Bates College: The Catalogue: German, Russian, and East Asian Languages and Literatures

The material on this page is from the 1999-2000 catalog and may be out of date. Please check the current year's catalog for current information.

Professor Decker (on leave, fall semester and Short Term); Associate Professors Sweet, Costlow, Browne, Strong, Chair, and Yang; Assistant Professor Wender; Ms. Neu-Sokol, Ms. Miao, Ms. Ofuji, and Mr. Keselman

Students of German, Russian, and East Asian languages gain particular insight into peoples whose lives are in the process of unprecedented change. The curricula in Chinese, Japanese, German, and Russian emphasize the interconnections of society, culture, and language. They assert the vitality of traditions challenged and invigorated by change, and the importance of attaining fluency not just in language but in the nuances of cultural understanding.

The department offers majors in Chinese, German, Japanese, and Russian language and literature. A secondary concentration can be pursued in all languages offered. Application for a secondary concentration should be made to the chair of the department. A secondary concentration requires a minimum of seven courses in the given language (or six courses and a designated Short Term unit). All courses taken at Bates must be from the curriculum of the department. At least one of the seven courses must involve a study of literature or culture (taught either in the language or in translation), but only one course in translation may be counted toward the concentration. A student may petition to have up to three comparable courses, completed at other institutions either in the United States or abroad, apply toward the secondary concentration.

All students, and especially majors, are strongly encouraged to spend an extended period of time abroad prior to graduation. Opportunities to do so include participation in the Bates Fall Semester Abroad programs in China, Japan, and Germany, junior year or junior semester abroad programs, summer sessions, and the various off-campus Short Term units sponsored by the department.

Entering students are assigned to the appropriate level in language courses according to the following criteria: their performance on an Achievement or Advanced Placement Test of the College Entrance Examination Board taken in secondary school, relative proficiency based on length of previous study, and/or after consultation with an appropriate member of the department.

Foreign Literatures and Cultures in Translation. While the department emphasizes the importance of acquiring the fluency needed to study literature and culture in the original, the following courses are offered in translation. See listings under individual languages for detailed descriptions of these courses.

Chinese 207. Masterworks of Chinese Literature.
Chinese 209. Modern China through Film and Fiction.
Chinese 261. Self and Society in Chinese Culture.
Chinese s30. Chinese Calligraphy and Etymology.

German 254. Berlin and Vienna, 1900-1914.
German 255. The Weimar Republic.
German 260. Germany and Its Others.
German 280. Goethe, Schiller, Heine.
German s23. Screening War.

Japanese 240. Japanese Literature: A Survey.
Japanese 250. Modern Japanese Women's Literature.
Japanese 280. Ethnicity and Gender: United States, Japan, and Korea.
Japanese s25. Haiku Poetry.
Japanese s32. Appreciation of Japanese People and Society through Films.

Russian 240. Women and Russia.
Russian 261. Russian Culture.
Russian 270. Nineteenth-Century Russian Literature.
Russian 271. Topics in Modern Russian Literature.
Russian 273. "Nature" in Russian Culture.
Russian 283. From Chekhov to the Revolution.
Russian s21. A Balkan Tale of Two Cities.
Russian s24. Rock: The Triumph of Vulgarity.
Russian s26. Russian and Soviet Film.

General Education. Any Short Term unit offered by the Department of German, Russian and East Asian Languages and Literatures may be used to fulfill the General Education requirement in the humanities.