Special courses for individual needs

For everyone who can understand and read but stalls in conversation — a typical pattern from B1 onwards. A conversation course introduces hardly any new grammar; almost all the time goes into speaking. As the only course for beginners it does not work, because the structure is missing. It makes sense as a complement to an intensive course, or after one, so that what you have learned does not go dormant again.

A course for the vocabulary and the communication patterns of a particular occupational field — medicine and nursing, engineering, law or business, for example. It usually requires at least B1, often B2, because it builds on grammar you already have. For some professions it is not optional: in nursing, the recognition authorities of the federal states normally require B2, in some cases with a specialist language exam. Clarify what your profession demands before you book the course.

Private lessons cost several times as much per hour, but they are tailored entirely to you: your own pace, your own topics, flexible dates. They pay off when you have a clear goal with a deadline, or a level for which no group is currently running. The group course has one advantage that private lessons cannot replace — you hear and speak with people of different origins and speaking styles. Many people combine the two: a group as the basis, individual lessons for specific weaknesses.

If you want to be understood, yes. Pronunciation often decides intelligibility more than grammar does, and typical errors stem from your native language — they do not disappear on their own, because ordinary lessons leave hardly any time for them. A phonetics course works specifically on sounds, word stress and intonation. It is not a foundation in itself but a complement, and it works best from A2/B1, when there is enough language material to practise with.

As a main course, generally not. For the language course visa under § 16f AufenthG you have to show a course with at least 18 UE (Unterrichtseinheiten of 45 minutes) per week; conversation, grammar and phonetics courses are usually well below that and are designed as add-ons. If the visa is your goal, book an intensive course as the basis and add a special course where you need one.

Start from your bottleneck, not from the catalogue. If you understand everything but do not speak, you need conversation. If you want to settle into a job, you need professional language. If people constantly ask you to repeat yourself, you need phonetics. If you have a specific exam ahead of you, you need exam preparation rather than a general course. A good school asks exactly these questions in the consultation — and advises against a course when it does not fit.