German Reading and Translation Workshop: German in Today's World

Catalog description

This course will address issues of translation, mostly from German into English, but to a lesser extent also from English into German. It will focus primarily on texts coming from the spheres of current events, politics, economics, and the cultural sphere, but students will also be encouraged to explore and locate texts based on their own interests and concerns. In order to facilitate well-honed translation, it will be necessary to address points of advanced grammar where the structures of the German and English languages feature not only similarities but also differences. The course will thus also constitute a review of issues in German grammar that English speakers may sometimes find particularly challenging. The language of instruction will be primarily German, and students should be comfortable speaking and listening to German. Students will be required to complete a several translation projects, to locate a number of texts from the contemporary German-speaking world that interest them, and to take a midterm and final examination that will focus on translation, issues of advanced grammar, and cultural content. Prerequisite: 82-324