Department ofLanguages & Literatures

german @ plu

Current students go here for German-language podcasts, scholarship information, deadlines, and much more!

Warum soll ich Deutsch lernen?

Why Study German? Consider some of the following reasons for exploring German language and culture:

International Savvy. A crucial part of PLU’s mission is to prepare its students for life in an increasingly internationalized world, and an indispensable part of this life is the ability to speak and understand a foreign language.

"Through the diversity of languages grows the richness of the world, and with it, the diversity of that which we discover there."
- Wilhelm von Humboldt

There are very few places left on earth in which it is still common for an educated person to speak only one language. This means that when you meet someone from another culture, that person is likely to know your language. Will you know hers?

Studying the German language and the cultures in which it is spoken fosters not only your intellectual growth, but your growth as a global citizen as well.

Great Minds. Many of the world's greatest minds conceived their masterpieces in the German tongue. Only German gives you the invigorating chance to engage these philosophers, writers, politicians, musicians, and theologians one-on-one, in the living language that helped to shape their particular weltanschauung, or views of the world.

"If we spoke a different language, we would perceive a somewhat different world."
- Ludwig Wittgenstein

Enhance a Career. Whether you decide to work someday for a commercial, not-for-profit, or government enterprise, the chances are greater every day that your work will bring you into contact with native speakers of German. Consider this: nearly 120 million Europeans—one quarter of Europe's population!—are native speakers of German.

In fact, German is one of the ten most commonly spoken languages worldwide. Germany is the economic powerhouse of Europe: In 2000, this country (about the size of the state of Montana) claimed 9.9% of the world’s export market—only the United States exported more (12.8%). Proficiency in German can enhance your career opportunities in international business, foreign service, scholarship and teaching, publishing and journalism, and many other interesting and challenging careers.

See the Modern Language Association's brochure Language Study in the Age of Globalization for more reasons to study a language in college!

For more information on studying German at PLU, contact Prof. Kirsten Christensen kmc@plu.edu, (253) 535-8775, or Prof. Jennifer Jenkins jlj@plu.edu, (253) 535-8227.

Congrats to our newest Fulbrighters!

The German Program at PLU would like to congratulate Matt Anderson and Matt Palmquist on their Fulbright Teaching Assistant awards for the 2011-12 academic year! Both former German majors will be teaching English at schools in Germany.

Matt Anderson (left) will be teaching at a Gymnasium in Lachendorf near Celle in Lower Saxony (Niedersachsen), and Matt Palmquist has accepted a teaching position in Neudietendorf near Erfurt in Thuringia (Thüringen). All the best to both of you and congratulations on this spectacular achievement!

German Consulate/DAAD/Radio Goethe visit, March 1, 2011

Read Matt Anderson's recap of the visit of representatives from the German Consulate in San Franciso, DAAD, and Radio Goethe by clicking on the picture below:

PLU German grad awarded Austrian Fulbright teaching award

Congratulations to Gina Fabbro, PLU alumna and German minor, on her Fulbright! Gina has been awarded a prestigious Fulbright award for the 2010-11 academic year - she will be teaching English at schools in the region of Styria (Steiermark), enjoying proximity to Hungary and Slovenia, beautiful countryside, and getting acclimated to a new dialect! 

UPDATE: Gina was awarded a year-long extension of her teaching position in Austria for the 2011-12 academic year; beginning in September she'll be teaching in Graz!

Visit of German playwright Holger Teschke to PLU, November 2009