Is your German C1?

The Goethe Institut developed a testing system some years back to measure the level of competence in German. There is another parallel system used by the universities, which is supposedly also a good measure of competence, but I am less familiar with that.

Wherever you take German classes under the label Deutsch als Fremdsprache you will run into the competency levels set out by the Goethe Institut. You can see how they are laid out on their website (Goethe Insitut - Course levels).

I believe that mastery of a language is the most important part of feeling at home and that it will directly affect anyone's career. So, I would think that it would be in the best interest of the government to encourage foreigners to take as many courses as possible and become effective in German. However, that is not the philosophy, instead the focus is on getting people to a level where they can survive in the language, not excel. For example, the courses offered through the VHS only go through level C1 (the system goes to C2). I have gone though C1 and I would definitely not consider myself as having very good German grammar. Sure, I get along very well in conversation, but complex expressions and clean writing are out of my grasp.

I contrast this with my neighbor when I was a child. My neighbor moved to the US as a young adult from Germany. She took English courses at a local community college (similar to VHS, but more focused on general education). There she not only got to a level of strong competency, but she went beyond that. For years she worked as an executive secretary because her English was better than that of the majority of native speakers. That is what should be offered here in Germany.

I would like to see the state offer more language education and to go beyond the C2 level and give those who have the ambition the opportunity to succeed. There are further courses available to foreigners here, however they are only open to those who are pursuing a degree at a university. For foreigner, who is a professional, it is more important to get the language skills up that of their peers, rather than go after another degree.