Reflections on the German language and the roll of language in society and identity

Students in GER 347L spent the semester discussing “Language & Society in German-speaking Countries”, analyzing the relationship between language and its speakers in both European and non-European contexts. As part of the course, each student was asked to write a 500-750 word blog post in German on a sociolinguistic topic related to the language varieties and communities we addressed. Students got to choose their topics, and many wrote fantastic entries about linguistic phenomena such as Jugendsprache (‘youth slang), their own experiences with language while studying abroad, and even Texas German! At the end of the semester, students then worked in pairs or small groups, creating short podcasts to respond to their classmate’s blog posts and think critically about the topics we learned about and discussed in class. You can read their blog posts (in German) here: https://sites.google.com/utexas.edu/ger-347l-blog/startseite?authuser=0