UCLA senior Yumeng Zhuang fell in love with physics and philosophy as a high school student in her native China. That passion led her to Albert Einstein and Immanuel Kant — and then to a desire to study German so she could read their works as originally written. But her parents weren’t thrilled, pushing her to perfect her English instead.
“They said German is not a useful language because not many people speak it,” said Zhuang, a physics major. “So I started self-studying it secretly.”
Derided as the study of “dead white men” by some, college European language and culture programs have seen better days. German, Italian, French — once dominant after two world wars sparked demand for fluency — gave way to the meteoric rise in Spanish and Asian languages, reflecting demographics and the global and cultural interests of 21st century students. The fastest-growing language these days at UCLA? Korean, a reflection of the K-pop culture.
Bucking national trends that have closed down many European language programs, UCLA is doubling down on its commitment to European studies by redefining it with a 2021 twist. Germanic, French, Italian and Scandinavian languages are being merged into a single department with a transcultural bent. Perspectives from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Central and South America — areas touched by Europe’s colonial legacies — will be injected into a new way of studying foreign language...
Full story at https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-02-08/ucla-european-studies-revamped-transcultural-approach
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