German Studies

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The Department Languages, Literatures and Cultures offers a Joint Honours (formerly referred to as a Medial) and a Minor in German Studies. Depending on your Plan, you will expand your German language skills and/or gain knowledge about the most important literary and cultural concepts of the German speaking world.

Taking a German Studies Plan provides you with an opportunity to study in Germany and immerse yourself in the language and culture. A few study abroad scholarships are available in the Department to help you with the financial side of the exchange.

Knowledge of German is extremely important in today’s world. Germany has the third largest economy in the world and is the economic powerhouse of the European Union. Knowing German will increase your job opportunities with German and foreign companies in your own country and abroad. German is a language of science and scholarship, since Germans have been prominent in virtually all the cultural and scientific disciplines. Knowledge of the language will make huge resources available to students of history, music, art history, philosophy, physics, etc.

Joint Honours in German Studies

GMST Joint Honours (formerly referred to as a Medial) is currently under academic review. No students will be admitted in the Plan at this point.

Plan consists of 42.0 units as described below.  The Plan, in combination with a Joint Honours Plan in another subject, and with sufficient electives to total 120.0 units, will lead to a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree.

CORE COURSES (24.0 units)

A. 6.0 units in GRMN 101/3.0 and GRMN 102/3.0
B. 6.0 units in GRMN 201/3.0 and GRMN 202/3.0
C. 12.0 units from GRMN at the 300-level

 OPTION COURSES (18.0 units)

A. 18.0 units from GRMN at the 300-level or above; ARTH 306/3.0; GMST_Substitutions

SUBSTITUTIONS
Subject to departmental approval, up to 6.0 units in another literature or in a cognate discipline addressing issues in German culture may be used in lieu of GRMN_Substitutions

German Studies Substitutions:
FRST 290/3.0, HIST 121/6.0; HIST 250/6.0; HIST 255/3.0; HIST 277/3.0; HIST 281/3.0; HIST 295/3.0;IDIS 200/6.0; IDIS 303/3.0; INTS 320/3.0; INTS 321/3.0; LING 100/6.0; LING 310/3.0; LING 320/3.0; LING 330/3.0; LING 340/3.0; LLCU 110/3.0, LLCU 111/3.0, LLCU 200/3.0; PHIL 256/3.0

Minor in German Studies

Plan consists of 30.0 units as described below. The Plan, with sufficient electives to total 90.0 units, will lead to a Bachelor of Arts Degree.

CORE COURSES (24.0 units)

A. 6.0 units from GRMN 101/3.0 and GRMN 102/3.0
B. 6.0 units in GRMN 201/3.0 and GRMN 202/3.0
C. 6.0 units from GRMN at the 300 level

OPTION COURSES (12.0 units)

A. 12.0 units from GRMN at the 300-level or above; ARTH 306/3.0; GMST_Substitutions

SUBSTITUTIONS
Subject to departmental approval, up to 6.0 units in another literature or in a cognate discipline addressing issues in German culture may be used in lieu of GRMN_Substitutions
NOTES :Not more than 6.0 unit can be at the P00-level.

German Studies Substitutions:
FRST 290/3.0 (formerly IDIS 290/3.0); HIST 121/6.0; HIST 250/6.0; HIST 255/3.0; HIST 277/3.0; HIST 281/3.0; HIST 295/3.0; IDIS 290/3.0; IDIS 303/3.0; INTS 321/3.0; LING 100/6.0; LING 310/3.0; LING 320/3.0; LING 330/3.0; LING 340/3.0; LLCU 110/3.0; LLCU 111/3.0; LLCU 200/3.0; LLCU 206/3.0; LLCU 322/3.0; PHIL 256/3.0

If you have no previous knowledge of German, GRMN 101/3.0 is the right place to start. If you have an OAC or equivalent in German, GRMN 201/3.0 is the right place. If you have some knowledge of German thanks to travel or family connections, it may be appropriate for you to start with GRMN 102/3.0, i.e., half way through the first year course. If you are in this situation, you should speak to a German faculty member in order to have your level evaluated.

Students completing Introductory German and considering a German Plan should take GRMN 201/3.0 and GRMN 202/3.0, Intermediate German. These courses expand the grammatical knowledge, provide increased opportunities for vocabulary expansion and practical use of the language in lifelike situations.

GRMN courses at 300-level are theme-based cultural history or literature courses in German, e.g. Survey of German Cultural History I & II (GRMN 308/3.0 & GRMN 309/3.0), Contemporary Germany through Media and News (GRMN 317/3.0) or German Culture and Language through Literature I & II (GRMN 311/3.0 & GRMN 312/3.0).

The 400-level GRMN courses are taught in English concurrently with an LLCU course on specialized topics such as Roots of Fascism: Resistance to Liberalism in the 19th Century (GRMN 419/3.0); Fascism in Europe from Napoleon to Hitler (GRMN 420/3.0); Film in the New Europe (GRMN 426/3.0); Is Less More? Historic and Current Cultural Aspects of Minimalism and Reduction (GRMN 425/3.0); or Sickness and Health – Cultural Representations in Medical Discourse (GRMN 427/3.0).