校友与职业

切斯特英格

除了能流利地说另一门语言之外, 学习德语教会了我思考, 写, 说话更有创意，更清晰. 我已经能够发现和去更多的地方, 无论是字面上还是隐喻上, 因为我在皇冠体育学过德语. I feel more enlightened and intellectually capable because of the skills, 知识, and love of learning that the 德国 Department helped me to discover, 开发, 并在学院的四年中不断加深.

One pleasantly surprising practical way 德国 has benefited me recently is that my 知识 of the language has helped me to communicate and to connect with Kosovars when I cannot do so in English or Albanian. A considerable number of Kosovars speak 德国 because they have lived and worked in 德国-speaking countries before.

皇冠体育本

While Ben admits that most of his business contacts in Europe can speak English, he claims that “the true value I got from my 德国 studies [at Bowdoin] went beyond language.这个值, 他认为, had to do with learning about the historical and ideological contexts of the works he studied in 德国. “德国 at Bowdoin was about learning to think like the great 德国 thinkers of history and today, 语言是真正理解他们的工具.”

Ben highlights the interdisciplinary nature of the 德国 major and fondly remembered how it allowed him to research and 写 a successful honors project (with Birgit Tautz) that “put a cultural spin on the economic and geopolitical aspects of 19th-century Sino-德国 relations.”

“德国 was basically three majors in one: the 德国 language, 德国文学, 以及德国哲学对世界的看法.德语大调的后一个组成部分, 本认为, is the one that “helps me every day in my work: The ability to take on another’s perspective on something very complex. 当然，我可以不说话
德语，只要我愿意, but every day I need to see what I'm doing from the perspective of a software 开发er in Malaysia, 南非的销售人员, 或者是德国的商人
then take their interests to heart in the programs I'm building. My experience in the 德国 department at Bowdoin is what gave me the foundation I need to do this successfully.”

玛尔塔现在在做什么:

Marta is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in 社会学 at the 柏林自由大学 (柏林自由大学), 德国y and is working as a research assistant at the Communications Studies Institute at the University and as a research assistant at the Experts’ Council on 德国 Foundations for Integration and Migration. The latter position helps her to utilize both her Arabic and her 德国 language skills.

下面是玛尔塔的原话, discussing her current position and its role in the recent wave of migration to Europe from Arab countries:

“The research division of the interdisciplinary Experts' Council both supports the work of the Council and produces original research on many aspects of integration and migration in 德国y. I am an assistant in a qualitative study investigating the situation of refugees who are in the early stages of their asylum application. My most significant responsibility involves organizing and coordinating the interviews with asylum seekers from six different countries of origin, 居住在三个联邦州, 在城市和农村环境中. 除此之外, 我进行文献研究, compile information in several languages to hand out to refugees, 翻译报告, 协调旅游, transcribe interviews and undertake a wide variety of ad hoc tasks as they arise. It has been extremely rewarding to be able to direct my time and energy to a project that highlights the refugees' own voices by letting them speak about the successes and challenges of their first steps in 德国y. The job is fast-paced and sometimes linguistically demanding, 但我觉得我得到了团队的支持和赞赏. 最重要的是, knowing that the study's results will be used to form concrete proposals for political actors and other stakeholders to improve the lives of refugees in 德国y continues to motivate me to keep doing my best.”

As for how her study of 德国 at Bowdoin shaped her post-graduate life, Marta says:
“I literally owe my post-grad life to the Bowdoin 德国 Department!

大卫现在正在做什么:

At AlphaSights, I worked on over 80 cases spanning multiple countries and industries. Though most Analysts/Associates only work within their teams, I had the opportunity to engage with several teams across the firm as one of the only 德国 speakers in the office. 作为Associate角色的一部分, employees are required to engage industry experts to gather insights and market data, and having 德国 skills was essential for many manufacturing and healthcare related projects. 运用我的德语技能, I was able to engage experts and gather insights that would have otherwise been impossible to obtain.