87845 - A Language - German Language for Interpreters

Learning outcomes

Students - know the fundamental elements (terms, concepts and methods) for the analysis of the structure, functions and organization of textual and discourse of the German language - are able to understand, analyze and produce a wide range of coherent and complex texts and speeches for specialized comunication, including ones for multimedia environments

Course contents

This course deals with theoretical and practical issues concerning analysis, comprehension and production of spoken German for special purposes (law, economy and health care). Following topics shall be treated:

• lexical aspects of language for special purposes (LSP) with the aid of corpora and terminology data bases;
• typical forms of oral communication;
• dynamics of bi- and multilingual communication

The linguistic competence to acquire is related to the profile of a professional interpreter, at a level between C1 and C2.

Readings/Bibliography

Farø, Ken Joensen (2015). Feste Wortgruppen/Phraseologie II : Phraseme. In: Haß, Ulrike / Storjohann, Petra (Hrsg.):
Handbuch Wort und Wortschatz, Berlin/Boston : De Gruyter, 226-247;

Gaeta, Livio (2017). Lineamenti di grammatica tedesca. Roma, Carocci;

Kilimann, Angela / Kotas, Ondřej / Schiffhauer, Ina / Skrodzki, Johanna (2018). 60 Stunden Deutschland.
Orientierungskurs - Politik, Geschichte, Kultur. Kurs- und Übungsbuch mit Audios online. Klett;

Müller-Jacquier, Bernd (2019). Missverstehen. Zur Analyse von Gesprächen unter der Bedingung von Interkulturalität. In: Deutschunterricht Nr. 1/2019, 65-7.

For individual work and consultation:

Bertozzi, Roberto (a c. di) 2015, Grammatica Tedesca. Forme e Costrutti. Milano, LED (http://www.lededizioni.com/allegati_Grammatica-tedesca/Grammatica-tedesca_Led-Edizioni_Soluzioni-esercizi.pdf ).

Boettcher, Wolfgang 2009. Grammatik verstehen. Band 1: Wort. Band 2: Einfacher Satz. Band 3: Komplexer Satz. Tübingen: Max Niemeyer.

Di Meola, Claudio (2014). La linguistica tedesca. Un’introduzione con esercizi e bibliografia ragionata. Roma: Bulzon.

Dreyer, Hilke / Schmitt, Richard (2000). Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik. Ismaning: Hueber.

Dreyer, Hilke / Schmitt, Richard (2001). Grammatica tedesca con esercizi. Ismaning: Hueber.

Dreyer, Hilke / Schmitt, Richard: Lösungsschlüssel zum Lehr- und Übungsbuch der deutschen Grammatik – aktuell. Ismaning: Hueber.

Hennig, Mathilde / Dudenredaktion (Hrsg.) (2016). Das Wörterbuch der sprachlichen Zweifelsfälle. Richtiges und gutes Deutsch. Dudenverlag, Mannheim - Leipzig - Wien - Zürich.

Polenz, Peter von (2008): Deutsche Satzsemantik. Grundbegriffe des Zwischen-den-Zeilen-Lesens. Berlin u.a: de Gruyter.

Schlobinsky, Peter (Hg.), Syntax des gesprochenen Deutsch. Opladen, Westdeutscher Verlag, 1997.

Schwitalla, Johannes, Gesprochenes Deutsch: Eine Einführung. Berlin, Erich Schmidt Verlag, 2003.

Thüne, Eva-Maria/Elter, Irmgard/Leonardi, Simona (2008). Le lingue tedesche: per una descrizione sociolinguistica. Bari: Graphis.

Weinrich, Harald (2007). Textgrammatik der deutschen Sprache. Hildesheim/Zürich/New York: Olms.

Teaching methods

Various kinds of texts - written, oral and multimedia - are analyzed in the classroom with the help of specific descriptive and interpretive categories. Each text is screened to work out its relevance for interpreting skills. Individual tasks are assigned at regular intervals. Tasks are then examined and corrected collectively.

This course will be supported by special language training sessions. These are required sessions. Students need to attend at least 70% of the hours.

Assessment methods

Assessment in Progress: written tasks, assigned at regular intervals, and intermediate tests.

Final Assessment:

The written examination consists of the analysis of a LSP document and specific questions. Time allowed: 2 hours. Assessment (passed or failed) on the basis of the relevance, correctness and completeness of the answers.

The oral examination, which can only be taken after the written test has been passed, focuses on

• comprehension, reproduction and summarizing of authentic spoken documents;
• discussion of a number of previously assigned LSP spoken documents (in order to assess comprehension, explanations and rephrasing of critical passages)
• interview on ten texts written by the student during the course (length:  approx. 400-450 words).
  

The evaluation of the ten texts written by the student will regard also the working process in itself and its documentation.

Teaching tools

Video projector, computers with Internet connection, corpora, online vocabolaries, special software tools for text analysis, terminology data bases, video streaming of TV broadcastings. Additional software and tools shall be indicated. This course shall be managed within the Moodle content management system. Students need to register.

Office hours

See the website of Doris Anita Hoehmann