C2 German level (2024)

I have been living in Germany for about 8 years now. Through that time, I have worked using many languages, but rarely German. That eventually became a problem.

You see, most of my professional career is based on customer facing experiences. This has worked wonders for me and saw me moving through the levels until reaching a Senior Solutions Consultant position, starting from Technical Support, in something like 4 years.

But then IT layoffs came, and I find myself now in Germany, fighting for the few open positions that for the most part have now to do with the DACH market. You might fail to see the problem yet. I mean, after 8 years and obtaining the nationality, surely working in German is not a big ask. The thing is, it isn’t for me, but it seems to be for the companies and their clients.

Most offers out there rule you out by listing “native German language” or “C2 German level” in their requirements. I rarely get contacted for anything linked to the DACH market and if I do, I often do not make it past the first round. Curiously enough, it is uncommon that the first-round interview is done in German.

The solution might seem obvious: Go learn some more German. But it is here where the problem lies. You see, most languages in the European scale go from levels A1 to C2. As in, you do level A1, then A2 and so on. Depending on the language, those level might divide in 2, as in A1.1, A1,2, and so on. German is so particularly difficult that is has 2 sub levels per level but also has a full level called “preparation for B2”. This essentially means that even if you follow an intensive type of course, you will need no less than six months full time study to reach that “C2 German level”.

Let’s think about that for a second. That is six months no salary, just studying or working half time (intensive is 4 hours a day, usually). Typically, each level (as in A1.1) costs over 600 euros (although the government might help you out a bit depending on your situation).This might look ok in certain situations but if you need to generate income, are alone or have a family, it becomes complicated.

The result is, you either never quite get a good level or you do but you gain it via working in German. And here we do full circle. If you cannot get a job in German, you hit a wall. You could for sure start by doing small jobs but that is fine when you are 20 something, much more of a problem later on.

By some accounts, Germany needs 400 000 skilled immigrants a year to maintain its economy. Germany needs this people to start working immediately, not it 6 months or so. To Germany’s credit, there are some programs out there that bring professionals into the country, put them to work and help them with the language and about anything else but this is not the rule and such programs don’t address the people that are already here and could work if it wasn’t for the language problem.

I see two options: Germany can accept that German is hard (and I can understand why that might be a phrase that does not bring joy) and set up ambitious plans to allow for the learning of the language (I personally think it should be free) or, Germany can consider establishing English as a second official language (which was already proposed by some politicians out there). Or perhaps a mix of both.

As you may have guessed by now, this article is not about me. It’s about a country that seems to be sleepwalking into a crisis or that is perhaps already in the mist of it. It is also a country that has all the tools to solve the issue. What do you think? Can you think of other approaches to this problematic?

PS: Too my surprise, German companies that post jobs in German, seem less worried about your level of German. Interesting.