review of grammatical structures and systematic vocabulary building. Learning activities include readings in and discussion of German culture and literature. Prerequisite: German 1C or consent of instructor.
(VII-B)

Since the end of World War II, historians, social scientists, and psychologists have tried to find origins, reasons, and explanations for the Holocaust, but these accounts never fully satisfy our quest for understanding of this global catastrophe. Can literature, art, and film illuminate those dimensions left unanswered by historical and psychological approaches? What exactly are the problems involved in representing the holocaust today? This course analyzes representations of the Shoah by historians, directors, theorists, writers, and artists. Examining films, reading survivors' testimonies, fictional accounts, theoretical and historical reflections, and comics, we address the following questions: How has the catastrophe of the mass murder of the European Jewry been represented in European and American cultures across disciplines? What are the aesthetic, political, and cultural limits these attempts to represent Auschwitz encountered? How have the Holocaust and its representations become global phenomena in contemporary societies?

Lectures, discussion, and readings in English

Movies provide a fascinating way to examine the ways in which Germans attempted to address significant social and political change over the course of the 20th century and into the new millennium. In illustration of this, the course offers a chronological introduction to the history of German cinema. We will move from the silent cinema of the 1910s to the Weimar Republic, when German film became a challenger to Hollywood’s studio system. We will then address the cinema of the Third Reich before focusing on the movies of divided Germany from 1949-1989, when cinema in the socialist east and the capitalist west developed in very different ways. In the final weeks of the quarter, we will look at German cinema in the post-unification period and study the revival in popularity and interest.

In this class, you can expect to improve your cultural literacy by gaining a working knowledge of German film history. You will get a chance to practice your spoken and written German and expand your understanding of textual analysis in a variety of ways: through weekly introductory lectures, class discussions, and group work. We will also review some relevant grammar topics over the course of the quarter.

The class will be taught primarily in German, with some background readings in English. All films and class discussions will be in German.

Prerequisites: German 2C or the equivalent with a grade of C or higher. Students who have not completed 2C may enroll only with the consent of the instructor.

This class will give you an overview of the political, social, and cultural developments in Germany since 1945 while putting a special emphasis on the time since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Working with an open definition of “culture,” we will read texts in various media (newspapers, academic writing, literature, film) and discuss diverse manifestations of both high and popular culture. We will deal with issues such as the German perception of America, problems between East and West Germany and national identity, coming to terms with the Nazi past, the legacy of communism, ethnic and religious minorities in Germany, and the roles of women in contemporary German society.

In this course, you can expect to gain an understanding of the complexities of Germany’s post-war history and the intricate relationship between culture, history, and politics through weekly introductory lectures, class discussions, and group work. Weekly written homework assignments and response papers will allow for a deepening of your understanding of issues discussed in class.

No knowledge of German is necessary; all materials and discussions will be in English.