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Curriculum Study Abroad German House Resources People Placement After Macalester
| The Major
The Minor
The Language Sequence
Literature and Culture
Courses in English
Double Majors with German
Co-Curricular Activities
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Curriculum--Why Study German? "I found my smattering of German very useful here; indeed, I don’t know how I should be able to get on without it." Times have changed since Bram Stoker’s words were published 100 years ago--or have they? Is German still useful in a globalized world and a multicultural U.S.? The answer to both questions is yes! Times have indeed changed since Stoker’s day; German is more important than ever as a language of business, diplomacy, education and tourism throughout Europe and the world. German is not only the language of the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, and the largest portion of Switzerland, but also of Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, areas of Northern Italy, Eastern Belgium and Eastern France. German is the second most commonly spoken language in western Europe, and it is the most commonly used language in eastern Europe in business, diplomacy and tourism. is spoken widely throughout Eastern Europe as well. More Europeans (approximately 100 million) are native speakers of German than of English, French, Italian (58,060 million each) or Spanish (36 million). In addition to being the fifth most common language on the Internet, German is the third or fourth most popular foreign language worldwide; in Japan, for example, 68% of all students learn German. Much of German’s current importance stems from the Federal Republic’s economic status as the major force in a consolidating Europe. Already at the inception of the Euro, the New York Times Book Review (11/97) referred to the Euro as the "Deutsch-Mark by another name." Today, Germany has the fourth-highest GNP in the world, is the second highest creditor nation, and every year occupies one of the top three spots among exporting countries. Its publishing industry, which ranks #3 in the world (behind England and China), produced 36% more book titles in 1995 than did the United States. While Germany is economically the most important member of the European Union and invests heavily in Eastern Europe, Asia and Latin America, its economy is particularly connected with that of the United States. In 1994 and again in 1995, each country directly invested almost $40 billion in the other. The German investments in the United States in 1995 supported 2,507 separate enterprises with 494,000 employees. Beyond that, German exports to the United States in 1994 totaled $33.5 billion (while imports from the U.S. were $27.5 billion). Germany is the fourth largest trading partner of the state of Minnesota. Given this environment, the advantages of competence in German for employment are obvious. German continues to be an essential language for advanced study of numerous academic disciplines. By any measure, the German-speaking world has made and continues to make enormous contributions to world culture, whether in the areas of music, art, literature, philosophy, education, or science and technology. To cite just a few examples, our understanding of education and the liberal arts is indebted to Wilhelm von Humboldt; of relativity to Einstein; of social theory to Max Weber, who inspired American sociology; of the human mind to Freud. It should be noted that German philosophy (particularly Nietzsche, who heavily influenced recent French philosophy) has been essential to contemporary understandings of diversity and multiculturalism. A knowledge of German significantly enriches one’s understanding of this tradition as well as current cultural theory; indeed, foundational texts are read in translation only at a considerable loss. A review of Nobel Prizes shows the historical standard of excellence in the natural sciences in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The three major German-speaking countries have won 21 in Physics, 30 in Chemistry, and 25 in Medicine, while many laureates from other countries received their training at German universities. German continues to be one of the main languages of scientific publications and is required by many graduate programs in the natural sciences. Additionally, nine Nobel Prizes in literature have been awarded to German and Swiss writers, and seven Germans and Austrians have received the Peace Prize. One of the most striking recently developed areas of German leadership is that of energy conservation and alternative energy development, as well as green technology in general.
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