German

Abstract

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  Profile of the study programme

  Study of German involves learning about the science of the German language and literature from the Middle Ages to the present day. Students should enjoy reading and writing and dealing analytically with language, texts and other media, and have an interest in the historical and cultural interconnections of language.
  The study of German in Fribourg offers the entire scope of the field of study, from the historical stages of the German language to today's standard language and dialects, from the history of German literature in the Middle Ages to that of the present, from literature theory to literary media studies and its relevant educational theory. Studies in Fribourg place particular emphasis on the field of dialectology and language acquisition research and pave the way to interdisciplinary research in medieval studies and comparative literature studies.
  Students will be studying with us in a city of manageable size, at a medium-sized bilingual university (with approximately 10,000 students, of which 250 are students of German), located in a mainly French-speaking environment, but under the language conditions assumed for a German-speaking institution. The study of German in Fribourg is also open to non-native speakers of German who have a strong command of German. Approximately 15% of our students do not have German as their mother tongue. In Fribourg students can study German and French language and literature at the same level.

  Organisation of the studies
  The three subjects, which focus on knowledge of the German language and its literature, are German Linguistics, German Medieval Studies and Modern German Literature. In the bachelor study programme, students become acquainted with all three fields of study equally; during the third academic year, the priorities in terms of content are set so as to accommodate students' professional preferences.

  German Linguistics deals with the structure of the German language, its changes, range of variation, and use or development in the individual. In the bachelor programme, the fundamentals of structural, historical, cognitive and pragmatic speech analysis are studied. Courses on research in language acquisition, especially the acquisition of text competence, are offered regularly. Since in Switzerland, German exists in the form of dialects and a standard language, and has always been in close contact with the neighbouring Romance languages (which is especially clearly manifested in Fribourg), dialectology, sociolinguistics and language contact research are afforded special importance.

  German Medieval Studies introduces the student to the world of German texts from the Middle Ages, Arthurian Romances, heroic epics and love poetry, but also to chronicles and documents, letters, prayers and tracts, educational books and recipes. The studies provide access to the language and interpret the texts against the backdrop of a society that is characterised by oral and visual exchanges and by symbolic, ritual and ceremonial forms of communication, as well as by scholarly Latin written language traditions. The medieval studies are therefore focused not only on imparting knowledge, but on a differentiated perception of complex historical artefacts, the ability to formulate scientific issues from spontaneous observations, develop adequate and therefore plausible solutions to problems, and convey them so that others can understand them.

  Modern German Literature covers modern German literature from the 16^th century to the present time. In this subject students gain the competence to stylistically analyse texts of various genres and media and place them in their historical context. Special features of literary studies in Fribourg are the opportunities for comparative literature study engendered by our proximity to the language boundary, and the focus on the representation of literature in different media.

  Learning outcomes and career openings
  This bachelor programme allows for unlimited access to master's studies in German language and literature and therefore, among other things, to training as a Baccalaureate school teacher in German. Furthermore, the bachelor degree provides direct or facilitated access to many master programmes in the fields of languages, communication and literature. Approximately half of the graduates of German in Fribourg are working as teachers at Baccalaureate schools and in adult education, or in research and teaching at universities, but also in such varied fields as international relations, cultural activities, public relations, press, radio and television, advertising, consulting and project management, etc.

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Structure of studies

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Alternatives

Minor study programmes to be chosen