USC Dornsife German Studies Program

What is the rationale for taking German Studies at USC?

The German Studies Program at USC offers a complete language program (including business German) and a comprehensive undergraduate curriculum with the option to minor in German Studies. We offer classes in German and in English.

Our goal is twofold:

1) to provide students with a linguistic skill set and the cultural competence to communicate in a meaningful way when they travel, study, live or work in a German speaking country.

2) to enable students to follow and interpret current events, and to explore the cultural tradition and intellectual history of German speaking countries while they start to develop and hone their research skills.

• We offer a stimulating and challenging learning environment – our program provides ample opportunity for students to discover the culture, current affairs and everyday life in German speaking countries.
• Our courses are based on a student-centered approach and conducted in an interactive format.
• All of the instructors are ACTFL certified oral proficiency testers, and writing proficiency test raters for German.
• One of the advantages of a small program is the faculty student ratio – the classes are small and each student gets a lot of individual attention. The maximum number of students in the language classes is 19 and upper-division classes are even smaller.
• Students are encouraged to pursue interdisciplinary studies of German culture, politics, history and other fields.
• A wide variety of special collections and facilities on campus and in the L.A. area offer excellent opportunities for students to get involved in research on German Studies topics. The facilities include the Feuchtwanger Memorial Library, the Max Kade Institute, the Shoah Foundation, Villa Aurora and the Wende Museum (For more information scroll further down and look under “Research and Special Collections at USC and under “German Institutions in L.A.”)
• Study Abroad programs in Vienna and Berlin offering opportunities for overseas studies after two and four semesters of German.
• The German Studies Program offers a six-week teaching internship in collaboration with the Goethe International Charter School. For more information contact Dr. Bothe.
• The faculty makes it a priority to create an atmosphere of a “small-town” community in a megalopolis research institution. We know our students by name and our small classes also make it easier for you as a student to get to know your classmates. Each semester every German Studies professor takes each of his/her classes to dinner at a restaurant.
• We offer a range of extracurricular activities such as film screenings,dinners with your professors, seasonal parties and Stammtisch (the opportunity to practice your German outside of the classroom once a week).
• The program has an active German Club that organizes events throughout the semester.

To get a first-hand impression of the kind of projects you might complete in German class click on the following image or for more info click the Student Showcase tab under “About Us.”