All four foreign language skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening) are addressed to help students acquire communicative competence in the German language while being sensitized to the links between language and culture. This course is for students with no prior knowledge of German.

Students review and continue to develop the basic elements of communicative competence in both spoken and written language while being sensitized to the links between language and culture. This course covers the same material as 1 in a condensed way and at an accelerated speed. Upon completion of this course, students will qualify for enrollment in 2.

Elementary German for graduate students preparing for reading examinations.

In this course, students will continue to develop communicative competence in the German language and expand their sensitivity towards the relationship between language and culture. While all language skills will be addressed, additional emphasis will be on the various styles of written and spoken German.

Elementary German for graduates preparing for reading examinations.

While continuing to expand students' communicative competence in German, this content-driven course will provide insights into postwar German history and cultural trends. Primary focus will be on the development of literacy skills (critical reading and writing), vocabulary expansion, and a thorough review of structural concepts. You will be guided towards expressing yourself on more abstract topics, such as language and power in society, multiculturalism, rebellion and protest, and social justice, and towards drawing connections between texts and contexts, using a variety of text genres (journalistic, historical, short story, poetry, drama, advertising, film).

In this fourth-semester German language course you will work on strengthening your interpretative abilities as well as your written and oral forms of expression. While continuing the development of communicative competence and literacy skills, students will discuss a variety of texts and filsm and try to find innovative ways in which to engage with familiar presuppositions about who we are, about what determines our values and actions, and about the function and power of language.

This course offers a survey of modern German literary, cultural, and intellectual currents, as well as an introduction to argumentation and analysis. Students will examine numerous issues and questions central to defining the complexity of modern German culture. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R5B satisfies the second half.

This course offers a survey of modern German literary, cultural, and intellectual currents, as well as an introduction to argumentation and analysis. Students will examine numerous issues and questions central to defining the complexity of modern German culture. R5A satisfies the first half of the Reading and Composition requirement, and R5B satisfies the second half.

An introductory level exploration of a group of authors, works, themes, or literary movements from the history of German literature in a European context. Based on close readings of texts students will discuss ways in which literature has played (and continues to play) a crucial role in the relationship between different cultures, traditions, and languages. Readings and topics to vary from semester to semester.

The Freshman Seminar Program has been designed to provide new students with the opportunity to explore an intellectual topic with a faculty member in a small seminar setting. Freshman seminars are offered in all campus departments, and topics may vary from department to department and semester to semester. Enrollment limited to 15 freshmen.

We will explore the ways in which Marx, Nietzsche, and Freud--three of the most important thinkers in modern Western thought--can be read as responding to the Enlightenment and its notions of reason and progress. We will consider how each remakes a scientific understanding of truth, knowledge, and subjectivity, such that rationality, logic, and the powers of human cognition are shown to be distorted, limited, and subject to forces outside our individual control. All lectures and readings in English.

No knowledge of German required.

No knowledge of German required.

No knowledge of German required.

Advanced German conversation course that includes discussions, debates, individual presentations, and one or two in-class movies in German. Most materials will be provided by the instructor but students will also be asked to use their own resources from printed or online media. Regular vocabulary quizzes will be part of the course grade. Taught in German.

Students will explore historical and contemporary aspects of German culture through readings, discussions, guided excursions in Berlin and Weimar, and individual research projects. The course will engage students to develop a deeper understanding of the specific ways in which cultural issues are respected and reflected in the German language, which they study concurrently. Topics include multiculturalism and minority experience; Berlin as divided city and capital; city planning and public discourse, past and present in German architecture; Berlin in popular literature, film, and theatre; the art scene in Berlin; and the Weimar classical period. Taught in German and English.

What or who decides whether something is beautiful or not? What purpose do beauty and art serve? Where do originality, genius, and inspiration come from? What do art and beauty have to do with freedom and human progress? We will examine primarily western European and North American approaches to beauty as presented in works of philosophy, literary theory, and theories of art and aesthetics, exploring key theoretical questions as they evolve among several intellectual arenas over many centuries.

This seminar-style course will take up a range of questions related to art works, aesthetic theory, the politics of art, and the relationship between artistic form and meaningful content by way of examinations of specific works at the UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAM/PFA). Students will see how experts from several different disciplines approach works of art: What questions do scholars bring to an art work? What is a formal analysis vs. a critical interpretation of an art work? How do curators approach art? Are we supposed to ‘learn from’ an art work or ‘experience’ it or have some particular ‘relationship’ to it? Is art a matter of conveying feeling, a message, or an encounter with beauty?

Group study of selected topics not covered by regularly scheduled courses. Topics may be initiated by students under the sponsorship and direction of a member of the German Department's faculty.

Independent study and research by arrangement with faculty.

The course is intended to acquaint students with selected works from German cultural history and to familiarize them with various methods of interpretation and analysis. Required of all German majors.

Focusing on five central themes, this advanced-level language course will help students to improve and expand on spoken and written language functions utilizing a variety of works from different genres in journalism, broadcasting, literature, fine arts, and the cinema. The final goal is to enable students to participate in the academic discourse--written and spoken--at a linguistic and stylistic level appropriate for an advanced student of German in upper division courses.

Analysis, discussion, adaptation, and public performance of authentic texts from German Kabarett, such as comedic skits, political and social satire, parody, humorous poetry. Text selection will vary each semester.

This advanced language/culture course focuses on the structure and practices of German business as well as current economic, political, and cultural issues relevant to conducting business in the German-speaking world. German-language news media, video, and Internet resources keep us abreast of contemporary developments in the business scenes of the German-speaking countries and the rest of Europe. Language skills practiced include business writing, presentations, and negotiation.

Focusing on popular culture in German speaking countries, this advanced level language course will help students to improve and expand on spoken and written language functions utilizing a variety of works from different genres in journalism, broadcasting, literature, fine arts, music, and the cinema. Readings, screenings, discussion, and writing assignments will advance students' language skills and further develop their communicative competencies in German at a linguistic and stylistic level appropriate for an advanced student.

This course is designed to provide students with an overview of the major subfields of linguistics as they apply to the German language. It also serves as the gateway course for the further study of German linguistics at the undergraduate level. The first part of the course will focus on the synchronic description of contemporary German. The second part of the course will concern itself with variation in German. There are no prerequisties for this class and no prior experience with linguistics is presupposed. However, an advanced knowledge of German (at least GERMAN 4 level) is expected.

This course is intended for students who wish to improve their skills in reading, speaking, and writing German. We will work with texts that were particularly influential in Germany during the first decades of the 20th century, regardless of when they were written. Segments of philosophical writings (Schopenhauer, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, literary works (George, Rilke, Th. Mann) but also texts by scientists and journalists will be analyzed. Participants are expected to prepare several oral presentations and approximately one written assignment per week. No midterm or final examination.

Students will learn the fundamentals of Middle High German grammar and will read selections from major narrative works of the High Middle Ages. Selections from major works from the 13th century.

Exploration of the role that literature can play in the acquisition of literacy in a first and second language. Linguistic and psycholinguistic issues: orality and literacy, discourse text, schema theory, and reading research. Literary issues: stylistics and critical reading, reader response, structure of narratives. Educational issues: the literary text in the social context of its production and reception by intended and non-intended readers.

This course is designed to prepare graduate students for translation/reading exams in German. Students who do not need to pass such an exam, but who wish to improve their reading and translation skills in academic German, are also welcome.

This course introduces students to the problems of literary translation from German to English.

Multidisciplinary explorations into the origins, nature, and exercise of language as social symbolic power, drawing on readings taken from anthropology, social and cultural theory, and critical discourse analysis. Topics include language and myth, the meaning of meaning, the economy of verbal exchanges, perspective and ideology in language, institutional discourse, gender and discourse, and linguistic imperialism.

Introduction in modern German or English translation to major literary monuments of the Hohenstaufen period. Intended for undergraduates with no knowledge of Middle High German.

Major texts from the 15th through the 17th century.

The course will focus on examples of mystical thought from the traditions of Christian and Jewish mysticism since the Middle Ages. In addition to the introduction of the students to basic texts and concepts we will discuss the effects of mystical thought on art and literature from the Middle Ages up to today.

The social, political, and historical background to German literature since the French Revolution.

An introduction to Goethe's prose, drama, and poetry.

Literature, philosophy, and aesthetics of the Romantic period.

This course introduces students to the masterpieces of German drama and opera from the eighteenth to the twentieth century.

Analysis of German narrative forms. Topic varies.

Representative texts from 18th- to 21st-century German poetry will be studied closely. Methodological questions regarding the interpretation of poetry in general will also be discussed.

Introduction to philosophical, ideological, and aesthetic trends at the turn of the century. Analyses of literary texts by Th. Mann, F. Kafka, S. George, R. M. Rilke, G. Benn, B. Brecht.

Introduction to the intellectual history of Germany from the age of the Reformation to the period of Idealism. We will focus on three major thinkers--Martin Luther, Immanuel Kant, and G.W.F. Hegel--on key issues in their thought, and on the reception and discussion of some of these issues in 20th century theory. Lectures and readings in English.

The aim of the course is to explore the central theoretical and philosophical premises of three of the most influential thinkers in the German-speaking world and to examine in detail several works in which problems of history, ideology, values, and methodology are considered. Lecture and readings in English.

This course is an introduction to the work of Martin Heidegger and Hannah Arendt. We will begin with an investigation into Heidegger's conceptualiztions of language, time, and human dwelling. We will then move to an examination of Arendt's political philosophy, including her focus on the public/private distinction. Taught in English.

This course examines the writings of the Frankfurt School of Critical Theory, a major branch of western Marxism. Focusing on confrontations with modernity, the lectures will deal with three seminal thinkers: Walter Benjamin, known for his genial insights into the culture of modernism; Theodor Adorno, the versatile philosopher and aesthetic theorist of the avant garde; and Jurgen Habermas, the most influential German intellectual after World War II.

The story of Germany in the 20th century is a dramatic one, comprising two world wars, genocide, Allied occupation, a division into two states on opposing sides of the Cold War, and recently an unexpected unification. This course offers an introduction to the history and culture of contemporary Germany. It aims at a systematic account of German history in the 20th century, and it intends to provide a better understanding of today's German culture and politics. In addition to following a chronological approach, we will frequently stop to explore issues that are crucial to providing insights into current developments.

This course will focus on the theory and practice of propaganda during the 12 years of the Third Reich. It takes a close look at the ideology the Nazis tried to transmit, the techniques, organization, and effectiveness of their propaganda. Challenging the idea of the total power of propaganda, it looks for the limits of persuasion and possible other reasons for which Germans might have decided to follow Hitler. Sources will include the press, radio, film, photography, political posters, and a few literary works of the time.

This course offers an introduction to the history and culture of divided Germany in the era of the Cold War. It will look at the different ways the two states dealt with the country's pre-1945 history, the relations to the Allied Powers, and the major cultural shifts which eventually created a watershed in the history of German mentalities. We will look at various kinds of sources, including literature and film. Major national debates will be touched upon, such as breaks and continuities within the national elites, re-armament and pacifism, the student movement, opposition and conformity under Socialism, and the rise of environmentalism. We will also discuss the problems and opportunities of re-unification.

This course will deal with the culture and politics of minorities in contemporary Germany. We will discuss how ethnic identities are perceived, constructed, and marketed. We also engage critically with such concepts as migration, assimilation, citizenship, diaspora, hybridity, and authenticity, as well as rhetorical strategies of "speaking back." We will focus on exemplary texts and films from Germany, but include comparisons with minority experiences in other countries.

The history of Germany's first parliamentary democracy is a dramatic one, dominated by economic woes, political violence, and a general perception of crisis and decline. The ill-fated republic bore the burden of a devastating war and suffered from an increasing lack of popular support. Democratic procedures were constantly undermined by radical and reactionary forces. Cultural pessimism was nurtured by the overwhelming experience of historical contingency, i.e., a fundamental lack of confidence in the predictability of modern life.

This course reflects on European cultures from a transnational perspective. It will explore tensions between traditional identity concepts based on the nation state model and other ways to define identity based on border crossings and intercultural connections. Special attention will be paid to Europe's multilingualism and its colonial legacy in the form of migration, diaspora, hybridity, and other social phenomena that challenge traditional boarders between cultures, languages, and people. We will discuss exemplary texts and films from German-speaking areas in Europe and beyond. The course syllabus will vary depending on the regional and thematic emphasis. All reading and discussion will be in English.

Designed for undergraduate and graduate students interested in the history of the language of the newly united Germanys, which transverses a rich linguistic legacy from the , through Luther and Grimm, to Grass and . Discussion, via linguistic principles, of language processes in the genetic development of the German language, as well as its interchange over time with closely and remotely related languages such as English and Russian.

This course examines geographical and social variation within the German language. Among other things we will consider the differences between language and dialect, the division of German dialects and the history of German dialect study, various linguistic features (phonological, morphological, syntactic, and lexical) characteristic of the major German dialect areas, and issues involving the use of dialect versus standard language in contemporary society. Besides regular readings and written assignments, grades will be based on active participation and a paper or exam.

A course designed for undergraduates and graduates on the structure of modern German covering the fundamentals of German phonetics and phonology, with comparison to English. Some discussion of German dialect phonology.

A course designed for undergraduates and graduates on the grammatical structure of modern German covering the fundamentals of German morphology, syntax and semantics, with comparison to English.

Analysis of various poetry from the beginning of the century to today, including works by Trakl, Benn, Bachmann, Sachs, Celan, and Brinkmann. A 20-page research paper will be part of the requirements for this course.

On the basis of literary texts (in translation) and films, we will examine major topics pertaining to the cultural identity of Switzerland. Special attention will be paid to the cultural history of Switerzland in a European context. Themes in discussion will be Swiss multiculturalism and multilingualism, the importance of the Alps for national self-identification, the origin and development of the Swiss model of direct democracy, and the Swiss policy of neutrality.

This course introduces principal figures from the basic disciplines of philosophy, biology, and linguistics who are particularly influential in current trends in semiotic method. It undertakes to lay the foundation of a semiotic method distinct from monolithic traditional structuralism, so, e.g, it concentrates on anti-Saussurean thought. In presenting semiotic universals, the course pursues the formulation and the application of a theoretical construct valid for any and all semiotic modalities ranging from the literary text, to the language act as text, and to the human being as text.

Topics will vary from semester to semester. See departmental announcement for offerings. Additional screening time may be required for film topics.

Issues in bilingualism for students of foreign languages. This course explores what research on bilingualism says about what it means to learn someone else's language -- the cognitive, affective, and social dimensions of second language acquisition, the relation of language and culture, and language and identity. Fieldwork will include observing, recording, and transcribing segments of foreign language classrooms, visits to bilingual schools in the area, and interviews with native speakers of various languages on campus. Course taught in English, open to any foreign language student, data collected in the languages of the participants.

The course will deal with the topic from various angles; a representative selection of American films noirs from the United States and some films (as forerunners) from the Weimar Republic will be shown and discussed in terms of their visuals and narratives. There will also be literary texts and cultural documents (articles on crime in the United States; on the working conditions in Hollywood) pertaining to the topic. Films have English subtitles.

This course will explore how experiences of migration, dislocation, or exile are visualized in cinema, and how processes of internationalization in film production and distribution intersect with the projection of a transnational global imagery. Some examples of transnational cinematic connections will be analyzed in historical perspective as well as contemporary examples of "migrant cinema." We will investigate how these films engage with debates about multiculturalism and assimilation/segregation of minorities, as scenarios of itinerancy and mobility are often intertwined with representations of ethnicity and gender.

Supervised independent study and research course for honor students who are writing their theses for completion of the requirements for the Honors Program.

Two-semester supervised independent study and research course in which honor students research their theses topic the first semester (H196A) and write their theses the second semester (H196B) for completion of the requirements for the honors program.

Two-semester supervised independent study and research course in which honor students research their theses topic the first semester (H196A) and write their theses the second semester (H196B) for completion of the requirements for the honors program.

Group study of selected topics which will vary from year to year.

Supervised independent study and research.

The course will give a brief introduction to the history of , draw attention to bibliographical and research tools, dwell on problems relating to critical editions of modern authors, familiarize students with as a profession in the U.S.A., and focus upon literary theory. Required of all M.A. candidates.

Survey of medieval German literature that concentrates on monuments of the Hohenstauffen period but also includes representative works from the later 13th, 14th and 15th centuries. Intended for M.A. candidates but open to all students with a working knowledge of Middle High German.

Recommended for M.A. candidates.

An introduction to major works of late Enlightenment, Sturm and Drang, and Classicism to Schiller's death.

A study of pivotal literary texts, including works by Goethe, Novalis, Holderlin, Heine, and Nietzsche.

A critical overview of major literary and intellectual currents between the initial and the final turn of the century. We will explore literary, sociocultural, and philosophical forces in their consequential interactions. Considerations will include Freud, Dada, Expressionism, National Socialism, Exile, post-World War II literature, countercultural texts, and post-modernism.

A compact seminar designed to feature distinguished short-term visitors from German-speaking countries who have expertise in German literature and culture to teach topics that complement regular departmental offerings. One short paper is required. Taught in German.

Survey of texts from the 15th and 16th centuries. A good reading knowledge of Middle High German is recommended.

Drawing on a variety of literary texts, periods, and genres, this seminar will present and explore different ways of reading. Topics will include literary hermeneutics and textual deconstruction.

. Literary texts will be studied as historical documents illuminating changes in literary theory and in religious and philosophical thought during the Enlightenment. Texts by Lessing, Herder, and Lenz, and some Storm and Stress plays.

Major authors and texts of the romantic period will be discussed.

Topics vary from year to year. For current topic see the department's "Course Descriptions" booklet.

This seminar examines the interrelationship of poetic and philosophical discourses, with an emphasis on roles and functions of language. Questions of style and writing will interrelate different genres of poetry and thought. The seminar will explore a tradition in which poetic thought and highly reflective poetry approach and at times merge with each other.

This seminar will examine traditional and recent critical approaches to the study of film. Knowledge of German and background in literary theory required.

Consisting of reguar meetings and discussions as well as weekly lectues by distinguished speakers from various disciplines, the seminar will explore instuitutional, political, social, and cultural aspects of the former two Germanies grappling with an ambiguous heritage. Within this framework participants will pursue individual directions in research. Topic varies from year to year.

A comparison of literary and cultural developments in Germany and the United States. Emphasis is placed on individual research designed to develop teaching materials.

Designed for students interested in the history of the language and culture of united Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein, which transverses a rich legacy from the , through Luther and Grimm, to Grass and . Discussion, via linguistic principles, of language processes in the genetic development of the German language, as well as its interchange over time with closely and remotely related languages.

Advanced topics in Germanic phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics. The principal Germanic dialects viewed within laryngeal theory and reconstruction.

Study of the linguistic structures of the earliest Germanic dialect with a sizable corpus. Indo-European origins, Germanic relationships, and Gothic as a synchronic construct are considered.

Reading of poetic and prose texts in Old High German. The synchronic and diachronic study of the dialects of the High German language from the eighth to the eleventh century within the framework of current linguistic method.

Readings and discussion of poetic and prose texts in the Ingwaeonic languages (broadly construed) not covered elsewhere: Old Low Franconian, Middle Dutch, Old Frisian, Middle Low German.

Study of the most provocative of the major Germanic languages in terms of structural identification. The literary and ethnographic setting of the and its shared isogrammar.

A survey of relevant contemporary issues and topics in linguistic research on the structure of German.

Variable topic. For specific topic contact departmental office.

The seminar will deal with the methods and results of morphological analysis as applied to the German language. It will introduce basic concepts and means of morphological analyses, as well as study and apply various theories of word structure to German. The primary concern will be the synchronic analyses of modern German word formation, but questions of a diachronic nature as well as ones about inflection will also be discussed.

Discussion of current syntactic theories as applied to a number of issues in modern German syntax with an eye toward their description and explanatory potential. Typological comparison, especially with English.

Concentration on the essential categories of semantics via data from German and Germanic. Extensive discussion of semantic change, the semantics of prevarication, and the semantics of pathological language.

Theory and methods of contrastive linguistic analyses. Study of pairs of contrastive language sets in two time perspectives: Modern German with Modern English and Early New High German with Early New English.

Discussion of the principal figures from the basic disciplines of philosophy, biology, and linguistics influential in current trends in semiotics. Application of Peircean semiotics to a wide range of semiotic modalities.

Primarily for post-M.A. students engaged in exploration of a restricted field, involving writing of a report, and for students writing their doctoral dissertations.

The course focuses on the theory and practice of foreign language pedagogy. It introduces students to second language acquisition research and its relationship to pedagogy, providing a basis for staying theoretically informed and for participating in professional discourse of the field throughout one's teaching career. It also emphasizes critical reflection on pedagogical practices. Includes a practical component dealing directly with the day-to-day challenges of teaching elementary German.

This course expands upon the basis of methodology and theory of language teaching covered in 350 and prepares students for teaching at the intermediate level. The theoretical and practical exploration of recent developments in second language teaching concentrates on instructional technology, teaching writing, teaching literary texts, and curriculum design. Students reflect on their development as teachers through a journal, video, and observation of their teaching, and the final portfolio.

Independent study in consultation with graduate adviser to provide an opportunity for Ph.D. students to prepare for the qualifying examination.