If you are hoping to study German during the summer of 2017 and cannot be in a physical classroom, consider the following program (s).
I know both Thorsten Moritz and Ron Ditmars and recommend them both. See their websites below:
Thorsten Moritz
http://theologicalgerman.com
I’m a theology professor in the US and a native German speaker. Every year (June/July) I teach basic and theological German annually at Luther Seminary for students in the Minneapolis area. Occasionally I teach those courses to students elsewhere by Premium Skype with multiple video users. I have the subscription, so other participants don’t need Premium, just the ‘Free Basic’ version 5.1. For basic German, I typically use a combination of Wilson’s book and my own 40-page mini-grammar – which is cross-referenced with Wilson’s page numbers – that I make available to students. For the theological German classes ‘proper’ we have to use Ziefle – unfortunately there is nothing else available that meets the needs. But Ziefle needs A LOT of explaining and correcting. With a Skype based course on that we would basically walk through Ziefle’s secondary literature portions (his part 2) and translate/explain/correct as we go. BTW, Wilson also makes some ‘non-native speaker mistakes’, but not very many. It’s a pretty good book. If anyone is interested in me offering either of these courses online again this summer, please contact me at
http://theologicalgerman.com Alternatively, if anyone is interested in the face-to-face classes at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, check out
http://theologicalgerman.com Thanks!
Ron Ditmars
Date: Mon, Dec 18, 2017 at 12:23 PM
Subject: Erasmus Academy German course announcements
Dear Andy,
Thank you so much for including my German course announcements among your listing
of opportunities for learning the language over the past few years. A number of students find their way to the Erasmus Academy
through your listing.
This spring I am offering for the first time a conversational German course. It starts from the beginning, and
is not an intensive course. But it is also designed for graduate students who have taken the rapid reading German
course and now desire to learn how to use the language actively, that is, to apply in real life situations what they
have in the past learned in a reading and translation course.
I would greatly appreciate it if you could list both the “Conversational German I” and the normal summer German intensive
course, the course descriptions of which I am attaching.
Cordially,
Ron Ditmars
Download German.C.Desc.2018
Download German.Conversational18.Flyer.r
Download Flyer.18..EB Special.3.1.18
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Erasmus Academy Twenty-Τhird Annual Summer
Language Program Online
LEARN FRENCH, GERMAN, SPANISH, LATIN, CLASSICAL GREEK, SANSKRIT, NT GREEK,
OR BIBLICAL HEBREW May 21 – July 12, 2018
Prepare for the Language Proficiency Exams
▪ Rapid Reading Courses: Emphasis on Reading and Translating.
▪ For all Graduate Students in the Arts & Sciences, or for any motivated college or high school student, or other adult.
▪ Online courses in “real time.” Students log on at specific times and interact directly with the Instructor and other students. Take from any location or from home. One year of college language instruction in 8 weeks. Access to the Internet required.
▪ Intensive Courses. No previous language knowledge required. Time commitment: 30 hrs/week, presuming 4 hours of outside prep for every hour in class.
▪ Meetings: Mon. /Thurs., 6:15 pm –9:15 pm EST
▪ 8 Weeks: 48 hours of instruction approximate 4 semester hours.
▪ High success rate. Instructors experienced in rapid reading courses. Early registration recommended due to space availability. Max class size: 20.
▪ Early Bird Registration Option: full payment by 3/1/2018 (total fee: $850)
Course Fee: $950
Application Deadline: May 1, 2018
For information, write/call the Instructor of the respective language, found at:
www.erasmusacademy.com
Or call or write the Office at 718-499-0077 erasmusacademyslp@gmail.com
Latin – Dr. D. Ben DeSmidt
Dr. DeSmidt is Associate Professor of Classics at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he
has taught Latin and Greek languages and literatures for eleven years, and is the chair of the Classics Department. His B.A. is from the University of Chicago; he graduated with the Ph.D. in Classics from Columbia University in 2006.
French – Mr. Fabien L. Rivière
Mr. Rivière, a native speaker of French, grew up in Toulouse, France. He received his BA in Modern Languages, Literatures and Civilizations (2004) and a MA in World Languages (2005) both from the University of Toulouse. Mr. Rivière serves as an Adjunct Professor of French and Global Studies at Ramapo College and a French teacher in the Goshen School District, NY.
German – Mr. Ron Ditmars
Mr. Ditmars did graduate work for six years at Freiburg University, Germany in classical and modern languages. He holds a Magister degree from that institution in modern German literature. He has a B.A. from Kenyon College, an M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary and a M. Phil from Union Seminary in NYC, where he directed its Summer Language Program and taught the intensive German course to graduate students for nine years.
New Testament Greek – (to be appointed by Dec. 15, 2017) Biblical Hebrew – Mr. Jim Wilson
Mr. Wilson is the Hebrew Teaching Fellow at Asbury Theological Seminary and a Ph.D. candidate in
the Old Testament. He has a BA (2007) in Biblical, Theological, and Classical Studies from the University of Evansville in Evansville, IN, and a MA in Biblical Studies from Asbury Theological Seminary (2014). He received the ICTHUS Award from Asbury Seminary for Old Testament Studies. He is competent in several Semitic languages, including Aramaic, Akkadian, and Northwest Semitic dialects; and has experience in New Testament studies, the Septuagint, and Classical Greek.
Spanish – Mr. William Andrews
Mr. Andrews received his BA in Spanish Languages and Literatures from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, VA. He is enrolled in the Ph.D. program at Chicago Theological Seminary and serves as the Spanish instructor for doctoral students, as well as for graduate students in the Hyde Park/Chicago cluster of schools, who are preparing for the proficiency exam. Will also worked as a translator at the US/Mexico border for more than a year.
Sanskrit – Dr. Bergljot Chiarucci
Dr. B.J. Chiarucci earned MA and PhD degrees from the University of California Berkeley in the
Department of South and Southeast Asian Studies. She spent the summer of 2004 in Heidelberg, Germany practicing spoken Sanskrit at Heidelberg University, and she spent several summers in India where she took further language courses in Sanskrit, Prakrit, and Tamil. At UC Berkeley, she taught in the Dept. of South and Southeast Asian Studies and in the Department of History of Art between
2005-2011. Her interests include Sanskrit literature, the history of yoga, and manuscript studies.
Classical Greek – Dr. Kristina Chew
Dr. Kristina Chew received her BA in Classics from Princeton University (1990) and her Ph.D. from Yale University in 1995. She has extensive teaching experience in Greek and Latin languages. She was an Assistant Professor of Classics at the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, MN (2001-2005) and Associate Professor of Classics at Saint Peter’s University, Jersey City, NJ (2005-2014). She is now an Instructor in the Department of Classics at Rutgers University.
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Erasmus Academy Summer Language Program
German for Reading Online Instructor: Ron Ditmars
May 21 – July 12, 2018 (8 weeks)
Purpose
This intensive course is designed for graduate students preparing to take the German proficiency exams for masters and PhD programs, and for any other college student, adult or motivated high school student desiring to read in the language. It provides a thorough presentation of German grammar and introduces the student to expository prose, with the emphasis on reading and translation. Developing writing and some conversation skills in German is also included. No previous knowledge of the language is required. The objective of the course, approximating a year of university instruction, is to bring the student to an intermediate reading level, enabling him or her to read modern scholarly articles in German.
Course Structure
As a distance learning course, students may take this class from any location or from the convenience of their home. They will need to have access to the Internet. The course meets in “real time” and participants are expected to attend all the scheduled sessions. Each student participates fully in each class by listening and speaking, translating and posing questions. Assignments are emailed to the Instructor. The 8-week course meets two times a week (Mondays and Thursdays), 6:00pm-9:30pm EST; it comprises 56 hours of instruction. Each 3½ hour session includes grammar, strategies for analyzing German sentences, vocabulary & verb review, translating from English into German, sight- reading, and quizzes. Presuming 5 hours of outside preparation for each hour in class, 42 hours (7+35) a week should be available for study. In the latter half of the course, participants have the opportunity of translating additional texts in their area of study, be it history, comparative literature, philosophy, classics, music theory, religious studies, art history, archaeology, etc. MP3 files, as a companion to the textbook, are provided as part of the course.
Required Texts (2)
Order from any major bookstore or used from Amazon or elsewhere: 1) Korb, Richard. German for Reading Knowledge, fifth edition (preferred), 2005, ISBN 1-4130-0370-2 or sixth edition, 2009. Heinle Cengage Learning; 2) Murutes, Harry. Easy Key to German Vocabulary. Canton, OH, 1995. ISBN 0-9648579-0-1. [Note: The Instructor will make Easy Key… available to students, if it can not be ordered.]
Background of Instructor
Mr. Ditmars did graduate work at Freiburg University, Germany for six years, in classical and modern languages. He holds a Magister degree from that institution in modern German literature. He directed the UTS Summer Language Program in New York City for ten years, during which he taught the Intensive German course each summer to graduate students from Columbia University, New York University, Jewish Theological
Seminary, Fordham University, etc. He has now taught the intensive German course online for the past eight summers.
Registration, Course Fee & Refund Policy
The fee for Summer German Online is $950, payable in full to the Erasmus Academy NY no later than May 1, 2018. To reserve a place in the course, an enrollment form and a non-refundable deposit of $75 must be submitted to the Admissions Office of the Erasmus Academy NY anytime between Nov. 1, 2017 and May 1, ’18. Early application is recommended due to space availability. The maximum number of students in this online course is 20. There is an “Early Bird” registration option; if full payment is made by March 1, 2018, the fee for the course is $850. Students may make payments and register online, at the website below. To complete the Enrollment Form, please download it, fill out, scan and return it by email attachment.
If, after the first two weeks of classes, a student wishes to discontinue the German course, a letter to this effect must be received by the Erasmus Academy Office by 4:00pm on Friday, June 1, 2018. Thereupon, a refund of $875 will be returned to the student ($775 for Early Bird registrants).
Registration Deadline: May 1, 2018
For information and enrollment form, write to: Erasmus Academy Admissions Office
320 7th Avenue #101
Brooklyn, New York 11215
Or contact Ron Ditmars. Tel: 718-499-0077
Email: erasmusacademyslp@gmail.com
You may register and make payments online:
www.erasmusacademy.com
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LEARN TO SPEAK GERMAN ONLINE
Wednesdays, 7:00-9:00 pm ET Jan. 24 – May 2, 2018
▪ Emphasis on Speaking the Language.
▪ For all College and Graduate Students, who may have had a German reading and translating course and now desire to use the language actively, or for any motivated high school student or other adult desiring speak in the language.
▪ Online course in “real time.” Students log on at specific times and interact directly with the Instructor. Access to the Internet required.
▪ No previous language knowledge required. For those without prior knowledge, the time commitment, including instruction, is 8-10 hrs/week; for students with a background in the language, approx. 4-6 hrs/week.
▪ Textbook: German Made Simple, A. Leitner. ISBN: 978-0-7679-1860-2.
Cost: $13.99. Further resources will be provided at no cost.
▪ 26 hrs. of instruction. During each 2-hr. session only German will be spoken, responding to the dialogues in the textbook. Goal: to cover the equivalent of ½ yr. of college German in terms of speaking ability. Instructor’s Background: 6 years of graduate study at a German university; 10 years of teaching the intensive German course to graduate students in NYC area, and 9 yrs. online.
▪ Limited Space Available: max. class size is 15. Early Bird registration option: full payment by Jan. 1, 2018 for a total fee of $375. Registration and payments may be made online, at the website below. Lenient refund policy: refund of $375 ($300 for EB registrants) if student withdraws within 2 weeks, by February 2, 2018. Details on Enrollment Form.
Course Fee: $450
Application Deadline: January 10, 2018
For information and application, contact the
Erasmus Academy Admissions Office
320 7th Avenue #101, Brooklyn, NY 11215 erasmusacademyslp@gmail.com tel. 718-499-0077
or visit www.erasmusacademy.com
Theological German: Advice and Resources Homepage
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What other online German reading or theological German courses do you know of?
Note from August 2021: This webpage was created in 2009 and has only been sporadically updated since then.
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