Courses in a total of fifteen languages are offered by the Language Centre of the University of Jena for students and everyone interested. With "Business English" and "German as a Language of Education", there are courses especially for people who want to deepen their existing knowledge of the respective language.
German courses also for people who want to improve in their first language
"German as an Educational Language addresses people whose first language is German and who find that they are not quite sure in it. This can be grammar and punctuation or things like indirect speech," explains the head of the Language Centre, Dr Joachim Boldt. "Business English, on the other hand, is more specialised and is aimed primarily at the field of economics."
German as a foreign language is, of course, also part of the Language Centre's offer, which is highly requested at the University of Jena, with approximately one thousand participants per semester.
Modern languages and more
In addition to modern languages from the Romance, Germanic and Slavic language areas, languages from the Asian region can also be studied – specifically Chinese and Korean. Latin is also offered at the Language Centre, explains Boldt: "Those who already have basic prior knowledge can join the course for the intermediate Latin certificate. Otherwise, knowledge of Latin at the beginner's level in grammar and lexis can also be acquired in one semester without prior knowledge. In addition, we also offer exciting reading courses – for example, of texts by Ovid or Cicero – that lead to the acquisition of the Latin proficiency certificate (Latinum)."
"In addition to the services offered by the Language Centre, there are other opportunities to learn languages at the University of Jena," adds Boldt. "At the Faculty of Theology, for example, Biblical Hebrew is taught; at the Institute of Classical Studies, Ancient Greek. And at the Institute for Slavonic Studies, Czech is now available again. Here, however, those interested must contact the institute itself."
Registration open until before the start of lectures
Registration is very easy for students at the University of Jena; the courses are listed in the study administration system Friedolin and can be booked there until shortly before the start of the lectures of the respective semester. For external persons interested in languages, it is a little more complicated to register, as, among other things, a university account must be created in the IT centre. The Language Centre's office is the best contact here.
"Courses with two hours per week cost 20 euros per semester for students, and 100 euros for everyone else," explains Boldt. "For four hours, the price is accordingly 40 or 200 euros," he adds.
Of course, the pandemic has also had a strong impact on teaching. "For the most part, the courses are now held face-to-face again," explains Boldt. "A certain number, however, remains online, also because this format has proven itself and is in demand by students."