It may seem like an obvious question, but having never been to Germany I wouldn’t know. What is the most ‘native’ (for lack of a better word) way of saying computer science as in a school subject. My teacher says either:
Computer-Studien
Computer-Wissenschaft
But I have also seen:
Informatik (which I thought to be Information Technology )
What is the more ‘German’ way of saying this?
To the best of my knowledge, Informatik would be the correct term. It translates more closely to science of information than information technology.
This is also how google translates the word and what the German version of the "computer science" wikipedia page returns: http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Informatik
Just to emphasize on what has been said before: Informatik is the subject that is taught at German Universities, normally consisting of algorithms, data structures, software design paradigms, software engineering, databases, expert systems, data communication, operating systems, formal languages + automata, complexity, compiler construction, etc.
When you are looking for a software designer in Germany you would be looking for a Informatiker or Diplom-Informatiker.
Some funny people, especially journalists, seem to actually start using the word Computerwissenschaften when translating Computer Science into German. I doesn't have a well defined meaning in German.
Further, since computers became a hype, people like to jump on the Informatik train, therefore you have things like Fach-Informatik (Fach-Informatik is to Informatik what a mechanic is to a mechanical engineer), and Informationstechnologie (which is often more electrical engineering plus software engineering). I claim neither is what you call Computer Science.
Actually, "Computer-Studien" is downright wrong1, "Computer-Wissenschaften" is weird and would only be acceptable if it's not hyphenated ("Computerwissenschaft").
The correct term for general usage is "Informatik", "Computerwissenschaft" is also appropriate in an academic context. I suggest you inform your German teacher about this.
1 wrong in the sense that its meaning is entirely different. "Computer-Studien" would mean something like: studies or surveys that are concerned with computers.
As a native german speaker: "Informatik" is definitely the most native expression, used from school projects to university-level education.
In school the subject has different names depending on the state. Examples are TC (Technik/Computer) in Saxony (Lehrplan Sachsen) and Informatik (Lehrplan Bayern) in Bavaria.
As explained in other answers, "Informatik" is the only term used in universities and by professionals. Journalists tend to use "Computerwissenschaft" as a literal translation of "computer science." As journalists tend to be more influential on everyday language than computer scientists, it's possible that the latter term gains more widespread usage in the coming years.
A related term is "engineer", which in English also includes e.g. software engineers. In Germany "Ingenieur" is a term protected by law that applies to e.g. electrical or mechanical engineering, but never to "computer engineering." The English term "engineer" has a much broader meaning and is not directly translatable. Somebody who has studied computer science and works in the computer industry might call themselves "Informatiker" or "Softwareentwickler", but never "Softwareingenieur" or "Ingenieur"; that might even be a criminal offense unless they actually have a degree in engineering. It goes without saying that this distinction is generally neglected by journalists as well; for them, the people working at Facebook are also "Ingenieure."
I can sign all of the above, that picked Informatik. As a native speaker maybe it is not semantically the best word, but it certainly is the one being well spread and understood by the general public
