Information: No admission possible

Programme name: Romance Philology
Degree: Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) (2 subjects)
Standard period of study: 6 semesters
Starting semester: Winter semester
Language requirements: Verification of language knowledge required for subjects French and Spanish (see column on right)
Admission to the winter semester 2008/09:

• 1st semester: No admission
  
• 2nd - 4th semester: No admission
  
• International applicants: No admission

Programme description
Subject/Contents/Objectives
As a result of the colonial export of language, the cultural regions of the Romance language gained an important role worldwide. The Romance languages are the mother tongue for over 850 million people (without consideration of the Romance-based Creole languages). Approximately an additional 250 million speak one of theses languages as a second language.

The combination of two romance subjects within the two-subject bachelor's programme for romance philology at the University of Göttingen enables students to make a well-founded examination of the conditions for the origination and development of linguistic and cultural traditions, as well as the interdependencies within Old and New Romania, from a comparative perspective.

The students acquire extensive knowledge of the languages and literature as well as economical, political social, cultural and historical facts concerning the Romance-speaking cultural regions and develop the proficiency to describe them independently using scientific methods. For this reason, multidisciplinary key qualifications in communication, research and information processing must be acquired. Regarding practical language use, the main objective is the differentiated use of selected Romance languages orally as well as written, in standard as well as technical contexts.


Subject areas, research foci in Göttingen
The two-subject bachelor's programme for Romance Studies continues in the humanitarian tradition of the subject Romance Philology at the University of Göttingen. Studies of the history and present of the Old and New Romania are covered in a complete romanistic-comparative perspective. New accents in teaching are mainly set in the areas of culture and media studies with research foci such as gender studies, cinema of Romania and computer linguistics.
The courses offered are not only limited to the languages Spanish and French, but also comprise the „smaller“ Romance languages Italian, Portuguese, Catalan and Romanian as well as Sardinian, Gallic and indigenous languages of Hispanic America, which are also offered at irregular intervals.

The subject areas of the programme are: language practice, literature, regional studies and linguistics/linguistical anthropology.

In addition to the books available for Romance studies at the SUB, students also have access to the institute's own library with 96,000 books.


Language requirements to be fulfilled during studies
The programme combines two Romance languages and can only be sensibly studied as long as the first of these language (Language 1) is already mastered by the student. Language acquisition in Language 2 takes places in three consecutive modules within the optional area. Students without the Latinum (Latin language examination) must additionally take one module of Latin (6 credit hours).


Programme structure
Foreign language acquisition is not the primary purpose of this research-oriented programme. The subject-specific part of the programme includes one basic module per language, in which the introductions to the three subject areas are consolidated. Advanced modules give extended and in-depth knowledge in the individual areas.

The order of the advanced modules in the subjects of both languages is facultative.


Subject combinations
Any combination of the Romance subjects French, Italian, Spanish and Portuguese is possible in this programme as „Language 1“ or „Language 2“.

The scientific specialization in the optional area can take place either in literary studies, regional studies or linguistics/lingustical anthropology. Courses may also be taken in Catalan, Romanian, Gallic, Sardinian and the indigenous languages.


Occupational fields
Intercultural communication, culture management, journalism, tourism, business


Language requirements
Verification of language knowledge for the subjects French and Spanish is regulated by the admission regulations (see PDF in the right column). No previous language knowledge is required for Italian and Portuguese, as long as they are studied as „Language 2“.