Herzlich Willkommen in Deutschland! REALLY???

Yesterday I had a group meeting with my study advisor at UNI Konstanz. Few hours before, I went to her office to ask her something about the lectures, seminars and choices, stuff like that. She printed me an email (in English!!!) she had sent to MA British and American Studies students since October, 2nd. It was no surprise for me to find out that none of the Romanian students from Iasi doing their MA in British and American Studies in Konstanz hadn´t been informed about this introductory meeting of the British and American Studies within UNI Konstanz. And we received our letters of admissions in July.

What really got on my nerves?

The fact that the German lady said that since I was the only one to study only one semester at UNI Konstanz, the introductory meeting of the British and American Studies Department will be held only in German. Even if I told her few hours before that I am a total beginner in German Language and from a long speach I can barely understand 10%.

Remarks

1. Although the German officials at UNI Konstanz have real and painful difficulties in speaking English (see below), I am definitely willing to take some free German Language courses for total beginners from the Language Institute at UNI (Oct. 21st 2008- February 2009)

2. The official site of UNI Konstanz suggested some courses within the BAST Department that are held in English. If these are lies and German teachers use German language at their courses that are supposed to be in English, I will take the first flight to Romania and I will firmly ask for the invalidation of the bilateral agreement between University of Iasi, Romania and University of Konstanz, Germany because, when I applied for this ERASMUS scholarship, I do not recall for me writing somewhere that I have some knowledge of the German Language.

3. At the first meeting within the Oktober Kurs- Orientirung Program fur Auslandiches Studenten (Intl Students), an official from the International Relations Office at UNI started to speak only in German. At one moment, he stopped speaking in German because he had seen too many confuses faces, and asked in English if people in the room had understood him. Even if most of the International students in the room said that they understood little or nothing from what he had said in German, Mr. "I don´t care a damn about you" continued to speak in German.

I am deeply sorry, my German reader, but if you ever want to go to Romania for no matter what, be sure that most of the Romanian youth between 15 up to 30 years will speak to you in an understandable English.

Tschüss!

Paul

TO BE CONTINUED

MA- German Studies, Iasi, Modern Languages

GERMAN STUDIES


Master of Arts Program


"German Culture in the European Context"



Description


The M.A. Program "German Culture in the European Context" at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi is an interdisciplinary study program in German culture, history, politics and thought that aims to expose students not only to in-depth aspects of the German language, but also to German culture, literature and history within a transcultural European context. The studies leading to the acquisition of a "Master of Arts in German Culture in the European Context" consist of the accomplishment of 120 ECTS credits, including the final thesis work and its defense.



Aims


The aim of the M.A. Program "German Culture in the European Context" at the Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi is to provide postgraduate students with an understanding of the broader scope of the German-speaking culture in Europe, special emphasis being given to Central and Eastern Europe and to the historical interactions and reciprocal influences within the region, developing their openness to scientific innovation and acquaint them with specific scientific domains within Cultural Studies in general and German Studies in particular. Thus, students are encouraged to develop their competencies in research practices and / or in specialised professional activities related with teaching. "German Culture in the European Context" places a premium on excellence in reading and writing. Over the course of the term students are expected to demonstrate progress in critical analysis and expression.



Courses


Courses are offered in a wide array of fields:


- Central-European Literature in German language

- German Literature from a Comparative Perspective (authors, genres, currents)

- German Schools of Philosophy and Hermeneutics

- Germany after 1945: the Constitutional and Political System

- The Mass Media: Newspapers, Radio, and Television in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland

- German assertions in the Romanian Culture

- Language, Religion, and Culture in the Roman-German Middle Ages

- Literature and Culture. Esthetics and Poetics

- Language and Culture. Semantics and Pragmatics

- Literature and Other Arts

- Literary Translations: Art and Technique

- Translations Terminology

- Methodology of Cultural Studies.


Study Plans
Official Study Plans
Career Prospects

The Masters Degree in German Studies qualifies the holder to exercise professional activities in the following fields:
- Teaching of German language and literature in primary and secondary education;
- Teaching in higher education;
- Translation;
- Publishing;
- Academic research.


Source: website- Faculty of Letters, University of Iasi, Romania

MA- US Studies, Iasi, Modern Languages

MA in American Cultural Studies


The program was set up in 1999. It is interdisciplinary, with courses offered by professors from the Department of English as well as from other faculties such as: the Faculty of Political Sciences, the Faculty of Philosophy and the Department of Journalism.


During this program, students will:

- Acquire skills in critical and creative thinking and operate with fundamental concepts in various disciplines such as literature, linguistics, history, cultural anthropology, religion, philosophy, economics, arts, sociology and psychology.

- Be introduced to interdisciplinary research strategies through flexible and modern approaches.

- Develop communication and social interaction skills in view of tolerance and mutual respect, tolerance and openness to diversity and new ideas.

- Participate in similar parallel programs in Romania and abroad.

- Be familiarized with the "old" and the "new" paradigms, as well as understand social processes (historical evolution, political institutions), semiotic systems (class, race, ethnicity, gender, nation / nationality, language), processes of identity formation (mentalities, norms, values, social roles) and their interaction.

- Operate with critical and theoretical instruments as well as with a corpus of materials that will allow them to explore, interpret and relate the American experience to the world cultural, social, political and historical context.

- Understand the process of cultural and linguistic hibridization through literary and linguistic analyses.

- Have a better understanding of the cultural diversity of America through such concepts as class, ethnicity, gender and race and through the analysis of major theories on these notions: "melting pot", "salad bowl", "mosaic", multiculturalism and interculturalism.


The MA program offers the following courses, 6 credits each.
American studies: "Old" and "New" Paradigms

- American Typologies

- American studies: "Old" and "New" Paradigms

Multicultural Perspectives

- Ethnicity: Asian-Americans and Afro-Americans

- Multicultural Perspectives. Minority Voices: The Latino/a and the Jewish-American Cultures

Critical Thinking - Literary Thinking

- American Poetics

- Critical Thinking / Creative Thinking

- Modern and Postmodern Aesthetics

- Under the Sign of Diversity: American Prose Writers at the End of the Millennium.

American Linguistics

- American Dialects

- Introduction to the Philosophy of Language

- The Language of American Advertisements

Cultural Contact Areas

- America from a Canadian Perspective

- Contemporary Frontiers, Continuums and American Extremes. A Canadian Perspective.

Philosophical and Political Thinking

- American Transcendentalism

- American Philosophy

- Political Issues of the Contemporary World

Arts

- "New" American Theatre: characteristics, forms, impact

- Genres in American Cinema

Regionalism

- Regionalism / The American South

- The American West

American Mass Media


Source: website- Faculty of Letters, University of Iasi, Romania


PERSONAL OBSERVATIONS

READ "US STUDIES" INSTEAD OF "AMERICAN STUDIES".
SOME SUBJECTS MUST BE READ NOT AS "AMERICAN" BUT AS "US-BASED".
GOOD LUCK!

MA- Francophone Studies, Iasi, Modern Languages

Faculty of Letters

Department of French Language and Literature

MASTER'S DEGREE IN FRANCOPHONE STUDIES

2008 - 2009

This master proposes a complex and specialized approach of the French-speaking world (overpassing the borders of the French territory) with its double dimension: linguistic and literary. The approach is mostly interdisciplinary, by situating the francophone phenomenon in the European and world cultural context. The linguistic axis proposes some syntheses on the main linguistic and grammatical contemporary trends as well as on the varieties of French in different French-speaking areas. The literary axis deals with francophone literature from Belgium, Quebec, Switzerland, Romania, Africa, as well as with the most recent trends in literary criticism methodology, theatre studies, and the pragmatics of fiction.


Subjects:


French Literature: Reading Theory

Varieties of French

Pragmatics of Fiction

Romanian Writers and Their Works in the French Language

Belgian Literature

French Literature and Poetics

Theatre Studies

Canadian Literature

Literature of French-Speaking Switzerland

Literary Criticism Methodology

20th Century Linguistic Theories

African Literature


General objectives:

- To study the field of the francophonie

- To become familiar with current issues in French-speaking countries and cultures


Main directions:

- Literature

- Linguistics


Advantages:

Training courses in French-speaking countries (France, Belgium and Switzerland) offered within the Socrates Programme. 10 students are selected each year to follow a training course in a European country.


Number of places:

18: free of charge

18: fee-paying


Length of studies: 2 years


Selection criteria: marks obtained at B.A. graduation paper defense and overall graduation mark



Adjacent aspects:

Francophone Studies Seminar and Library

Belgian Literature Centre

Swiss Literature Centre

Canadian Studies Centre

GREF (Research Group in Francophone Studies)

Francophone space, GREF journal


Source: website- Faculty of Letters, University of Iasi, Romania

MA- Translation, Iasi, Modern Languages

MA IN TRANSLATION


General information and objectives


The MA in Translation was set up in the 2000-2001 academic year as a (logical) follow-up to the undergraduate translation programme that was implemented at the same faculty in 1997.


This MA programme is designed to equip language graduates with the comprehensive range of practical and theoretical skills they will need to work as professional translators in Romanian or European institutions as well as on a freelance basis. So far the MA in translation has gathered highly motivated university graduates, with high standards in foreign languages. Some of them have been subsequently recruited to work for the European Commission and Parliament. The programme is also recommended by the Utrecht Network.


The development of the MA in translation and terminology at the "Al. I. Cuza" University of Iasi takes place in an European, national and local context which requires the training of highly qualified experts in international communication as well as the training of the trainers themselves, i. e. people who could teach in optimal conditions (undergraduate and graduate) students enrolled on such courses.


Programme outline


Duration: 2 year full-time study programme, corresponding to 60 credits per year; the dissertation is (separately) awarded 5credits.


Academic calendar:

1st semester: 1st October-21st January (with a winter holiday between 23rd December-7th January)

Examination period

Holiday:

2nd semester:

Examination period:


Languages: English, French, Romanian

Admission:

- Requirements: 1. a joint honours BA in English and French with specialization in translation and terminology;

Or

2. honours graduates in other subject fields with a very good command of English and French

Procedure: Foreign students are admitted on request, if they fulfill the previous conditions. Romanian applicants will have to pass an exam consisting of translations from and into English, French and Romanian newspaper articles. Applicants are selected according to the average mark in the exam and the number of available places.



Curriculum


The curriculum has been designed in order to enable trainees to take up the professions of translators-terminologists at the European Institutions, in Romanian offices, firms, companies, publishing houses, etc., there being also a possibility for (the best) trainees to become trainers for the respective fields.

The fundamental premise that underlies the curriculum structure and, more concretely, the activities carried out by the trainers working in the programme, is that translation is a complex activity that does not involve mere transcoding but also competent inter-cultural communication. Thus, in a world characterized by multilingualism and multiculturalism, with diversity being one of its key values, the translator becomes a mediator between different cultures and civilizations as well as an expert in translating in one or several specific fields.


Structure:

In keeping with the DGT guidelines and the courses already attended by some of the students at undergraduate level, the following courses/activities are offered. Each course/activity is awarded 6 ECTS:


§ Translation Studies (English and French)

§ Terminology (English and French)

§ Practical translation (e. g. legal, economic, EU texts: English and French)

§ Information technology for translation (English and French)

§ Translation assignment analysis

§ European institutions

§ Internship


Practice:

The compulsory period of internship carried out in translation offices, companies, agencies and publishing houses is part of the curriculum and gives trainees first-hand experience of the working environment of professional translators. Besides, the Faculty of Letters of the "Al. I. Cuza" University has its own translation bureau, for which some of the MA graduate students work.


Dissertation:

The final dissertation is the result of the research undertaken by the students, in close consultation with their supervisors, in the fields of translation and terminology.


The successful completion of the course is concretized in an MA diploma in translation and terminology, which enables graduates to work as professionals in all the institutions, firms, companies requiring this kind of services or as trainers for such programmes.


Facilities


Students attending the MA programme in translation and terminology work in two special multimedia laboratories having access to translation software (TRADOS, PASSOLO, ATTRIL), Internet, the local area network, on-line dictionaries, etc.

There is also a (small) library of the translation programme containing some recent (national and international) publications in the fields under study as well as a rich collection of monolingual and bilingual dictionaries.


Cooperation with other Romanian institutions


Besides cooperating with other Romanian universities that have their own translation programmes (e. g. Bucharest, Cluj, Timisoara, Galati, etc.) as well as with local and national translation agencies and bureaus, there are close links between the MA students and Institutul European publishing house in Iasi, which has started a series of "Translation Topics".



Cooperation with the European Institutions and with other European universities


The MA in Translation of the "Al. I. Cuza" University of Iasi has been constantly in touch with the European Commission (DGT), Bruxelles. It has also been part of "The Invited Translator" project. Not only do many of its graduates now work for the DGT and other European Institutions, but some of its students have also spent periods of internship at the DGT. In March 2007 the MA in Translation in Iasi was visited by Angeliki Petrits, Coordinator of relations with universities at DGT and Urve Laas, Representative of the European Commission in Bulgaria and Romania.



Intensive exchanges also take place, at both student and teaching staff level, with European universities that offer MA's in translation, e. g. the Universities of Leeds, Middlesex, ISTI - Bruxelles, Copenhagen, Salamanca, Vigo, Alicante, Tarragona (Rovira Y Virgili), Lisbon, Saarbruecken, Paris III, Rennes2, Poitiers, Erasmus Hogeschool-Bruxelles, Université d'Angers, Université Catholique de Louvain, Université de Poitiers, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Université Catholique de l'Ouest-Angers, Universitŕ degli Studi di Bari, etc. The MA in Translation in Iasi has also been included among the finest Master's Programmes by the Utrecht network.

http://www.utrechtnetwork.org/documents/Masters_Programmes_0608/Masters_Brochure_finestMPs_web.pdf.


The MA Programme in Translation has been recently involved in several European projects. The most recent ones are the eCoLoTrain LEONARDO project (developing innovative e-content localisation training opportunities for trainers and teachers in professional translation)- 2005-2007 and the eCoLoMedia LEONARDO project (Développement de ressources pédagogiques partagées et adaptables pour l'enseignement professionnalisant de la localisation de contenus électroniques multimédias) - 2008-2010. Such projects have been instrumental in updating the curriculum and enhancing the quality of the courses according to the on-going European standards and the latest developments in the profession.

Source: website- Faculty of Letters, University of Iasi, Romania