Catalog Description
Basic German grammar, with special attention to characteristics of formal expository style, and illustrative readings. Study of extracts from scholarly publications in students’ areas of research. Prepares students to take the graduate foreign language certification exam.

Course Objectives
Successful students will be able to::
• recall the meaning of basic, high frequency vocabulary and idiomatic expressions of the German language
• recognize the linguistic structures of the German language
• translate, with the help of a dictionary, a scholarly German text in their area of research, with reasonable accuracy, into English

This course trains you in the reading proficiency of German so you can meet your department’s graduate foreign language requirement. We will systematically cover the grammatical material in the textbook, read and translate excerpts from scholarly publications, take practice exams, and take an end of the semester certification exam.

Before Fall break you will hand in a copy or a weblink of a scholarly article in your field of specialty. To find articles you can use the NC State library databases: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/searchcollection/databases/, e.g. JStor (click on J, access it through the NC State library).

Required Materials
Hubert Jannach and Richard Alan Korb, German for Reading Knowledge, 6th edition (Heinle Cengage Learning, 2009), and its companion website: http://academic.cengage.com/german/korb
A good, fair-sized German-English dictionary. Langenscheidt is an excellent dictionary publisher, e.g. their New College German Dictionary (about $25-35); a smaller size is the Langenscheidt Standard German Dictionary (about $14-20). Please consult German for Reading Knowledge, p. 296-98 for more advice on choosing and using a good dictionary.
You can also use online dictionaries: http://dict.leo.org (english version: http://dict.leo.org/ende?lang=en&lp=ende&search=), http://dict.tu-chemnitz.de/, http://www.dict.cc/, http://wolfram.schneider.org/dict/, and http://www.linguatec.de/onlineservices/linguadict. However, the use of electronic (online or CD-ROM) translation programs is NOT allowed and will violate academic integrity, i.e. be considered cheating (see below for details). It may also inhibit your learning progress.
A folder for your class notes, homework assigments and tests will be helpful.
Time. Make sure to have an adequate amount of time for studying the grammar and vocabulary and for preparing the translations.

Recommended Materials
Some of you may find these books useful:
Henry Strutz, 501 German Verbs
Cecile Zorach and Charlotte Melin, English Grammar for Students of German (The Olivia and Hill Press)
Gerda Dippmann and Johanna Watzinger-Tharp, A Practical Review of German Grammar (Prentice Hall)
Mark Twain's essay on the German language (very funny and instructive, too!): http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/twain.german.html

Class Work and Homework
Class time will be spent clarifying the grammatical material, doing reinforcement exercises, and translating reading passages. Assignments are to be prepared before coming to class for the day shown. We will also work with texts you will find yourself in your specific field. The weekly take-home tests are supposed to be an assessment tool for yourself. Each covers two chapters. You will also get some longer take-home practice translations.

Evaluation and Grading
You should register for the course as “audit” or “credit only.”
Each of the 14 take-home tests and each of the 6 practice translations will count 5%. The main purpose of grades in this course is for feedback about your progress and for determining if you get credit (if you have registered for “credit only”).
For information on the NC State grading policy, consult http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/grades_undergrad/REG02.50.3.php.
At the end of the course we will take the certification exam. Graduate certification is given on passing the exam, not passing the course. I will work with your individual abilities and difficulties to help you master the material.

The Certification Exam
The certification exam consists of translating: (1) sentences containing fundamental grammatical structures, verb tenses, idiomatic expressions, and vocabulary; (2) a portion of a scholarly article in your general research area. You are not expected to do a polished translation, but to demonstrate reading proficiency through reasonably accomplished translation. You may use dictionaries, which you provide yourself.

Near the end of the semester, we will determine whether you are ready to take the certification exam at the scheduled exam time, in our regular classroom. The exam generally takes between 2-3 hours and has a time limit of 3 hours. After you have taken the exam, I will notify you within 2 to 3 days only if you have not passed the exam, in which case there will be a consultation, the setting up of a plan of study, and a new exam date. Otherwise, I will send a letter of certification to the necessary offices, also within 2 to 3 days, and your record will be adjusted accordingly. General information on the graduate certification exam can be found here: http://sasw.chass.ncsu.edu/fl/gradcert.htm

Policies

Class Attendance Policy
Regular attendance is highly advisable. Absences in excess of two are inadvisable. The key to success in mastering the material in one semester and successfully pass the certification exam is consistency, so keep up with the assignments and attend class regularly. For information about what qualifies as an excused absence, please consult: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.3.php

"CR" (Credit) Policy
If you are taking this course for "CR", you need to do ALL the work for a grade and all other policies (except audit policy) also apply. In order for you to receive a "CR" (credit), you will need to make a semester grade of C- or better. Please be aware that passing this course will not give you graduate certification. You will need to pass the exam for that.

Audit Policy
In order to receive an "audit" for this course you need to attend at least 20 of the 29 class sessions and attend at least one session in the last two weeks of the semester. You should also prepare the material to be covered, so you can actively participate in the class discussions and group activities. You do not need to hand in any work - however, it is highly advisable to do so in order to learn the material. Contact the instructor if you have questions.

The official NC State Policy on Grading (and CR, Audit, Incompletes, etc.) can be found here: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/grades_undergrad/REG02.50.3.php

Policy on Late Assignments
Late assignments may receive lower grades: one day late = one grade lower, two days late = two grades lower, etc. Exception: pre-approved or approved late submission or lateness in connection with an excused absence. I strongly encourage you to communicate with me about any problems you’re having. I usually work with my students on helping them catch up and get on track again, if there are serious reasons beyond their control for having missed assignments. Being overworked, forgetting, etc. are NOT reasons that would qualify.

Incomplete Policy
Incompletes (IN) will be assigned at the instructor's discretion in line with university policies on grading: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/grades_undergrad/REG02.50.3.php

Students with Disabilities
Reasonable accommodations will be made for students with verifiable disabilities. In order to take advantage of available accommodations, students must register with Disability Services for Students at 1900 Student Health Center, Campus Box 7509, 515-7653, for information see http://www.ncsu.edu/provost/offices/affirm_action/dss/. For more information on NC State's policy on working with students with disabilities, please see the Academic Accommodations for Students with Disabilities Regulation (REG02.20.1) at: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/academic_affairs/courses_undergrad/REG02.20.1.php.

Academic Integrity Policy
Human interaction and effective communication function on the basis of trust. An atmosphere of trust, honesty and respect for each other fosters educational progress and success. Please do not give me any reason to be suspicious of your honesty. You are to do your own work on all class assigments, presentations, projects, and exams, unless it is a designated pair or group assigment. That also means not incorporating others’ ideas and selling them as your own—this is called plagiarism. Whether you take ideas (verbatim or just as an idea) from books, the internet, or other sources does not matter: you need to acknowledge their source if they are not your own. The NC State Library has a Plagiarism Tutorial at: http://www.lib.ncsu.edu/scc/tutorial/plagiarism/index.html

The use of electronic (internet, CD-ROM, etc.) translation programs is forbidden and constitutes an academic integrity violation.

Please ask me about anything that remains unclear. Violations of academic integrity (plagiarism, cheating, etc.) will be prosecuted according to NC State’s policy on academic integrity, posted at: http://www.ncsu.edu/policies/student_services/student_discipline/POL11.35.1.php

Semester Schedule
Prepare each chapter by going over the grammar explanations and vocabulary. Learning the grammar rules is most important, but picking up some high-frequency vocabulary from the "Grundwortschatz" (Basic Vocabulary) is also very useful - it will save you time while translating. Then translate the chapter text, following the suggestions on the textbook companion site.
You can use the textbook companion site for an answer key to the sentences (use it wisely, to check your own work!), for grammar charts, and especially for helpful suggestions on preparing the reading comprehension task (chapter text translation): http://academic.cengage.com/german/korb

Class Period and Date	In Class (have this prepared)	Turn in
1 - Th, Aug. 21	Introduction to the Class; Kapitel 1
2 - Tue, Aug. 26	Kapitel 2
3 - Th, Aug. 28	Kapitel 3	Test 1-2
4 - Tue, Sep. 2	Kapitel 4
5 - Th, Sep. 4	Kapitel 5 and read Mark Twain's essay for fun: http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/jod/texts/twain.german.html	Test 3-4
6 - Tue, Sep. 9	Kapitel 6	Wiederholung 1, pp. 55 - 58
7 - Th, Sep. 11	Kapitel 7	Test 5-6
8 - Tue, Sep. 16	Kapitel 8
9 - Th, Sep. 18	Kapitel 9	Test 7-8
10 - Tue, Sep. 23	Kapitel 10
11 - Th, Sep. 25	Kapitel 11	Test 9-10
12 - Tue, Sep. 30	Kapitel 12	Wiederholung 2, pp. 106 - 108
13 - Th, Oct. 2	Kapitel 13	Test 11-12
14 - Tue, Oct. 7	Kapitel 14	Copy or weblink of a German article in your field of specialty, use Library databases
------ Th, Oct. 9	Fall Break
15 - Tue, Oct. 147	Kapitel 15	Test 13-14
16 - Th, Oct. 16	Kapitel 16	Wiederholung 3, pp. 154 - 156
17 - Tue, Oct. 21	Kapitel 17	Test 15 - 16
18 - Th, Oct. 23	Kapitel 18
19 - Tue, Oct. 28	Kapitel 19	Test 17-18
20 - Th, Oct. 30	Kapitel 20
21 - Tue, Nov. 4	Kapitel 21	Test 19-20
22 - Th, Nov. 6	Kapitel 22	Wiederholung 4, pp. 200 - 202
23 - Tue, Nov. 11	Kapitel 23	Test 21-22
24 - Th, Nov. 13	Kapitel 24
25 - Tue, Nov. 18	Kapitel 25	Test 23 - 24
26 - Th, Nov. 20	Kapitel 26	Wiederholung 5, pp. 241 - 243
27 - Tue Nov. 25	Kapitel 27	Test 25 - 26
------ Th, Nov. 27 Thanksgiving Holiday
28 - Tue, Dec. 2	Kapitel 28
29 - Th, Dec. 4	Kapitel 29 and 30 (selections TBA)	Test 27-28
30 - Tue, Dec. 16, 8 - 11 a.m.	Graduate Certification Exam	Bring your dictionary!

Click here for a world map with the countries with the most German speakers

Viel Spass beim Übersetzen!
Have fun with translating!