5.1 Was studierst du?

Hallo alle zusammen.

Zum Aufwärmen machen wir unseren Tagesminiplausch und eine Wiederholung.

Wiederholung

In the previous lesson, you learned how to ask how often someone engages with a hobby and how to respond to the question. Let’s review what you have learned.

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Imagine you are talking with a new friend while on your study abroad. You learn that this person likes to play cards with friends. How do you ask how often they do this activity? Write this question in your written journal and record yourself asking it aloud.

Lektionsüberblick

The first question you generally get about college is regarding your major (and minor). In this lesson, you will be introduced to a large number of majors (and minors). As with past lessons with larger lists of vocabulary, you should focus on committing to memory the words and phrases most relevant for you. In the end, you will be able to 1) ask someone where they go to college, 2) ask someone what their major is, 3) say what some of your friends are majoring in, 4) ask someone where they are in their studies, and 5) say whether you are working on your Bachelors or Masters.

Was weißt du schon?

Use these activities to check your skills before moving on.

Read the description and choose the field of study being described.

Noch nicht start klar?

Du kannst immer auf die gleiche 1010-Lektion zurückgreifen!

Not confident about starting this lesson?

You can always review the same Lektion from 1010.

1) Wo studierst du?

Asking someone where they go to school or college is a common conversation topic. Pay attention to how this question sounds. Listen and repeat.

Let’s practice.

Jetzt bist du dran!

Imagine you met someone new in Germany. How do you ask them where they go to school? Write this question down in your written journal and then record it in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

2) Was studierst du?

Read and listen to the comic below.

 

Let’s practice.

Jetzt bist du dran!

Was studierst du? Was ist dein Hauptfach? Write down your main field of study (Hauptfach) using a complete sentence.
If you want to also talk about your minor, you will use Nebenfach. For example: Ich studiere Maschinenbau im Hauptfach und Deutsch im Nebenfach.
Now record this in German in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

3) Was meine Freunde studieren

Read and listen while Yasmin explains what here friend Timo is studying.

Jasmin Mein bester Freund heißt Timo. Er ist 23 Jahre alt und studiert deutsche Literatur, das heißt, Germanistik. Ich kenne ihn von der Uni, und er wohnt auch in München. Mit Timo gehe ich gern ins Kino oder ins Konzert, denn er weiss viel über Musik und Film. Sein Nebenfach ist Kommunikationswissenschaft. Wir diskutieren oft über Filme und Bücher als auch über Politik. Timo belegt einen Kurs über Weltpolitik dieses Semester. Er findet ihn sehr schwer aber auch interessant. Das ist sein Lieblingskurs.

 

Now answer the questions about what you read and heard.

What do your friends study? Take a look at some possibilities below.

Be sure to click through each slide and listen to the audio.

 

Kleiner Hinweis

In Germany, the Lehramtstudium (education for levels above elementary school) requires two major subjects. That means a person would study Deutsch und Geschichte auf Lehramt – not just Deutsch auf Lehramt or Geschichte auf Lehramt. The two subjects do not need to have anything to do with each other. For example, you can study Deutsch und Sport auf Lehramt.

Jetzt bist du dran!

Was studieren deine Freunde? Name some friends, explain where you know them from, and then say what that person studies (Er/Sie/Xier studiert…)
Now record this in German in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

4) In welchem Semester bist du?

In your conversations with native speakers, you will most likely be asked one of these questions. Listen to how they sound.

In welchem Semester bist du?
In welchem Jahr bist du?

Read the Kleiner Hinweis below and then read and listen to some possible responses to the questions above.

Kleiner Hinweis

Germans count the time in their degrees in semesters instead of years. Because of this discrepancy, we will show you both questions (what year and which semester), but you will most likely hear the question about semesters from German speakers and the question about the year from other learners of German or German speakers intimately familiar with the US system.

Because German speakers count in semesters instead of years, there are no equivalent words for freshman, sophomore, junior, and senior.

When you get the semester question, you can decide whether you want to answer in years or in semesters.

Jetzt bist du dran!

In welchem Semester bist du? In welchem Jahr bist du? Look again at the possible responses in the dialog cards above. Choose the answer that best fits your situation and write that down in your audio journal.
Now record this answer in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

5) Bachelor, oder mehr?

Explaining where you are at on your educational journey definitely comes up in conversation. Read and listen to these statements. Based on the first two statements, can you guess what the last one might mean?

 

Ich bin im Bachelorstudium.
 Ich bin im Masterstudium.
 Ich promoviere.

 

Let’s practice.

Kleiner Hinweis

If you would like to state these as goals, you can use the word you learned in Lektion 4.5. Here’s how those goals would look:

Ich will einen Bachelor machen.
Ich will einen Master machen.
Ich will promovieren.

 

 

Jetzt bist du dran!

Bist du im Bachelorstudium? Bist du im Masterstudium? Promovierst du? Where are you in your educational journal? Choose an appropriate response from above and write it in your  journal.
Then record yourself in your audio journal. If you can do it immediately without reading, that’s great! Otherwise, practice saying it a couple times before recording. Or rerecord, if you are not satisfied.

Bonus info: Was studieren die Deutschen?

Take look at the infographic below. What do you notice about the changes over time of the most popular subjects?

Infografik: Die beliebtesten Studienfächer – gestern und heute | Statista

 

Zum Schluß

In this lesson, you learned to 1) ask someone where they go to college, 2) ask someone what their major is, 3) say what some of your friends are majoring in, 4) ask someone where they are in their studies,and 5) say whether you are working on your Bachelors or Masters. If you are feeling unsure about any part of the expanded introduction, go back to that section and review.
Take a look at the infographic above. Do you or your friends study any of the Studienfächer listed? In your written journal answer write a sentence about what you and your friend study.

*As you conclude this lesson, don’t forget to check Canvas!*

 

 

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Deutsch im Alltag II (DE) Copyright © by Rebecca Steele and Stephanie Schottel is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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