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I have been told that I have to complete my b1 German certificate within a year. I am Australian and I am newly married in Germany and living here now.

I only speak very very basic German as I have only been here for 2 months. My question is how long does it take to complete and take the test for a b1 certificate and how much does it cost?? Thank you.

Maz
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    I am not a 100% sure if this question is on-topic here, since the site is more or less addressing concrete problems with German language as far I understood it. Also "... how long does it take to complete ..." seems to be more or less opinion based. – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 17:26
  • Possible duplicate of How to study for certificate B1 exam? – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 17:48
  • Married to a German, for getting an Aufenthaltsgenehmigung, you need just A1. Not B1!. – Janka Jun 21 '18 at 18:18
  • @Janka So A1 is less restrictive, other than the numbering suggests? – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 18:29
  • @πάνταῥεῖ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_European_Framework_of_Reference_for_Languages – Carsten S Jun 21 '18 at 18:41
  • A1 is the lowest certificate you could get, it's basically reading common signage, understanding restaurant menus, doing the groceries, telling and understanding numbers and the clock. It's the first 6 months of learning German. – Janka Jun 21 '18 at 19:08
  • @Janka I can't help, for me A1 designates the top, top quality, experience and fluency. This classification is just weird and misleading. – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 19:14
  • Do you read books backwards? – Janka Jun 21 '18 at 19:18
  • @Janka "understanding restaurant menus" LOL! Even Germans don't understand all of them properly, we've got a lot Intl. restaurants, and not every menu has a proper translation to German in 1st place. – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 19:18
  • @Janka "Do you read books backwards?" No. But A1 usually stands for the top, not for the "backend". – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 19:19
  • This isn't a grade but a certificate which level you completed. You complete the first level first. – Janka Jun 21 '18 at 19:21
  • Anyways, does someone have definite input and an unbiased answer for that question beyond the proposed dupe? – πάντα ῥεῖ Jun 21 '18 at 19:31
  • Beware, A1 is harder as you would think, it is NOT a pseudo-exam! Furthermore, exams tend to check grammar skills, like if German would be Latinic, thus it is quite possible that you can talk with any German about anything, and you fail a B2! A native speaker with zero high school knowledge couldn't for sure pass a C2 exam! You can't survive without learning, go to a course ASAP! Best if you buy hours from a private teacher! Yeah, and bonus feature: German teachers in Germany are - of course - very good in German, but not so in teaching! – peterh Jun 22 '18 at 05:57
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    @Janka Where does everybody get the idea that the OP needs A1? There could be many reasons why OP has to take B1, e. g. work. And, gasp, maybe OP is not married to a German? – Philipp Jun 22 '18 at 06:40
  • Please, look at the couple of questions the OP asked at Expats SE. – Janka Jun 22 '18 at 08:33
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    I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because of the couple of related questions already asked by the very same user on Expats SE. – Janka Jun 22 '18 at 08:36

2 Answers2

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This will depend on several factors:

  • your age and overall capability of learning new languages
  • your history of studying foreign languages
  • whether you are taking classes or not
  • if you do take classes:
    • the type of the class
    • how many hours per week
    • for how many weeks
    • the quality of the school (but less than one would think)
  • how much time you can devote to study outside of class
  • and, very importantly, how strongly you expose yourself to the language:
    • whether you have German friends and colleagues
    • whether you make an effort to speak German in situations where you could get by with English
    • whether you read German literature (simple, of course) or watch and listen to German TV / News / other media

There are many more factors, but this should be enough to show you how it is impossible to give you a definite answer.

That being said:

B1 is defined in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages as (Wikipedia) »Threshold or intermediate«, and the following qualifications are required to pass the exams:

  • Can understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc.
  • Can deal with most situations likely to arise while travelling in an area where the language is spoken.
  • Can produce simple connected text on topics that are familiar or of personal interest.
  • Can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.

The media portal Deutsche Welle estimates that 300 to 400 hours of study are needed to attain these capabilities. If you attended a course with 4 hours of class per day, four times a week (that’s a normal workload for someone who wants to learn a language fast in a foreign country), you’d study 16 hours per week, so 20 weeks of class should easily get you to point where you can take the exam.

In my personal experience with fugitives from Arabic countries, I can say that some people are much faster and some require more time, but B1 should definitely be attainable within one year!

To estimate the cost for all of this, you should find a language school near your location and ask them directly: this is very hard to tell since the rates vary from school to school, and we can't possibly tell how many hours of class you need to take. Also, better learning conditions like private lessons or small groups will make it more expensive. Just to give you a ballpark figure: the language school Colon in Hamburg charges 510 Euro per month for an intensive course (5 hours a day, five days per week), and they say it takes about 7.5 months of this particular class to reach B1 or ten months to reach B2. They are among the more expensive schools, but you can do the math.

Philipp
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  • I am applying for a Aufenthaltsgenehmigung why do I need a B1 certificate I thought I needed a A1. I dont understand. I will be keeping my Australian citizen just want a Aufenthaltsgenehmigung to live here with my husband.

    Please help do I call them and explain this becuase she has asked for the B1 do be completed and shown within the year.

     – Maz Jun 22 '18 at 07:49
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    @Maz In my answer I have addressed your question about the process of learning the German language and its cost as best as I can without knowing your specific circumstances. For your follow-up question in your comment, I suggest you do two things: 1. Read this website (in English): http://www.bamf.de/EN/Willkommen/Aufenthalt/WichtigeInformationen/wichtigeinformationen-node.html;jsessionid=B2D0A7BCD9D2673AA73B6E14EC33D19E.2_cid368 and 2. Ask for support at the Expatriate StackExchange (https://expatriates.stackexchange.com/). On German SE (here), we only deal with language-related questions. – Philipp Jun 22 '18 at 08:08
  • Speaking of "schools" to help you learn German: your first choice could be your local Volkshochschule. These are municipal adult education centres, about 900 of them in Germany, that's in every city of some size. Courses there are usually cheap(er), not because they are bad but because Volkshochschulen usually are partially publicly co-funded. – Christian Geiselmann Jun 22 '18 at 12:36
  • Why do you consider "age" a factor so important to put it at the very top of your otherwise very thoughtful list? It is an old myth that people lose the ability to learn when they grow up or get older. I propose a different view: A well-maintained adult brain has much higher capability to learn, because it has a lot of "data points" (or how ever you want to call it) to connect to, so new knowledge and skills can be imbedded in the existing network. – Christian Geiselmann Jun 22 '18 at 12:45
  • @ChristianGeiselmann That's why I didn't use a numeric list but bullet points: I didn't intend to create a hierarchy. I know that people with the capability of abstraction have advantages over very young learners (they can grasp grammar, etc.) but at the same time, all their thinking is done in another language. But your right, when I get home, I'll glance over my notes from my ChaF classes again for a refresh. – Philipp Jun 22 '18 at 12:53
  • @ChristianGeiselmann Also, do you mind if I integrate your comment about the VHS into my answer? I thought they only offer spare time classes like "Spanish A2,once a week". Didn't know they also specifically address nonnatives with full-time German courses. – Philipp Jun 22 '18 at 12:59
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If you are learning intensively (all the day), you can pass a B1 between 3 month and a half year. But it will be very costly (mainly, because you can't work).

Private teachers are costly, but simple native speakers, mainly students, you can find very cheaply (<10 EUR/hr). If money is important, sign to a German course, there are lot organized by the government (google for: "volkshochschule").

  1. Beware, A1 is harder as you would think, it is NOT a pseudo-exam.
  2. Furthermore, exams tend to check grammar skills, like if German would be Latinic, thus it is quite possible that you can talk with any German about anything, and you fail a B2. It is also possible but you pass a B2 and you can't really communicate with native speakers (this was my case some years ago, he-he)
  3. A native speaker with zero high school knowledge couldn't for sure pass a C2 exam.
  4. You can't survive without learning, go to a course ASAP! Best if you buy hours from a private teacher.
  5. Yeah, and bonus feature: German teachers in Germany are - of course - very good in German, but not so in teaching! This is because teaching German (as native speaker + language teacher diplom) is a quite different skill than teaching German, as native speaker of language X, to native speakers of language X! Thus, paying a German teacher over Skype from your home country (or with your native language), while you live inside Germany, is not a for sure bad idea.
  6. German teachers, talking with you, can say with good certainity, if you have a good chance to pass an exam on any level. Native German speakers can't. And you won't waste money, so learn until they don't say, it is enough.
  7. The current German society is on the way to integrate 1.5million people with far lesser German skills as you, it is very unlikely that you would be sent back to Australia. But you won't have problems with the society, and you want integrate well, so take care and learn.

P.s. if you are working daily with computers, then switch your PC to all-German now. 3 months long you will be nearly incapable to work and do anything. It will be like jumping into cold water. You won't find the characters on your keyboard, you won't understand the easiest terminology (f.e. "save" = "speichern"), but after that you will be good...

peterh
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    And: OP’s question is: »My question is how long does it take to complete and take the test for a b1 certificate and how much does it cost?« I don’t see how that is answered in your post. – Philipp Jun 22 '18 at 06:42