German for Reading Knowledge

Learn how to read German-language texts at an advanced level.

Independent learning course

Enroll now in UW-Independent Learning German 391, which you can take from anywhere in the world at your own schedule for transferable college credit. Learn how to read German-language texts with the aid of a dictionary. This thorough but compact approach to reading is designed for beginners as well as for students with previous exposure to German who wish to review grammar and enhance their reading skills. In seventeen translation assignments you proceed from very basic grammar to the complex sentence structures characteristic of journalistic, technical, and scholarly writing.

You submit your assignments by e-mail or postal mail. Your instructor provides detailed feedback on your translations and lets you know of patterns of errors to concentrate on. Additional learning resources are made available to you on the course web site. This course is taught by Dr. Alan Ng, who holds a PhD in German literature from UW-Madison and began working as a technical translator in 1991.

For current registration, tuition, and materials information, please consult the online UW-Extension Independent Learning catalog. You may register or request further information at that Web site or by toll-free phone: 1-877-895-3276.

On-campus summer course (noncredit)

Every summer you can work on your German-language reading ability in a classroom setting on the beautiful UW-Madison campus. Learn to read German for purposes such as graduate-school requirements or genealogical research. This 31-hour course includes a complete grammar study and lively classroom translation practice, and has successfully prepared many students for the German Reading Knowledge Exam. The textbook for this course is Herbert Jannach, German for Reading Knowledge,6th ed. This noncredit course is quite affordable for graduate-student budgets. For schedule and registration information consult the Division of Continuing Studies course catalog.

On-campus semester courses (credit)

If you are an enrolled degree student at UW-Madison, you may also consider taking German 391 and German 392 from the UW-Madison German Department during regular semester schedules. For more information on those courses, please consult the UW-Madison Department of German.

Learn about the Graduate school examination

Learn about the Graduate school examination.

How to register

Call 608-262-2451, 7:00 am-4:00 pm, M-F. Specific program numbers and links to the mail-in registration form or to register online can be found in the continuing education catalog.

Contact information

If this Web page does not answer all of your questions about UW-Madison's German for Reading Knowledge program, feel free to contact us:

Thank you for your interest in learning German! Wir wünschen Ihnen viel Erfolg dabei!