German
The subjects below are taught in German and include offerings in language, literature, and cultural studies.
The indication of prerequisites for specific German offerings does not apply to students who have already completed equivalent work. For further placement advice, consult one of the field advisors in German.
Fundamental Language Subjects
21G.401 German I
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(Subject meets with 21G.451)
Prereq: None
Units: 4-0-8
URL: https://languages.mit.edu/language-placement-proficiency/
 Lecture: MTRF10 (16-645) or MTRF1 (16-645)
Introduction to German language and culture. Acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical concepts through active communication. A variety of contemporary sources, including online as well as printed materials, audio, and video, provide direct exposure to German language and culture. Development of effective basic communication skills to participate in everyday conversation and cultural situations. For graduate credit, see 21G.451. Limited to 18 per section.
M. Roemisch
Textbooks (Fall 2024)
21G.402 German II
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(Subject meets with 21G.452)
Prereq: 21G.401 or permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-8
URL: https://languages.mit.edu/language-placement-proficiency/
Lecture: MTRF12 (16-645)
Expansion of basic communication skills and further development of linguistic and cultural competencies. Review and completion of basic grammar, building of vocabulary, and practice in writing short essays. Reading of short literary texts. Exposure to history and culture of the German-speaking world through contemporary online materials, audio, and video. For graduate credit see 21G.452. Limited to 18 per section.
M. Roemisch
Textbooks (Fall 2024)
21G.403 German III
(, )
Prereq: 21G.402 or permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-8
URL: https://languages.mit.edu/language-placement-proficiency/
Lecture: MTRF9 (16-644) or MTRF12 (1-277)
Expands skills in speaking, reading, listening, and writing and cultural competency. Develops analytic and interpretative skills through media selections on contemporary issues in the German-speaking world. Discussions and compositions as well as review of grammar and development of vocabulary-building strategies. Recommended for students with two years of high school German. Limited to 18 per section.
E. Goodling
Textbooks (Fall 2024)
21G.404 German IV
(, )
Prereq: 21G.403 or permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-8
URL: https://languages.mit.edu/language-placement-proficiency/
Lecture: MTRF12 (14N-225)
Discussion and exploration of topics in their current cultural, social, political, and historical contexts in the German-speaking world. Further refinement of oral and written expression and expansion of communicative competence in practical everyday situations. Development of interpretive skills, using literary texts and contemporary media texts (film, TV broadcasts, Web materials). Limited to 18 per section.
D. Jaeger
No required or recommended textbooks
21G.406 German: Communication Intensive I
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Prereq: None. Coreq: 21G.409, 21G.410, 21G.412, 21G.414, 21G.417, 21G.418, or 21G.420; permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-0
TBA.
Intensive tutorial in writing and speaking for majors. Provides students with enhanced linguistic and cultural fluency for academic or real-world purposes. 21G.407 builds on writing and speaking skills acquired in 21G.406. Conducted entirely in German. Preference to German majors.
J. Scheib
No textbook information available
21G.407 German: Communication Intensive II
(, )
Prereq: None. Coreq: 21G.409, 21G.410, 21G.412, 21G.414, 21G.417, 21G.418, or 21G.420; permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-0
TBA.
Intensive tutorial in writing and speaking for majors. Provides students with enhanced linguistic and cultural fluency for academic or real-world purposes. 21G.407 builds on writing and speaking skills acquired in 21G.406. Conducted entirely in German. Preference to German majors.
Fall: Information: J. Scheib
Spring: Information: J. Scheib
No textbook information available
Intermediate Subjects in Language, Literature, and Culture
21G.408 German Conversation Practice: Online Immersion
()
Prereq: 21G.403 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-6
Focuses on conversational German. Practices communication strategies for a variety of every day conversational situations as well as specific strategies as to how to keep "things going" in a conversation and take turns in a conversation. Also practices on how to present oneself in a professional and academic setting in German. There is plenty of opportunity to converse and present themes and topics relevant and current to the German-speaking world. There is one individual student-instructor conference during the term. Taught via live Zoom sessions. Offered during IAP only. Limited to 18 for pedagogical reasons.
D. Jaeger
21G.409 Advanced German: Visual Arts, Media, Creative Expression
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Prereq: 21G.404
Units: 3-0-9
Students develop their spoken and written language skills via storytelling, drama, interpretative speaking, poetry slam, writing short, creative texts; and by reading contemporary prose, plays, and poetry. Explores different art forms such as short film, photography, installation and digital art, and commercials. Discusses works by Yoko Tawada, Ernst Jandl, and Babak Saed, among others. Students create their own mini-film, commercial, or multimedia work. Taught in German.
D. Jaeger
21G.410 Advanced German: Communication for Professionals
()
Prereq: 21G.404
Units: 3-0-9
Exposes students to current issues and language use in German technology, business, and international industrial relations; discusses ramifications of these issues in a larger social and cultural context. Prepares students who wish to work or study in a German-speaking country. Focuses on specialized vocabulary and systematic training in speaking and writing skills to improve fluency and style. Emphasizes communicative strategies that are crucial in a working environment. Includes discussion and analysis of newspaper and magazine articles, modern expository prose, and extensive use of online material. Taught in German.
Staff
21G.411 Conflict, Contest, Controversy: A Literary Investigation of German Politics
()
Prereq: 21G.404 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
URL: https://languages.mit.edu/language-placement-proficiency/
Investigates political and historical happenings in German-speaking countries through an examination of politically informed literature and art from the past 120 years. Moves topically, analyzing a wide range of genres and literary movements through lenses such as propaganda, religion, art and extremism, immigration and language, and imaginaries of both the past and the future. Focuses on exploring the dialogues and points of contact between creators and historic- political moments from the early 1900s to the present day, unearthing answers to questions about the past, present, and future of German identity. Taught in German. 18 for pedagogical reasons.
Staff
21G.412 Advanced German: Literature and Culture
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Prereq: 21G.404 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
URL: https://languages.mit.edu/language-placement-proficiency/
Lecture: TR1-2.30 (14N-225)
Explores representative and influential works from the 19th century to the present, through literary texts (short prose, drama, poetry), radio plays, art, animated short film, and architecture. Discusses the construction and social function of these works. Provides students with ample opportunity to enhance their German orally and in writing. Topics include questions of how Germany is shaped by its history, debates about identity and identity formation, technology and the human as machine, science and ethics in the context of the present climate emergency. Includes works by E.T.A. Hoffmann, Kafka, Dürrenmatt, and Herta Müller. Taught in German.
D. Jaeger
Textbooks (Fall 2024)
Advanced Subjects in Language, Literature, and Culture
21G.414 German Culture, Media, and Society
() 
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 21G.404
Units: 3-0-9
Investigates current trends and topics in German literature, theater, film, television, radio, and other media arts productions. Analyzes media texts in the context of their production, reception, and distribution as well as the public debates initiated by these works. Students have the opportunity to discuss topics with a writer, filmmaker, and/or media artist from Germany. Taught in German. Topics vary from term to term.
Staff
21G.416 20th- and 21st-Century German Literature
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 21G.404
Units: 3-0-9
Introduces students to important 20th- and 21st-century literary texts and connects them to the often dramatic course of German history in the last century. Surveys German literature from the beginning of the 20th century to the most recent post-unification texts. Each term focuses on a different broader theme. May be repeated for credit with permission of instructor. Taught in German.
Staff
21G.417 Cultural Geographies of Germany: Nature, Culture, and Politics
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 21G.404 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-9
Examines the relationship between nature, geography, and power in 20th- and 21st-century German culture. Familiarizes students with a series of themes in literature, science, engineering, urban planning and everyday life that have played a central role in German national imaginaries and concepts of citizenship. Engaging specific examples and historical, ethnographic, literary and visual material, students explore how human-environment relations have figured prominently in German national identity, its economic power, and global connections. Taught in German.
B. Stoetzer
21G.418 Race and Migration in Europe
() 
(Subject meets with 21A.132[J], 21G.058[J])
Prereq: 21G.404 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-10
Addresses the shifting politics of nation, ethnicity, and race in the context of migration and globalization in Germany and Europe. Provides students with analytical tools to approach global concerns and consider Europe and Germany from cross-cultural and interdisciplinary perspectives. Familiarizes students with the ways in which histories of migration, travel, and colonial encounters shape contemporary Europe. Introduces the concepts of transnationalism, diasporic cultures, racism, ethnicity, asylum, and mobility via case studies and materials, including film, ethnography, fiction, and autobiography. Taught in English with a project that requires research and writing in German. Limited to 18.
B. Stoetzer
21G.419 City Living: Ethnographies of Urban Worlds
() 
Not offered regularly; consult department
(Subject meets with 21A.402[J], 21G.029[J])
Prereq: 21G.404 or permission of instructor
Units: 3-0-10
Introduces the ways in which anthropologists have studied cities. Addressing the question of what constitutes the boundaries of life in the city, students familiarize themselves with key themes - such as the relation between city and countryside, space and place, urban economies, science, globalization, migration, nature/culture, kinship, and race, gender, class and memory - that have guided anthropological analyses of cities across the world. Via engagement with case studies and their own small fieldwork projects, students gain experience with different ethnographic strategies for documenting urban life. Taught in English with a project that requires research and writing in German. Limited to 25 across 21A.402 and 21G.419.
B. Stoetzer
21G.420 German Cinema
()
Not offered regularly; consult department
Prereq: 21G.404 or permission of instructor
Units: 2-2-8
Surveys the history, aesthetics, and cultural context of German film from the early 20th century into the 21st century. Explores early expressionist films and the interaction of German film and society in early Nazi society. Investigates and compares different film traditions of East and West Germany; and examines the new aesthetic styles of the "Berlin School" after the fall of the Berlin wall, as well as new filmic concepts in contemporary productions, including films from filmmakers with migration backgrounds. Special focus on the analysis of the language of film, different genres, and aesthetic traditions in their historical and societal contexts. Taught in German. Limited to 18.
Staff
Graduate Language Subjects
21G.451 German I
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(Subject meets with 21G.401)
Prereq: 21G.451 or permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-5
Lecture: MTRF10 (16-645) or MTRF1 (16-645)
Introduction to German language and culture. Acquisition of vocabulary and grammatical concepts through active communication. A variety of contemporary sources, such as online as well as printed materials, audio, and video, provide direct exposure to German language and culture. Development of effective basic communication skills to participate in everyday conversation and cultural situations. For undergraduate credit, see 21G.401. Limited to 18 per section.
Staff
No textbook information available
21G.452 German II
(, )
(Subject meets with 21G.402)
Prereq: 21G.451 or permission of instructor
Units: 4-0-5
Lecture: MTRF12 (16-645)
Expansion of basic communication skills and further development of linguistic and cultural competencies. Review and completion of basic grammar, building of vocabulary, and practice in writing short essays. Reading of short literary texts. Exposure to history and culture of the German-speaking world through contemporary online materials, audio, and video. For undergraduate credit, see 21G.402. Limited to 18 per section.
Staff
No textbook information available
For German Literature and Culture subjects offered in English, see 21G.055 and 21G.059.
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