B1 Or Not A B1 – Go Soft On Your Candidate
With a number of students wanting to learn a foreign language, and an equal number of institutes mushrooming at every corner – it becomes a difficult choice to weed out the unsuitables from the rest of the crowd. Taking the specific scenario of German, and survival in Germany – it goes without saying that a minimum of a B1 (3 levels) is a must for anyone who intends to make Germany their base for a few years – be it for work or study. Despite many Universities offering courses entirely in English, I would still emphasise the importance of learning the language up to B1 – just so you will have more confidence and for easy transition when you actually get there.
What should you be able to do after 3 levels of German?
According to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) – a B1 student has :
“The ability to express oneself in a limited way in familiar situations...