Welcome!

Willkommen! Добро пожаловать!

Established in August 2006, the Department of German and Slavic Studies is the newest department in the School of Languages, Cultures, and World Affairs. Our faculty consists of five full-time roster faculty and several adjunct instructors of German and Russian. Both programs offer a full range of extra-curricular activities in which students and faculty participate. We encourage you to explore the reasons for studying these languages and come talk with us about the numerous opportunities we offer.

 
Why Study German/Russian?
  • German continues to be fundamental to the liberal arts. Not only the language of philosophy, literature and science, today it is also advantageous in business, communications, international relations and technology. German is the second most widely spoken language in Europe, and Germany is the financial and economic powerhouse of the European Union (and America’s largest European trade partner!). A nation of travelers, Germans spend $37 billion annually world wide.

South Carolina boasts over 170 German companies, while close to 700 German businesses have operations in the Southeastern United States. Most of these companies offer higher salaries to employees with German language skills.

The German program at the College of Charleston was recognized as the best undergraduate German program in South Carolina by the SC Commission on Higher Education.

  • Russian has become one of the most heard languages in Europe today. Russian is the most used Slavic language in the world with over 280 million speakers (native and non-native) and Russia is the world’s largest country (with eleven time zones!).
The language of Pushkin, Eisenstein, Lenin and Gorbachev has recently been recognized by the US State Department as a critical language. Since the end of the Cold War, the number of people in the US who study Russian has declined, and yet more and more businesses (Exxon Mobile, Microsoft, Price Waterhouse), law firms, government agencies (State Department, Department of Commerce, NASA) and consulting firms (aeronautics, engineering, foreign policy) are finding that they need employees with a thorough knowledge and understanding of Russian language and culture.
LCWA Design 2006