The Student Room Group

German degrees without literature focus

Hello all J
I am a Year 12 student and hoping to study German (possibly in a joint degree with Economics) at uni.
So far I have looked round Leeds, Durham and Manchester and I’m also interested in Warwick and Nottingham (although I’ve just read something on here about how their languages department is overrated).
They all seem like pretty good unis however I’m concerned that some may have more of a focus on literature than others (me being someone who was relieved to drop English Lit after GCSE). I ooked round Leeds and fell in love with the uni (the SU seemed amazing), however they said they have a focus on C20th & C21st Literature & Cinema, which I didn’t feel too keen about. When I looked round Durham, however, one of the students said she didn’t have any literature-based modules in her first year, and got to do a really good one on translation, which I’m interesting in, however I think she did three languages. If she only did one then maybe a literature module would have been compulsory?
I’ve tried to look at prospectuses but I got a bit confused with some of the modules.
What I’m asking is whether anyone reading this has been to Leeds/Durham/Warwick/Manchester/Nottingham to study languages, and whether there is a great range of modules, particularly language/history/economics-based modules, and whether there re any compulsory literature ones.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you! J
I realise it's not on your list but Newcastle has a great languages department and it's not literature focused.

As most students take more than one language or combine subjects you would be limited as a German single honours student and would therefore probably have to do some literature to make up your credits.

However, you could do their Modern Languages and Business Studies course. That would let you take economics related modules meaning you could easily avoid literature on the German side of the degree - http://www.ncl.ac.uk/undergraduate/degrees/tn92/modules/
Well, definitely not Oxford.
I don't go to any of these unis, but if it's anything like mine it will depend on how many credits you have. If you do a combined degree with something else like Economics, you most likely will not have to do any literature modules as you'll be able to pick up your credits across both subjects. Doing single honours German means your range of choices is limited, and there's only so many non-literature based modules they will do.

Personally I'd email the department of these unis. There's a whole lot of restrictions on module choices I had no idea about before I started (I do a 3 major degree with 2 languages and management), so best to save yourself from any surprises.

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