German

Students of German at Teddy Hall benefit from an excellent team of academics whose fields of expertise stretch from the early medieval period to the present day. The undergraduate German course offers a wide range of choice. In the first year, we work on a set of texts and a film from the period 1890-1937, as well as a selection of poems ranging from the twelfth century to the 1970s. There are also weekly language and translation classes. From the second year, students continue with language work and can select from options which include contemporary linguistics, the history of the language, film, medieval, early modern and modern literature.

An annual translation project gives students the opportunity to work with writers and organisations, to hone their skills and even get into print. Previous workshops include translating prose with prizewinning visiting authors Ulrike Draesner and Yoko Tawada, and work on song texts with the Oxford Bach Soloists. In 2017 students contributed a new translation of Schiller’s ‘Ode to Joy’ to an anthology, The Idea of Europe: Enlightenment Perspectives.

It is also possible to study German as a beginner. This course requires no previous experience of German but must be taken jointly with another language that you have studied to A-level or equivalent. At Teddy Hall, German ab initio can be studied alongside either French or Russian.