Business & Formal German - Elementary to Upper Intermediate

Welcome to my German Business Language Course!

Formal German is not only used at work but also when we make appointments, talk to service providers of all kinds, when we communicate with doctors, landlords/landladies, building managers, school/university staff and so on.

Formal German and business language is different from everyday language. How German business language is different from general German is one thing you will learn in this course. The other one is on which areas of the language & grammar you have to focus.

• We will look at the way people address each other in a formal context, at commonly used vocabulary and also more specific alternative vocabulary (e.g. more precise, more formal), phrases and expressions.

• I also included the grammatical structures that are predominantly and/or used for specific purposes in a formal context. You will get lectures with in-depth explanations, examples and exercises for the structure and function for these four grammar points specifically (in German with English text).

• For each lecture, there is a downloadable pdf-version of the lecture presentation slides. You can access it by clicking on the 'Resources' button of each lecture on the right side of the video player in the chapter/lecture overview.

• E-mail writing, presenting and talking on the phone are of course included.

• You will find some shorter vocabulary quizzes, exercises for the grammar, and at the end of the course, there is a test to check your understanding and knowledge of the entire course content.

Generally, on a solid A2 level this course should be manageable and in parts challenging, on level B1 it will definitely fill some gaps and include new material, and on B2 it should still contain plenty of new terms and phrases, though the structure and some vocabulary will be more for polishing up your knowledge.

With the exception of the grammar lectures, the explanations are in English because the course is aimed at a range of levels, including the ones that are usually not as far in understanding spoken language well enough to follow explanations in German.