Learn German in Berlin, Germany

Engaging with a country’s culture is one of the most important and beneficial ways to develop your language skills. Culture and language are intimately related. A few weeks in a foreign land lifts language learning out of the stale confines of the classroom and gives it a new sense of immediacy and vitality. A chance to speak the language in an exciting new environment can be really rewarding and satisfying. Learning German in Germany provides the context for what can otherwise seem a distant and complex language. When here, you can see the language in action in everyday life, functioning down to a very basic level. As we say here in Germany: “Übung macht den Meister!” - “Practice makes perfect”.  What is more: as you will come to see, language learning can be a fun and liberating experience!

If you would like to read more on what Berlin has to offer, please go to Background.

Here in the Akademie, we believe that human contact is of foremost importance when learning a language, so we always try to keep the class sizes small. We provide a wide number of classes at all levels, so that you will be placed with the right group of people. This is important for us, so that we can gauge the correct pace and level at which to direct our teaching, but also, we hope, it will help you to feel comfortable with a group of people with similar experience and with a view to the same goals.

All our teachers are experienced and motivated. Most of all we aim to be approachable. Productive learning is best built upon on a direct, easy-going and friendly relationship with your teacher.

The school is very international and has a cosmopolitan atmosphere. You are welcome wherever you come from. We think it is important to have a wide variety of nationalities coming into our school, so you will feel included whatever your place of origin. Coming here is a great opportunity to mix with people from all across the world, expand your horizons, and perhaps even make some contacts that you will cherish for ever.

We expect you will be able to go away from Berlin, not only having mastered your German, but also with a real sense of having gained an invaluable and highly memorable experience for life! Studying languages abroad is as much about what you learn outside the classroom as what you learn from your textbooks.

We prepare you for the following exams:

DSH

DSH stands for "Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang ausländischer Studienbewerber" (German language exam for foreign students applying to a German university).

Freie Universität Berlin (FU), Humboldt Universität Zu Berlin (HU), Technische Universität Berlin (Technical University of Berlin - TUB), Universität Der Künste Berlin (Berlin University of the Arts - UDK), Universität Potsdam (University of Potsdam), German Language Proficiency Exam; only for foreign students applying to a German university!

Test DaF

German as a Foreign Language Test
All areas of study for prospective University students.

* Please bring a valid ID card or passport to the exam.  Before registering for an exam, we recommend taking a free test to determine entry level.
** For students of the Akademie.

If you need a visa

You pay a deposit of €75 as confirmation of admission (reservation of a place on a German course) and future attendance at one of our intensive German courses. The remaining sum is to be paid on the day the course begins.

If you want to extend your visa

A regular enrolment (registration) for one of our intensive German courses (20 hours a week), at a minimum cost of €305, must be paid.

Our language school, the Akademie für Fremdsprachen GmbH works together with Care Concept, an insurance company which offers both students of foreign languages and foreign students health, accident, and third-party insurance at very reasonable rates. You can take out insurance here. 

For more information about our appartments, please refer to our Accommodation page.

The more students that study together in a class, the less time the teacher has to cater to the individual needs of each student.  Therefore, we attach value to medium sized classes and limit each one to a maximum of twelve students.  This is excellent compared to other language schools in Berlin.

If you want to study in an even smaller group, you´ll find an suitable offer set aside, by going to Minigruppen (mini groups).  In our Einzelunterricht  (one to one teaching), the student is taught by a teacher, who is, of course, a native speaker and in the shortest possible time this leads to  the success in studying that would be unachievable in any other learning environment.  We structure the classes around the student, particularly in regard to previous knowledge, learning targets, applications and of course, the time and place of teaching.