Do I Need German to Study in Germany (in English)?

People asking this are usually asking three questions at once and getting one muddled answer. Do I need German to be admitted? To live there? To get hired afterwards? The answers are no, a little, and yes, in that order, and the third one is the one that decides how your two years go.

Admission: no German needed for 2,400 courses

German universities, public and private, run more than 2,400 English-taught programs, concentrated in engineering, computer science, data science, business, finance and the life sciences. What replaces German is proof of English: typically IELTS Academic 6.5 overall or TOEFL iBT about 88 to 90. Some programmes accept less, and the competitive ones ask 7.0 or more. Our list of English-taught programmes and the fields they cluster in is the place to start a shortlist.

Hiring: this is the part that matters

English-only jobs exist and there are more of them every year, mostly in IT and at international firms in Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt. The rest of the German job market runs in German. For engineering and technical roles at German companies, B1 opens doors and B2 changes the outcome of a search rather than just improving your odds. A two-year master's leaves plenty of room for a weekly course, which is exactly what the students who end up employed here tend to have done. Werkstudent roles are the cheapest way to test your German in a workplace, and our guide to student work rules and where the jobs are covers how to find one.

Daily life: A2 is the practical floor

You can survive the first months on very little. Registration offices, banks and most shops in the student cities will switch to English, and your campus will be full of people doing the same thing you are. German administration, though, is conducted in German. Every letter you receive will be in German, including the ones you cannot ignore. A1 to A2 is enough to read a letter, set up utilities and hold a conversation with a landlord, and it is a realistic target before you fly.

English-taught on the page, German in the lab

Some programmes advertise as English-taught and still expect German somewhere: a mandatory internship, a lab rotation, a clinical placement. Vocational and community-linked courses are the usual offenders. Read the language requirements on the university's own programme page rather than the aggregator listing, and if a certificate turns out to be needed, compare which German exam universities accept before you book a test.

What the visa asks about language

For an English-taught programme, no German certificate goes into the student visa file. Your admission letter and English proof do the work, alongside the blocked account and health insurance. That changes the moment you switch to a German-taught programme or a German-taught job, which is a good argument for learning it anyway rather than only when you are forced to.

A German plan that fits around a master's

• Before you arrive: reach A1, ideally A2. It covers the arrival admin and it shows intent.
• During your degree: take a semester course up to B1, then B2 if a German workplace is the goal.
• If you want to switch to German-taught study: target TestDaF or DSH at C1 with a recognised certificate.

Sources

• DAAD - Requirements
• Study in Germany - Language requirements
• KMK - German language examinations

Want to arrive with the language already started? Take our A1 to B2 German course while you apply, or get a free profile evaluation to see which programmes accept your profile as it stands.