Content

Learning German

To make you feel right at home in Biberach as quickly as possible, it is a good idea to become familiar with the German language. To this end, you can choose from a wide range of offers.

Learning German prior to arrival

The easiest way to do this is to start familiarising yourself with German before you arrive in Germany. Depending on what is offered in your home country, you can either take a German course offered locally or sign up for German courses on the Internet.

The Goethe-Institut offers on-site German courses in numerous countries. You can also take online courses from the Goethe-Institut. This gives you maximum flexibility by allowing you to arrange the learning content around your own schedule.

Goethe-Institut courses can be found here.

A dedicated language provider such as Babbel can also be a good option for building or expanding on your German language skills.

Yet another way to learn German in your home country is to take tandem courses. Here, two people with different native tongues meet up and teach each other the other person’s language. These meetings can take place either offline or online. Why not take a look right now to see if there are any tandem partners close by?


Integration courses

If you are already in Germany and are looking to improve your German or start learning the language, you can sign up for various language courses. The offering is varied and diverse. There are special courses for young individuals, women or very fast learners, for example. Whether you are eligible to attend or may even need to complete the course depends on your country of origin as well as your residence title.

Most language courses funded by the German government are what is known as integration courses. These always include an orientation course in addition to the actual language course. The orientation course covers German culture, rights and obligations as well as the rules of good coexistence. The language course comprises the majority of lessons and concludes with an exam. After you have successfully completed this course, you will be able to sufficiently communicate in German and understand German culture.

Here you will find an overview of integration courses in Germany

To learn more about the integration courses available in Biberach, click here.


German for work

Can you already make yourself understood in everyday life but are still having difficulties at work? Then a language course that prepares you for possible situations at work is just what you need.

You can only attend a German course for work if the job centre or Agentur für Arbeit (German employment office) has granted permission. Everyone who lives in Germany and is registered as being unemployed has a good chance for this. You can also acquire permission if you already have a work contract, however. The prerequisite for this is that you are in need of the additional language skills to be able to pursue your work in the future.

German courses for employment are offered by the Bundesamt für Migration und Flüchtlinge (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees), or BAMF. You can find additional information here.

 

German Language

  • People who speak German: Approx. 130 million worldwide
  • German is the official language in Germany, Austria and Liechtenstein. In Switzerland, Belgium and Luxembourg, German is one of the official languages.
  • In France, approximately 1.2 million people speak German, in the USA 1.4 million, in the Netherlands some 400,000 and in Italy 310,000. Many people in Namibia, Romania and Russia also speak German.
  • When you learn German, you are not alone: Approximately 15.4 million people worldwide are learning the German language.
  • In scientific circles, German is the second most important language.
  • The most common words in German are “der”, “die” and “das”. “in” and “und” take fourth and fifth places.
  • The letter "ß" only exists in German. It is pronounced as a “double s”.
  • The German language is famous for its long words. The longest German word entered in a dictionary is “Aufmerksamkeitsdefizithyperaktivitätsstörung” or “attention deficit hyperactivity disorder” and is also hyphenated as follows: “Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-Hyperaktivitätsstörung”. You can also append other words to extend the word as needed, e.g. “Aufmerksamkeitsdefizit-Hyperaktivitätsstörungsdiagnose” (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder diagnosis).