Embarking on my journey to study German in Estonia at the University of Tartu, I was met with curious glances and questioning stares. “Why German in Estonia?” became the inevitable first question whenever I shared my programme. At first glance, it does seem a bit strange, but hopefully, my experience will help shed some light on the programme as a whole and why it is good for anyone interested in studying a language.
Professors
My main reason for coming to study at the University of Tartu was to be able to work on my thesis topic with the professors at Tartu. My topic was the Volga Germans, and my advisor was an expert on Baltic Germans. While they are not the same topics, the research set-up was similar, therefore my advisor was able to help me immensely with the formatting. This topic was very important to me, and I knew at the time I did not have the skills to do this research justice. But, under the advisement of my advisor, I was able to develop a work that I was proud of. However, it is not just the German department. The professors in the European languages and cultures programme are not only knowledgeable but also deeply passionate about their field.
Conferences
Additionally, our programme advertises many conferences, seminars, and workshops. These events are incredible to be able to get some ideas on different topics without taking a whole class about a different field. We have had linguistic conferences, literature, phonetics, constructed languages, etc. During these events, you can also make many new connections with students who have similar interests to you. This autumn, I was able to go to a linguistics event in Kääriku, Estonia. The event was a linguistics event that was completely free for our students. During this event, the most memorable lecture, for me, was about Estonian sign language. I have never taken a class about Estonian sign language before, but it was incredible to attend a short lecture and gain some ideas about linguistics. This is what these events are designed for. They can possibly spark a new interest that you did not know that you had.
Connections
One of the best parts about the programme is being able to make connections specifically in the language you want to learn. In the German language and literature specialisation, it was very important for me to use German as the main language. Almost all the classes that we had were in German. When we worked in groups or spoke outside of the classroom, the main language we had in common was German. What is also cool about the programme is that many of the professors were native speakers of German. Even some of the students, who came for one semester or more on Erasmus exchange were native speakers. However, we also had the chance to work with other students from different language majors. When we had certain required classes, all of the language students came together and had some classes in English. This was invaluable in meeting other students who share a similar passion just for a different language.
Career
What stuck out to me from this programme was the fact that we could design the programme the way we wanted. The programme is very flexible, and it is designed for students from many different backgrounds. If you want to become an editor, for example, you can take courses that would prepare you for this and do editing projects with professors. If you want to study literature, you can take more literature classes. This programme is designed for many different interests. As I wanted to become a teacher, I was able to do some teaching at a local school for German classes to prepare me for a future profession.
Erasmus
One of the highlights of my studies was being able to do an Erasmus exchange in Germany. When I applied for this programme, I did not even know that this was an option, but I was so glad to be honoured with the chance to study in a country where my target language was being spoken. This experience has provided me with invaluable insight as I wanted to become a teacher and, for me, it was important to have first-hand experience about the field I want to teach. On this exchange trip, I was able to take classes that even were not offered at Tartu for example, classes about Middle High German.
So, when people ask, “Why German in Estonia” hopefully, it makes more sense why anyone would want to study any language at the University of Tartu in the European Languages and Cultures programme. While my specific language was German, there are also English, French, Russian, Scandinavian, Spanish, and Classical philology fields under this programme as well. If this programme sounds like a good fit for you, I highly recommend checking it out.
Photos by :Maria Sherikh
Leave a Reply