Josi
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Hmm, I didn't do that module but I would say that if they're literature, it's much better to read them in the original German (takes longer but can always wikipedia the synopsis), though a lot of people do just read translations - however don't tell the lecturers if you do that, they hate it
For reference/non-fiction books, get them in English, reading that in German is such hard work. Reminds me I've got a couple of those for final year, so not looking forward to that!
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Awesome! You must have got good results then so congrats! Do you know which accommodation you'll be in yet? I'm living on campus so I can definitely help you out with anything you need, I remember feeling pretty lost and confused for the first few days and it took me a couple of weeks to really get to know my way around! One thing I'll tell you now - make sure you go to the Fresher Fairs and Socetiy/Sports Fairs as well (they're all in the first week I think) - loads of free stuff and a great way to get involved with stuff early. I'll be going as well to see what freebies they're giving away...
Feel free to add me on facebook as well if you want, http://www.facebook.com/aliceday
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heyyy was just having a look through my messages and remember you're taking your A Levels this time... did you put Warwick as your firm in the end?Hope you make it here if you do, seriously let me know cos I can give you advice etc regarding the department and modules, and I'll be a cool 4th year who can show you round campus heh. Warwick's awesome, so I hope you make it, good luck! xx
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Hey
I sure do go to Warwick uni, congrats on the offer! As a whole university I think it's great. It's really good academically (came 3rd last year in one league table I believe), and I really enjoy being a student there. If you went to the Open Day you'll have seen how pretty it is The campus is really nice and everything's close together.
Ok the German department. It's pretty small, in my year there's around 50-60 people who study German in some form (like, some people study straight German, some do German and another language - like me - and some do German and another subject - like you), but I think your home department will be German. The tutors are mostly great (there's one lecturer who's boring as hell, but you'll get the same anywhere, and the others are all lovely) and as a whole I'm happy with the department.
In terms of work, it is quite a step up from A Levels and they expect you to work hard, but at the same time, I didn't have many problems with the workload. Language-wise they go through absolutely everything to bring up everyone up to the same level. You'll have 2 language classes a week (if they haven't changed the structure) - one is in a fairly large group (aorund 20 people) and the other is with only 5 or 6 people, so you can really focus on individual problems. I found those really helpful. They don't expect you to know everything and have perfect grammar, but they do expect you to work fairly hard.
One criticism that some people have of the department is that because it's quite small, there isn't that much choice for modules. For example in first year, you'll take the German language module and what's called the 'culture' module, which is everything else - literature, history, culture etc. There's only 2 choices, which have fancy names but are essentially 'modern' and 'medieval'. I chose the modern one (most people do), and it deals with Germany since 1945 and focuses on literature in the post-war movement and you do a fair bit of history too. And in 2nd year, it's the same story: you have 2 options: Germany in the 20s and 30s, or more medieval Germany. In 4th year however there's a much wider range of modules so that's good. I did enjoy both my 1st and 2nd year modules so even though there's hardly any choice, they're still good and well-taught.
Hope that helps somewhat, if you have any other questions or anything feel free to ask Overall I really love Warwick as a university and I feel very happy there and am glad I chose to study there. I have a friend who studies English as well and if you want to know anything about that department I can ask her if you'd like
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Hi there
Okay, so aaages ago you very helpfully replied to some of my questions on The German Learners Thread and I remembered that you said you went to Warwick Uni (?) I ask because I got an offer from them the other day to read German and English and I was just wondering if you could tell me a little bit about the German Dept? I've been to an Open Day but I would be interested to hear a student's perspective Is it friendly? Is it a massive step up from A level? Do they expect you to be really strong on Grammar?
Any advice/info would be greatly appreciated