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Second Foreign Language and Culture 1 (German)

Code: 108334
Credits: 6
2026/2027
Degree programme Type Course
Translation and Interpreting FB 1

Contact lecturer

Name :
Jordi Auseller Roquet
Email :
jordi.auseller@uab.cat

Group languages

You can consult this information at the end of the document.

Prerequisites

This course has no prerequisites.

Objectives

  • To introduce students to the initial communicative skills in the German language that they will need for direct translation.
  • To provide them with fundamental knowledge about Germany’s geography, territorial organisation, politics, and its basic cultural and social characteristics.

Learning outcomes

  • CM09 (Integrate the knowledge and skills of the second language to produce oral and written texts adapted to a given communicative context.) Integrate the knowledge and skills of the second language to produce oral and written texts adapted to a given communicative context.
  • KM12 (Identify the lexical, morphosyntactic and phonological characteristics of the second language.) Identify the lexical, morphosyntactic and phonological characteristics of the second language.
  • KM14 (Recognise cultural characteristics of second language societies.) Recognise cultural characteristics of second language societies.
  • KM15 (Identify the linguistic mechanisms that express the gender construction of second language societies.) Identify the linguistic mechanisms that express the gender construction of second language societies.
  • SM15 (Apply strategies to understand written or oral texts in the second language.) Apply strategies to understand written or oral texts in the second language.

Contents

Communicative content

  • Greet, say goodbye, and introduce oneself
  • Ask about nationality or place of origin
  • Ask about profession and answer
  • Identify people and objects
  • Ask for and tell the time
  • Express the duration of an activity
  • Express pain and ask for help
  • Enquire about someone’s health
  • Arrange a time to meet someone
  • Describe situations
  • Narrate a story

Grammatical content

  • The alphabet: vowels and consonants
  • Phonetics and orthography (grapheme-sound correspondence)
  • Personal pronouns
  • W-questions and answers
  • Categorical questions (Ja/Nein-Fragen)
  • The feminine in -in
  • Definite and indefinite articles
  • The nominative
  • Present indicative
  • The negative article kein
  • The possessives mein and dein
  • The formal imperative (with Sie)
  • The verbs heißen, kommen, sein, lernen, sprechen, haben, arbeiten, möchten
  • The accusative of ein and kein
  • Plural articles die, meine and keine
  • Singular and plural
  • Compound words
  • Verbs with vowel change (schlafen, waschen, nehmen...)
  • Separable verbs (einladen, fernsehen, ausschlafen, einkaufen...)
  • Subject-verb inversion with time complements (e.g. Am Dienstag geht er zum Friseur)
  • The accusative of the definite article
  • Modal verbs mögen, können, müssen, wollen, dürfen
  • The Satzklammer in modal verbs
  • The possessives sein and ihr
  • The simple past of sein and haben
  • es gibt + accusative
  • Predicative adjectives
  • The adverbs sehr and zu
  • Plural possessives (unser, euer, ihr)

Lexical content

  • Greetings and farewell formulas
  • Nationalities
  • Professions
  • Time: hours, days of the week, months, seasons
  • The human body
  • Food
  • Transport
  • Cardinal and ordinal numbers

Sociocultural content

  • Parts of the day
  • du / Sie
  • Hobbies and leisure time
  • Daily life: with the family, at university, in the city, etc.

Cultural content

  • Geography of Germany: location, relief, rivers
  • Territorial organisation of Germany: federal states, capitals, and major cities
  • Political organisation of Germany: federal state, basic institutions
  • Demography and migration in Germany
  • Religious and dialectal/linguistic diversity in Germany
  • German economy: main sectors, industry, trade
  • German culture, traditions, and customs

Learning activities and methodology

Title Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Completion of oral production activities 3 0.12 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15
Supervision and review of oral and written activities 6 0.24 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Preparation of individual assignments 10 0.4 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Preparation of written production activities 16 0.64 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15
Lectures 7 0.28 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Completion of written production activities 9 0.36 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15
Scheduled tutorials 4 0.16 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Preparation of group work 9 0.36 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Completion of grammar and vocabulary exercises 20 0.8 KM12, KM14, KM15
Preparation of reading comprehension activities 13 0.52 KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Completion of listening comprehension activities 3 0.12 KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Completion of reading comprehension activities 10 0.4 KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Preparation of assessment activities 7 0.28 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Supervision and review of exercises 8 0.32 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Problem-solving 5 0.2 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Completion of grammar and vocabulary exercises 15 0.6 KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15

This course is based on an active methodology that combines a set of techniques and actions aimed at guiding students’ learning:

  • Completion of oral and written comprehension and production tasks designed to achieve specific learning outcomes
  • Cooperative learning techniques that foster the social construction of knowledge in small groups
  • Completion of grammar and vocabulary exercises and other applied activities
  • Presentation of individual and group work
  • Presentation and explanation of content by the teaching staff
  • Supervision, review, and monitoring of activities, including scheduled tutorials
Annotation: within the schedule set by the centre or degree programme, 15 minutes of one class will be reserved for students to evaluate their lecturers and their courses or modules through questionnaires.

Assessment

Continuous assessment activities

Title Weight Hours ECTS Learning outcomes
Listening and speaking assessment activities 20% 1 0.04 CM09, KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Written production assessment activites 20% 1 0.04 CM09
Reading comprehension assessment activities 20% 1 0.04 KM12, KM14, KM15, SM15
Assessment activities on grammatical knowledge 40% 2 0.08 KM12, KM15

Continuous Assessment

Assessment is continuous throughout the subject. Students must provide evidence of their progress by completing various tasks and tests. Task and test deadlines will be indicated in the course schedule on the first day of class. The information on assessment activities and their weighting is a guide. The subject lecturer will provide full information when teaching begins.

Review

When publishing final grades prior to recording them on students' transcripts, the lecturer will provide written notification of a date and time for reviewing assessment activities. Students must arrange reviews in agreement with the lecturer.

Missed/failed assessment activities

Students may retake assessment activities they have failed or compensate for any they have missed, provided that those they have actually performed account for a minimum of 66.6% (two thirds) of the final grade for the subject and that they have a weighted average mark of at least 3.5. In case of retaking, the maximum grade will be 5 (Pass).

The lecturer will inform students in writing of the retake procedure involved when publishing final grades prior to recording them on transcripts. The lecturer may set one assignment per failed or missed assessment activity or a single assignment to cover a number of such activities. Under no circumstances may an assessment activity worth 100% of the final mark be retaken or compensated for.

Classification as "not assessable"

In the event that the assessment activities a student has performed account for 25% or less of the final grade for the subject, their work will be classified as "not assessable" on their transcript.

Misconduct in assessment activities

Students who engage in misconduct (plagiarism, copying, personation, etc.) in an assessment activity will receive a mark of “0” for the activity in question. In the case of misconduct in more than one assessment activity, the student involved will be given a final grade of “0” for the subject. Assessment activities in which irregularities have occurred (e.g. plagiarism, copying, impersonation) are excluded from retake.

Use of artificial intelligence

In this subject, the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies may or may not be permitted depending on the activity. The permitted and prohibited uses in each case will be detailed in the course introduction. Students must clearly identify which parts were generated using AI technologies, specify the tools used, and include a critical reflection on how these tools influenced the process and the final result of the activity. A lack of transparency regarding the use of AI in graded assignments will be considered a breach of academic integrity and may result in a partial or total penalty on the grade, or more severe sanctions in serious cases.

Single assessment

This subject may be assessed under the single assessment system in accordance with the terms established in the academic regulations of the UAB and the assessment criteria of the Faculty of Translation and Interpreting.

Students must make an online request within the period established by the faculty and send a copy to the lecturer responsible for the subject, for the record.

Single assessment will be carried out in person on one day during week 16 or 17 of the semester. The Academic Management Office will publish the exact date and time on the faculty website.

On the day of the single assessment, teaching staff will ask the student for identification, which should be a valid identification document with a recent photograph (student card, DNI/NIE or passport).

Single assessment activities

The single assessment will consist of the following assessment activities:

  • reading comprehension (20%)
  • oral production (20%)
  • written production (20%)
  • grammar and vocabulary test (40%)

Grade revision and retake procedures for the subject are the same as those for continual assessment. See the section above in this Study Guide.

Bibliography

1. Material of the subject

The coursebook will be confirmed at the beginning of the semester.

2. Dictionaries

2.1 Bilingual

Aliaga López, Sonia (2001). Pons Großwörterbuch für Experten und Universität: Spanisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Spanisch. Stuttgart: Klett.

Batlle, Lluís C. et al. (2006). Diccionari alemany-català̀ (3a ed., rev., ampl. i act.). Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana.

Batlle, Lluís C. et al. (2005). Diccionari català-alemany (2a ed., corr., ampl. i act.). Barcelona: Enciclopèdia Catalana. Disponible en línia: https://www.diccionari.cat/diccionari-catala-alemany

Diccionari Alemany-Català GPL/GPL Deutsch-Katalanisches Wörterbuch. Disponible en línia: http://diccionari.info

Slabý, Rudolf; Grossmann, Rudolf (1994). Diccionario de las lenguas española y alemana/Wörterbuch der spanischen und deutschen Sprache (11ª ed., ampl. y rev.). Barcelona: Herder.

https://de.pons.com/übersetzung/deutsch-spanisch

https://es.langenscheidt.com/aleman-espanol/

2.2 Monolingual

Duden (Online). Disponible en línia: https://www.duden.de/

Hermann, Ursula (1978). Knaurs Fremdwörter-Lexikon. München: Droemer Knaur.

Küpper, Heinz (1990). Pons-Wörterbuch der deutschen Umgangssprache. Stuttgart: Klett.

Wahrig, Gerhard (1990). Deutsches Wörterbuch. Gütersloh: Bertelsmann.

3. Grammar Manuals

Castell, Andreu (1997). Gramática de la lengua alemana. Madrid: Ed. Idiomas/Hueber.

Castell, Andreu & Braucek, Brigitte (2015). Gramática de la lengua alemana: libro de ejercicios. Madrid: Ed. Idiomas/Hueber.

Dreyer, Hilke; Schmitt, Richard (1994). Prácticas de gramática alemana. Ismaning: Verlag für Deutsch.

Fandrych, Christian & Tallowitz, Ulrike (2009). Klipp und Klar. Stuttgart: Klett Verlag.

Hoberg, Rudolf (2004). Der kleine Duden. Gramática del alemán. Madrid: Ed. Idiomas/Hueber.

Luscher, Renate (1998). DaF. Übungsgrammatik für Anfänger. München: Verlag für Deutsch.

Reimann, Monika et al. (2007). Gramática esencial del alemán con ejercicios. Ismaning: Hueber.

4. Webs

Online-Grammatik (Deutsche Welle): https://learngerman.dw.com/de/grammar (Deutsch) / https://learngerman.dw.com/es/grammar (Spanisch)

Online-Grammatik: https://sawogra.de/

Software

No specific software is used in this course.


Course groups and languages

The information provided is provisional until November 30. After this date, you will be able to consult the language of each group through this link. To access the information, you will need to enter the course CODE

Type of teaching Group Language Semester Shift
(SEM30) Seminaris (30 estudiants per grup) 1 Catalan/Spanish first semester morning-mixed