Relevance of the German language today
Today more than 100 million people speak German; espacially in the European core countries Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, but also (within Europe) in Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Italy (South Tyrol), Romania and France. Outside of Europe, German enclaves can be found in the USA, Canada, Argentina, etc. Over the years it became more and more popular for young students to study abroad in a German speaking country.
Additionally, German functions as a major scientific language. In the 19th and 20th centuries German was one of the main languages of academic discourse. Therefore, students of linguistics, philosophy, history and related fields (e.g., archaeology, ethnology) often must demonstrate a sufficient command of German in order to earn higher degrees. Some of the greatest literary, artistic and philosophical minds in human history wrote their influential works in the German language such as Kant, Nietzsche, Freud, Arendt, Kafka, Brecht, Benjamin, Adorno etc. For students planning a career in the fields of history, philosophy, linguistics and art it is usually required to develop advanced language skills in order to study for their Master degree. Learning German at an academic institution will give them a broad and deep knowledge of the language, history and culture which will enable them to pursue their research interests and passions.
German is the second most commonly used language of science. More than one hundred Nobel Prizes have been awarded to brilliant German speaking laureates for their accomplishments in their field, including physics, medicine and chemistry. Einstein, Kepler, Röntgen, Planck and Virchow can be counted among the most world-renowned names from the German-speaking world. Throughout history German scientists have proven themselves to be great innovators; this trend continues until today.
Finally, familiarity with the German language can also create business opportunities. Comprising Europe's largest economy as well as its strongest, on the global scale Germany is the world's fourth-largest economy.
Representation of German at BGU/ CAGS Center for Austrian and German Studies
The Center for Austrian and German Studies CAGS at BGU is an interdisciplinary university institution combining research and teaching in the fields of German and Austrian history, society, politics and culture together with literature, art and Jewish studies. The Center organizes seminars, workshops and conferences that bring together scholars from within BGU as well as from other Israeli universities and abroad. Students are always welcome to join these events, which provide fascinating insights and opportunities, especially for German language students.
German courses for beginners and advanced students
Covering an entire year, the German courses offered at BGU provide students with a methodical grounding in the skills necessary to read and comprehend academic text. The main goal is an acquisition of reading competency by working on a corpus of different textual forms, including academic texts from an early stage. To provide a framework for understanding the rules and peculiarities of the German language there will be a focus on grammatical phenomena, which creates the base for a clear and structured progress of studying a new language according to an academic standard.
Why I chose to study German?
Alumni Story (https://german.arizona.edu/)
Further Online Sources
German and Austrian (Academic) Exchange Service. Find a language study program in Germany or Austria and find scholarships for language study.
Tips for finding and listening to German podcasts.
Hundreds of audio books, many with texts to read along with.
This collection presents the political, social and cultural history of Germany from 1500 to the present. A bonus for German learners is that the site provides high-quality English translations of all the documents. It is searchable, easy to use, and has been compiled by leading scholars.
Teaching Staff
(Ramona Pohn (M.A
