There are plenty of reasons to study German if you are interested in ...

...liberal arts:
Germany has played a prominent role for centuries as a source of philosophical, scientific, and cultural ideas. It represents an important intellectual heritage for our modern age — who can imagine the world without Einstein, Freud, Nietzsche, Kafka? J.S. Bach, Goethe, Grimm's fairy tales, Metropolis, techno music? Courses at MSU explore the spectrum of German cultural expression.

...applied sciences/business:
Germany is a leader among industrialized nations, always placing in the top three in the world; it is a leader in the European Union (German is the leading language in the population of the EU, spoken by 24% of its members). Linkages for MSU students abound on both sides of the Atlantic: from Study Abroad engineering programs in Aachen and Kaiserslautern to job placements with the growing number of German businesses in Michigan.

...global social and cultural studies:
German have been forced to work through the effects of totalitarianism, dictatorship, xenophobia, genocide, partition, (re)unification, and migration in the past century alone. These experiences have shaped their culture in fundamental ways that resonate for the world today. Fostering research and teaching around the relationship between culture and politics, the German faculty is engaged in a range of cross-disciplinary discussions across the MSU campus.

Why did you study German?

Learning German not only helped me understand and experience another culture and way of life, but also taught me a great deal about my own culture and how our culture stacks up to those around the world.

What does it "mean" to study German?

Studying German at MSU to me means experiencing a historically rich, meaningful language and culture. Learning German has opened me up to new ways of thinking and ways of understanding culture as a whole.

How will the knowledge you gained in the German Program serve you throughout your life?

My experience in the German Program has developed me as a person and has taught me a number of invaluable skills including: Independence and flexibility from studying and living abroad, Time management and responsibility from choosing to undertake a double major, and a sense of what culture means from learning the German language and experiencing the culture firsthand.

-Mark