The instructors in the EUROTECH program will offer you pedagogically sound and technology-enhanced language classes, but it is really up to you to take full advantage of the learning environment inside and outside the classroom. EUROTECH students should aim for at least a “B” in the language classes. Take advantage of the German Club, coffee hours, German films, Eurotech club, and all other activities organized by the German Studies Section so you have more opportunities to use your German and increase your speaking skills. Go see the German graduate assistants, they are there to help you!

When you start thinking about your internship abroad, it is also time for you to assess where you will be with your language skills by the time you leave. The German Studies faculty will be happy to help you assess your language proficiency and make recommendations on how to improve it.

We recommend that you work hard to bring up your language skills during the fall semester abroad so that you are prepared to meet the challenge of a German work environment. We thus urge our students to take “Deutsch als Fremdsprache” (German as a Second Language) courses on location offered either by the local university or a language learning institute like the Goethe Institutes. Ideally, you do this before you start the semester in Germany and if needed before you start your internship. The better you are in the language the more you will get out of your work experience. As it turns out, these courses are also often the best way to make friends in your new environment.

Your hard work will pay off and generate a strong sense of achievement and elation when you can, for example, read German newspaper articles, write a business letter to a company in Germany, follow instructions at the workplace in Germany, or successfully communicate with your landlord.