FAQS About Starting German as a Foreign Language
I took another language in High School—can I still start German at CofC?
Yes! Regardless of what your language placement says, you can choose to begin a new world language here at CofC That’s exactly what our own Program Director Dr. Morgan Koerner did when he was in college – he started in German 101 with no previous knowledge and will tell you it’s possible to start a new language and go very far with it!
How will German help me in my career?
Regardless of your field of study, proficiency in German will make you stand out on the job market and in applications to med school, law school, or graduate school. In South Carolina, German is the most prominent and lucrative foreign language for Business and Engineering, with over 200 German companies which are directly responsible for over 44,000 jobs. German is also the and German-speaking Europe is a prominent player in the sciences and medicine, including . Germany is renowned for its and is a leader in the European Union, global environmental efforts, and a host of other areas. Regardless of which path you choose with your studies, taking German through GRMN 202 makes you eligible for the ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø’s summer internship program to Berlin, which places students for the summer in an internship in their field (including at , companies, art museums and theater, museums, castles, no profits, and more!)
I heard that German is more difficult than Romance languages like Spanish or French. Is that true?
Our students tell us consistently that German differes from Romance Languaes in some ways but is generally on the same level of difficulty, and our program has a cadre of excellent teachers that make German entertaining and enjoyable and focus on communication and learning by doing —our program was recently (While the verb tenses are more difficult in Romance languages, German tends to be trickier with nouns and grammar, but German grammar has clear rules and is very logical. For more on the differences, see .)
I plan to work in the US after graduation—wouldn’t Spanish help me more than German?
Spanish is the second language of the United States and for that exact reason, proficiency in German can really make you stand out on the job market. If you were, for example, to take or continue with Spanish and become very proficient you would be later be competing with a large number of bilingual Spanish speaking job applicants, whereas German is both less commonly spoken by US-Americans and yet highly present in industry in South Carolina and the Southeast! Moreover, if you plan to live in the US, immersive Spanish opportunities will always be plentiful and there is no time like the present to learn a new language in college – ergreifen Sie den Tag und lernen Sie Deutsch mit uns! (seize the day and learn German with us!)
You mentioned the large number of German companies in the state—what sort of opportunities are there with them?
CofC’s German Program hosts an annual that brings German employers from throughout the region to campus and creates job and internship opportunities for students. Through this event, we have the job pipelines and in place for you to launch a career with a global German company, just like our recent graduate In addition, we have a popular and recently developed recently developed an international co-op program with BMW for engineers and currently have a Systems Engineering and German Studies double major, Jeffrey Werth ‘25, interning at BMW Headquarters in Munich– We would love to welcome you to our cohort of student who take advantage of these connections and launch their careers in German-American industries upon graduation!