Looking for some good German tunes to practice your language skills while rocking out? Check out these playlists from students in German 307 (spring 2021)! Warning: you're likely to catch an Ohrwurm!
In this conversation and translation course, we practiced German by listening to and talking about music. Much of the course material was chosen by students, as they discovered and shared German songs they love. We learned about the cultural impact of popular music and musicians, from Folk Songs to Diskursrock, from Kinderlieder to German Rap. The song lyrics we discussed also gave us a way to practice the science and art of translation.
You can get a taste of some of the songs we discussed and student translations on the class website: LIEDERCIRCUS '21. Some highlights:
- Class translation (literal and verse) of the Cabaret hit, "Der Revoluzzer" (Erich Mühsam, 1907)
- Mechanics of translation: "Crocodile Gena's Birthday Song" (Russian: 1967, German: 1987, English: 2021)
- Class translation of Nura's brand new release: "Auf der Suche" (April 2021)
We were also graced by a visit from Berlin-based Liedermacher Wolfgang Müller-Molenar, who spent an hour and half zooming in from Germany to chat with students. He played us some of his songs and discussed the lyrics with the class. He even gave an impromptu performance of the students' translation of his Sternbuschweg number, "Mach ich dich glücklich oder nicht?"