91198 - German

Learning outcomes

At the end of the course students should reach a minimum level of A2 (Council of Europe framework) for spoken language, while the ideal level is B1, and a minimum level of B1 for reading comprehension – ideal level B2. In particular: students should be able to follow the essential themes of an oral text, for example a lesson or a TV-news broadcast, and make a simple oral report on it. Moreover, they should be capable of understand written texts of average difficulty regarding the disciplines of the degree course.

Course contents

 

 

The course focuses on the use of specialised language. The lessons therefore aim to equip students with the ability to read, understand and translate German-language texts on political topics in order to acquire the relevant terminology. The course is therefore not a language course.

 

Contents in particular:

Current political topics relating to german geography, history and institutions

 

Germany as a part of the European Union

 

Political structures: The federal system: federal government and federal states

 

5 constitutional institutions: Bundestag, Bundesrat, Federal President, Federal Government, Federal Constitutional Court

 

Electoral and party system: current trends

 

The German-language press landscape: print media, television, reading and analysing text examples from Die Zeit, FAZ and Bild

 

Basic information on the history of the German language and the current linguistic landscape, german as an pluricentric language

Readings/Bibliography

Testi/Bibliografia

All materials and texts required for the lessons are available on the virtual portal.

Also recommended:

Bausinger, Hermann: Typisch deutsch. Wie deutsch sind die Deutschen. München 2002

Destro, Alberto (a cura di): I paesi di lingua tedesca. Storia, cultura, società. Bologna 2004.

Dorn, Thea/ Wagner, Richard: Die deutsche Seele. München 2011

Emmerich, Jankrift, Kockerols, Müller: Deutsche Geschichte. Menschen, Ereignisse, Epochen.bpb. Bonn 2017

Informationen zur politischen Bildung. bpb. Bonn

Jacobsen, Kaes, Prinzler ( Hrsg.): Geschichte des deutschen Films. Stuttgart 2004

MacGregor, Neil: Deutschland. Erinnerungen einer Nation. München 2015

Thüne/ Elter/ Leonardi: Le lingue tedesche: per una descrizione sociolinguistica. Bari 2005

 

Dictionary

DWDS (Der deutsche Wortschatz von 1600 bis heute. https://www.dwds.de/

WAHRIG. Wörterbuch der Deutschen Sprache. Deutscher Taschenbuchverlag. 2007

Deutsches Universalwörterbuch. Das groβe Bedeutungswörterbuch. Dudenverlag. 2023

Richtiges und gutes Deutsch. Das Wörterbuch der sprachlichen Zweifelsfälle. Band 9. Dudenverlag. 2011

duden.de

Il nuovo dizionario di tedesco. Zanichelli Klett Pons. 2019

Grammar

Hall, Karin/ Scheiner, Barbara: Übungsgrammatik für die Oberstufe. Deutsch als Fremdsprache

Vitz-Manetti: Deutsche Syntax interaktiv. www.deutsch-als-fremdsprache.de/syntax

Internet:

https://www.bundesregierung.de/breg-de/bundesregierung/bundeskabinett

https://www.deutschland.de

https://www.tatsachen-ueber-deutschland.de

https://www.bildungsserver.de/Hochschulsystem-1158-de.html

https://handbookgermany.de/de/learn/university-system.html

https://www.bpb.de/politik/grundfragen/deutsche-demokratie/39348/bundesrat

https://www.bpb.de/politik/grundfragen/parteien-in-deutschland/zahlen-und-fakten/138661/entwicklung-des-parteiensystems

https://bundesland24.de/bundeslaender/

https://derweg.org/deutschland/geschichte/

Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung | Startseite | bpb.de [https://www.bpb.de/]

Teaching methods

Frontal in presence

Assessment methods

Final grade:

• Minimum analytical skills → 18-19;
• Good analytical skills → 20-24;
• Very good analytical skills → 25-29;
• Excellent analytical skills → 30-30 L

Non-attending students or those with less than 70% attendance will have to take an oral part on the topics covered in the course. Non-attending students are requested to contact the lecturer at the beginning of the course.

Office hours

See the website of Eva Elisabeth Susanne Vitz Manetti