5 German Master's Degree Programs

The German language is one of the most widely spoken languages in Europe, serving as the official or co-official language in countries like Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. It is the native tongue of over 100 million people. It is widely used in fields like business, science, engineering, and literature.

The Master program in German Literature addresses the entire range of German literature, the associated cultural environments, and the relationship between German literature and literature in neighbouring countries from the beginnings of German literature to the present day. The influence of Latin on German literature is also taken into consideration here. The following subject areas are addressed in depth using examples from Medieval, early modern, modern and contemporary literature: philology and editorial studies, rhetoric, poetics, history and theory of aesthetics and hermeneutics, the systematics of of literature analysis, analysis of historical contexts (social history, science history) and comparative aspects in relation to other literary cultures. The advanced and supplementary courses focus on the transfer of literary traditions and the reception of German literature down through the ages, German literary subjects and genres, and the evolution of genres and writing styles, whereby special attention is paid to the continuity in early, modern and contemporary German literature. Students are made aware of problems associated with the research history and desiderata of their selected subject focus and are provided with the skills they need to select and apply from among competing research approaches the proper method of analysis for their subject focus. During the Master program, students may specialize in early German literature, early modern German literature or contemporary German literature.

Students who wish to participate in this Master program need to have solid basic knowledge of German linguistics and the ability to conduct scholarly work. Such knowledge and skills form the foundation for acquiring greater knowledge of the systematics, varieties and use of the German language, as well as its analysis. A variety of exemplary and specially selected topics are addressed in individual courses in order to make students more familiar with both theoretical and practical problems in the field of German linguistics.

With a master’s degree in German you get to experience and explore the German speaking countries from within, through their own language and not through translations. Writing a master’s thesis is a research project on a topic you are interested in. Some of our previous master’s projects include: Automatic translation of tourism websites. Herta Müller's autofictional narratives and democratic criticism of the totalitarian regime in Romania. Literature and films by second-generation immigrants to Germany, e.g. director Fatih Akin.

The specialty of the French language operates about 19 years at the faculty of International Relations and Foreign Languages.Currently, 55 students study the French language in the I-IV courses. The specialty of the German language was established in 1999-2000 academic year and 15 students were accepted to the specialty in the same year.