Where to study languages in Germany for a degree

My 19 year old niece from the States wants to study languages at the university level here. She has completed one years of collage and is fluent in English, Spanish and Swedish. She has a Swedish passport as her father is Swedish. Will she get any credit for her year of college if she decides to stay and complete her education? What are the best schools and best university towns of study languages in Germany? I am thinking of Munich, Freiburg or Heidelberg? We live in Ludwigsburg and would like to have her close, but I can´t with a good conscience place her in Stuttgart. Does any one know when the registration deadlines are for next September?

Deadline is generally July 15th with almost all unis for Winter Semester (which starts in October, not September).

I'd recommend my home town of Freiburg :-)

Thanks Kato.

Munich, Freiburg and Heidelberg are definitely some of the most "prestigious" universities in Germany. Unfortunately, a lot of times the universities still feed of their reputation, but do not offer what they should. In Heidelberg things have gotten a little better since tuition was introduced, as more classes could be offered, but many are still overfilled. I doubt this situation is very different in all German universities, and one could hope that things will get a lot better now with tuition and with the new "system" (Heidelberg introduced BA/MA degrees for all majors last fall).

As far as I remember Munich's English / American Philology Department got ranked really well. Heidelberg offers a degree of "Übersetzen und Dolmetschen" (Translation and Interpretation). Does she want to study Philology (Literature and/or Linguistics) or Translation? Which languages? Does she speak any German? (If not, it would be a good idea to start taking classes right now because even if she studies Spanish, a lot of the classes will be held in German, at least that's the case at my university. She will also have to pass an exam to even get admitted to a public German university.)
Munich, Freiburg, and Heidelberg are very close to Stuttgart, particularly Heidelberg (45 minutes on the IC train), and it's a beautiful university town.

Here is a link to the university ranking that Die Zeit does (every year I think).
http://www.daad.de/deutschland/hochschulen...g/06543.en.html

Maybe that will be helpful.

That is most helpful Mariposa. As far I know she wants to go into translation work (maybe into politics/diplomacy later). She doesn´t speak any German, but she is very, very bright, can can learn languages quickly (she had to promise she would speak better than I do ). I want to have her in Munich, as we have a room for her there where she can stay. She could visit us on weekends. I sent her a link to this thread, so she will probably check in. All advice is deeply appreciated.

In that case, look at this site:
http://www.studienwahl.de/index.aspx?anzei...content_01.aspx (which is in German so maybe you can read it and tell your niece the gist of it).

You can also do a search for universities offering Translation as a major. As far as I know, Munich doesn't. It is not that common of a major, unlike Philology.
You could also look into Fachhochschulen (universities of applied sciences), for a degree in translation, that might be a good option too (and there seems to be a school in Munich offering that major).

Here are the results for degrees in "Übersetzen".

Land: Baden-Württemberg
Heidelberg Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg (Universität)
Konstanz Hochschule Konstanz Technik, Wirtschaft und Gestaltung (Fachhochschule)
Mannheim Hochschule Mannheim (Fachhochschule)
Stuttgart AKAD Fachhochschule Stuttgart (Fachhochschule)

Land: Bayern
München Hochschule für Angewandte Sprachen (Fachhochschule)
Würzburg Fachhochschule Würzburg-Schweinfurt (Fachhochschule)

Land: Hessen
Oestrich-Winkel European Business School (EBS) (Universität)
Wiesbaden European Business School (EBS) (Universität)

Land: Niedersachsen
Hildesheim Universität Hildesheim (Universität)

Land: Nordrhein-Westfalen
Bonn Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn (Universität)
Düsseldorf Heinrich-Heine-Universität Düsseldorf (Universität)
Köln Fachhochschule Köln University of Applied Sciences Cologne (Fachhochschule)

Land: Rheinland-Pfalz
Germersheim Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz (Universität)

Land: Saarland
Saarbrücken Universität des Saarlandes (Universität)

Land: Sachsen
Leipzig Universität Leipzig (Universität)
Leipzig AKAD Fachhochschule Leipzig (Fachhochschule)
Zittau Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz (FH) (Fachhochschule)
Zwickau Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau (FH) University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule)

Land: Sachsen-Anhalt
Magdeburg Hochschule Magdeburg-Stendal (FH) University of Applied Sciences (Fachhochschule)

Land: Schleswig-Holstein
Flensburg Universität Flensburg (Universität)
Flensburg Fachhochschule Flensburg (Fachhochschule)

Something else: in Heidelberg the semester does actually start in September. Classes start October 5th (this year). The deadline is still July 15th, though.

Here is an article (in German again, sorry) about Heidelberg's ranking: http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/rankings/ (Just saw that when I looked at the site.)

Here is info on what is asked of a student regarding German: http://www.uni-heidelberg.de/studium/inter...g/deutschk.html
It also mentions how to get credit for classes taken in other countries.

Bamberg as far as I remember cheapest place to study in Germany and in my book a wonderfull city

As an alternative to regular studies (with German as the main language for lectures, seminars and papers), your niece should also consider an International BA/MA program, taught in English or another language (DAAD is the official organization for academic exchange).

The summer school courses, e.g. at Heidelberg University, are probably also a good way of improving German language skills.

Bear in mind that she'll most likely have to pass a German test before being admitted at undergraduate level. This is certainly the case in Freiburg where I studied.

EDIT: just saw that this was mentioned already. Your niece would probably need a two semester minimum to pass this exam

Thanks to all for your help. She is looking into all the info you have supplied.

Afaik, that's because there are dedicated Dolmetscher-/Übersetzer-Schulen offering officially approved degrees in translation. These are vocational colleges set below Fachhochschulen in German Academia.

Usually specializing in certain fields, such as business, science or engineering terminology (for one language) - and only available in common languages for these fields, i.e. English, French or Spanish, depending on the school also more "exotic" stuff such as Italian, Russian or Japanese.

If you want to find out which courses of study are currently valued by the translation profession in Germany, you could contact the language services of places like the German Foreign Office, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of the Environment, the Bundestag, the European Patent Office or the German patent office, ask to speak to the boss and ask him/her which university courses have been attended by the best qualified translators they have recruited in recent years.