Overview
German Major & Minor Requirements
Slavic Major & Minor Requirements
Hebrew Courses
Placement Exams
Declaring the Major or Minor
Study Abroad
Department Awards & Senior Honors
FAQs |
German Program
The undergraduate program in German at UCSB offers
three years of language instruction and a rich variety of lower
and upper division courses in linguistics, literature and culture.
Our courses are designed not only for students who
choose to pursue graduate studies in literature, but also for students
interested in careers in such areas as business, government, law,
medicine, mediatechnology, and translation.
The Department offers undergraduates an exciting
range of opportunities to familiarize themselves with German language
and culture, from beginning language classes to in-depth study of
complex literary, political and cultural topics.
Our German language
courses are taught almost exclusively in German by competent,
dedicated Graduate Student Teaching Assistants supervised by Dr. Cornelia Becher.
The first two years of language courses help students
gain both communicative and grammatical competence in German. The
third year focuses on advanced written and conversational skills
as integrated within a literary and cultural context. Advanced courses
include "German Language and Society,", "History and Culture of
German Speaking Countries," classes on eighteenth-, nineteenth-,
and twentieth-century literature, as well as upper division classes
in business German.
The department also offers an exciting selection
of lecture classes for an in-depth
study of complex literary, political and cultural topics. Titles
include "Testimonies of the Holocaust," "Psy-Fi: German Science
Fiction," "Sports and Ideology," "Revolutions: Marx, Nietzsche,
Freud," "Mediatechnology," "Vampirism in German Literature and Beyond,"
and "Mysticism."
All of our classes are taught by internationally
renowned and award-winning scholars. Faculty
research areas include German literature and philosophy from
the 18th century to the present, psychoanalysis, Holocaust studies,
Jewish studies, mediatechnology, German cinema, linguistics, East-Central
European and Russian Studies, and twentieth-century art.
Slavic Program
As a nation situated on the threshold between Europe
and Asia, Islam and Christianity, East and West, Russia offers the
fascinating case of a culture whose self-identity has always depended
on its changing relationship with other cultures and nations. As
a postcolonial empire grappling with the legacy of one of the most
gigantic social experiments in world history -- socialism, Russia
today is coming to terms with unprecedented changes in its social,
economic and political institutions.
The emerging nations of Central and Eastern Europe
(such as Poland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and the nations of
the former Yugoslavia) have a diverse heritage whose contribution
to European culture has long been underestimated. The achievements
of Slavic literature (Akhmatova, Andric, Dostoevsky, Kundera, Milosc,
Nabokov, Tolstoy), music (Dvorak, Prokofiev, Tchaikovsky), film
(Eisenshtein, Vertov, Wajda), and the visual arts (Chagall, Kandinsky,
Malevich), form part of the core of western civilization.
By studying Russian, students achieve a greater awareness
not only of the literature and culture, but also of the role the
newly independent states of the former Soviet Union play in our
current political and economic life. Learning the language is key
to unlocking the cultural, historical, and contemporary significance
of this most important area of the world. Click here for a our list of courses taught in Russian.
Hebrew Program
In the first year of Hebrew (Hebrew 1-2-3), students
learn to read, write and speak Hebrew with good accuracy about everyday
topics. They learn the grammatical structure of this Semitic language
and become acquainted with contemporary Israeli culture. We use
the language in class all the time and students have group conversations.
They are expected to spend about an hour daily on homework and take
an active part in class.
The second year (Hebrew 4-5-6), focuses on expansion
of vocabulary for oral and written communication, on reading short
authentic literary texts and newspapers and on expanding grammatical
forms and writing compositions.
The third year (Hebrew 114A-B-C) surveys many aspects
of Jewish and Israeli history and culture through a variety of literary
texts, newspapers and films, focusing on further development of
reading, writing and oral communication skills.
Click here for our list of courses taught in Hebrew.
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