• First phase lasting two semesters: 4 basic modules “Introduction to Indo-European Studies”, “Introduction to Germanic studies”, “Sanskrit I” and “Sanskrit II”. Fundamentals of comparative linguistics and Indo-Iranian studies
• Second phase lasting four semesters: 6 intermediate modules: “Indo-Iranian languages I and II”, “Further Indo-Iranian languages I and II”, “Reconstruction of Proto-Indo-European language I and II”; gaining further and more specialized subject knowledge in the intermediate modules
• 6th semester: Writing the Bachelor’s thesis (in the major subject Indo-European and Indo-Iranian Studies)

The following specialization options are available in the bachelor’s degree program in Indo-European and Indo-Iranian Studies:

• Indo-Iranian philology and linguistics
• Comparative Germanic linguistics
• Greek and Latin linguistics
• Hittite studies and Anatolian studies
• Celtic philology and linguistics
• Indo-European archelogy

• An interest in languages (in particular ancient languages such as Greek or Latin)
• An interest in the origin of words (etymology), names and idioms in languages (approaching languages like a detective)
• A general interest in how language works
• An interest in different writing systems (e.g. Greek alphabet, Cyrillic alphabet, Hittite cuneiform)
• A general interest in the cultural history of Indo-European peoples

• Students enjoy intensive support from teaching staff
• Course content tailored to students’ interests
• Assistance with coping with administration and bureaucratic hurdles and difficulties
• Friendly and welcoming atmosphere at the Institute
• Ideal working conditions in the Institute’s library
• Small class sizes
  

During your studies, you not only acquire language and cultural skills in one specialist area. You also learn to deal with various distantly related languages and are capable of analyzing, reconstructing and comparing the emergence and development of languages and cultures.

By exploring different languages, their texts, their history and their writing, you learn how to take a reflective approach to unfamiliar content and structures and acquire a high degree of mental flexibility, for example in transfer thinking. Apart from remaining in academia, Indo-Germanic specialists may make a career in one of the following fields:

• Publishing and libraries, for instance in combination with Book Studies
• PR work, cultural management, study trips
• International institutions
• Information processing
• Software development (language programs), e.g. in combination with computer linguistics or computer science
• Adult education including education for migrants
• Journalism, e.g. in combination with German Language and Literature

Possible combinations without overlaps

• Archaeological Sciences
• Art History
• Book Studies
• Business and Economics
• Chinese Studies
• Cultural History of Christianity
• Education
• English and American Studies
• French Studies
• German studies
• Greek Philology
• Islamic Religious Studies
• Latin Philology
• Medieval Latin and Neo-Latin
• Oriental Studies
• Political Science
• Scandinavian Studies (BA)
• Sociology
• Theater and Media Studies

With these subject combinations, there are generally no overlaps in the timetable.

Possible overlaps in the timetable

• Business and Economics
• Computational Linguistics
• Digital Humanities and Social Sciences
• Geography: Cultural Geography as a two subject Bachelor's degree program
• History
• Japanese Studies
• Philosophy

If you combine these subjects, individual courses may overlap in your timetable. For this reason, you can only combine the following subjects with your chosen subject after a consultation. Students are responsible for ensuring that the combination can be studied and that the deadlines set out in Section 11 of the ABMStPOPhil are met. When enrolling, proof of a corresponding consultation with the Central Student Advisory Service or the Student Service Center (Faculty of Humanities, Social Studies, and Theology) must be submitted.