Of all the things to consider when moving to Germany, learning business German is likely not high on the list. Between moving into a new apartment, registering for all the services you need just to live your life, and getting settled into a new place, spending several hours a day studying vocabulary is likely to fall further and further down the list.
I have seen this issue arise countless times with my coaching clients. Yes, it is completely possible to find work in Germany in English. However, if your goal is to obtain a stable contract with a German company, you will greatly increase your chances by sprucing up your language skills. Beyond work, knowing the language will make your day-to-day life much easier.
You may already be working on your language skills with an app, or perhaps you even signed up for some local language courses. Both options can work for different people and for different purposes, but neither will offer you tailored preparation for the type of language you will need on the job.
My advice: create a sustainable learning system that centers language learning around what you will need for work and professional purposes. You are not ignoring or glossing over typical language learning, but rather complementing it with learning experiences, exercises, and tools that will help you polish your professional language skills. This is possible once you have reached the A2 level.
To get started, in my German for Work system there are three key steps I recommend:
1) Identify the foundational learning tool,
2) Identify a professional learning tool (or two!), and
3) Decide on a time-incremented format.
A foundational tool would be a language course, for example. A professional learning tool moves your learning in a targeted direction.
I recommend learning business German for professional purposes from day one. It’s much easier to become versed in informal conversational German later than the other way around. A selection of the resources I used to improve my professional German listed here should get you started.
Create your own business German phrase bank
The German language uses and reuses similar phrases and sayings, including in work and professional spaces. These are called Textbaussteine – and they are like magic! Once you learn them, you can integrate them into written and oral communication, which will increase your communication confidence.
Instead of just reading through a phrase bank, I recommend you compile phrases that fit how you want to express yourself professionally in German. Going through other phrasebooks and then creating your own list by writing down or typing up the ones that you want to use will help solidify them in your memory.
To get started with creating your own phrase bank, there are a few books I recommend you pull from. Bürokommunikation Deutsch offers phrases, templates, and vocabulary for a wide variety of office and business purposes. The phrases are downloadable in Word format which makes adding them to your own collection even easier. Kommunizieren im Beruf makes it just as easy: the book includes 1000 phrases related to work.
Finally, everyone who knows me knows how much I love DeutschPerfekt; it played a huge role in my own language development. In 2020, DeutschPerfekt compiled a special edition of all their work-related articles into a compilation Deutsch für den Beruf that has great phrases shown in context.
And a bonus tip: make sentences with the phrases and practice them out loud with a friend to ingrain the phrases into your long-term memory.
Maximize your use of subject dictionaries
Phrases and vocabulary may seem similar, but they require different learning processes. Whereas phrases need to be learned in whole/in conjunction with the context, you can learn vocabulary on your own. To increase your knowledge of professional German in your field, I recommend you use subject dictionaries to create vocabulary lists to learn from.
For many fields, special dictionaries exist such as this one for civil engineering offered in German, English, Spanish, and French. But such dictionaries are not just available for large fields. My industry – higher education – is rather niche, and yet, there is a special dictionary of higher education terminology. I used it front to back when I first started working to get a hang of the correct terms in German. I made flashcards and wrote out sentences for each word that a German friend would then check for accuracy. It may sound like a lot of work, but it paid off – nowadays I rarely come across a higher education term in German that is completely unfamiliar to me.
If there is not already a subject dictionary in your field, create your own! This can be especially important if terms in your field differ across countries. This can be as simple as a word document or even a journal you write in. Simply the process of writing down the words (and perhaps also an example sentence!) will help you retain the knowledge. The goal is to integrate work-related vocabulary into your learning process, which will be a constant reminder of your “why” behind learning German, and it will be immensely helpful once you are on the job in Germany!
If you are a researcher or a student in Germany, you should focus first on familiarizing yourself with academic German. The series Deutsch für das Studium is a great place to start. Another tool I recommend for this is UniCommDeutsch, an online resource designed to help students navigate open office hours with professors, write emails, plan oral presentations, and prepare for discussion groups in university seminars.
Make the most of German for Work online resources
While there are many options for learning German online, it is important to choose a professional learning tool that will push your work, professional, and/or subject-related learning forward. Many resources such as those about working in Germany from the Goethe Institute are great places to start.
For more in-depth training I highly recommend the Deutsch Uni Online (DUO) courses. On the platform, you can choose from subject-related German courses such as law, medicine, cultural studies, and even forestry. They also offer a general education course about business German and working in Germany, which could serve as an excellent primer for applying for jobs in Germany in German, getting prepared for the first 90 days, or even ahead of creating your own phrase bank or working with subject dictionaries.
You can use DUO courses for foundational learning, too. If you book the course without a tutor, it is relatively affordable, and if you do want that extra support, there are options to book with a tutor or even a more intensive course option with a tutor.
Regardless of the tools you end up choosing, if you are seeking study, research, or work opportunities in Germany, I have always recommended learning German for professional purposes from the start. Using these resources and tips will set you up for success by complementing traditional language learning with activities and exercises that expand your work-related vocabulary and communication skills.
