Students who have desired to major in French or German, but never got the chance to, now have the opportunity.German and French studies majors are now available to students. Introduced this semester, this is the first time German has been offered as a major.
French has been offered as a major at TCU in the past, but because of low enrollment the department stopped accepting new applicants, said Sharon Fairchild, chairwoman of the department of modern languages and literatures.
Fairchild said the new French studies major is different from the original one because it offers more content. Both the French and German studies programs will offer more than just languages and literature courses.
Scott G. Williams, associate professor of German, said the mixed content helps students address culture, community and communication.
“They say that you’ll never know another culture if you don’t know the language,” Williams said. “But now students will know more.”
Fairchild said the department did a study to look at other programs and universities to see what different models were out there.
An analysis conducted by foreign language professors of the Modern Language Association called for foreign language programs across the nation to offer other areas of discipline to enable students to be translingual and trans-cultural.
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The Department of Modern Languages and Literatures will hold an open reception to introduce the French and German studies major programs Oct. 17 in Reed Hall from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
After doing studies and reading the report, Fairchild said, the French department re-evaluated the major and the German department began to create its major. With this, the old French major was remodeled and a new German major was added.
Students who major in either program will be required to take 30 hours of upper level courses. Fifteen of these hours will include courses in which language, culture, literature and cinema are studied.
The other half of courses will come from other departments that are in some way connected to the students’ language of specialization, Fairchild said.
“The content that a student majoring in French studies, for example, would have the possibility to do studies in include history, political science, anthropology, art, history, fine arts, music, theatre and several other departments that have agreed to have their courses count toward their majors,” Fairchild said.
Fairchild said other cultures see Americans has a different culture, so it is important to learn about the other cultures, just like they learn about us. Taking these courses will help sensitize students not only to our culture, but to other cultures as well, Fairchild said.
“This is an attempt to broaden and deepen the knowledge of how to function in another culture by students,” Fairchild said.
