German Language Story

Deutsche Welle brought this story up over the German language mandate for immigrants into Germany. 

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF)....says that in 2017....339,578 took the language classes to get the final visa...but only 289,751 did the final test itself, and from that group....only 48.7 percent passed the B1 standard required.  The first test in the cycle?  The A2 test?  Only 40-percent of folks passed this on the first go-around.

BAMF gives various reasons for this.  Some had illness episodes and missed classes.  Some were unprepared for the class environment. Others actually found work and that forced them out of the classes.  Some just moved on (meaning they left Germany).  BAMF also suggest trauma in this arrival into Germany, and a bit of shock.  Then they came to one suggestion....in that most have never had this type of class situation....in their original countries.

My son noted that in his German business group....the one or two occasions where they did pick up refugees who'd been through the system.....found continual trouble with the language and it made it difficult to utilize the individual. 

I've been through various classes, and will admit that German is a highly structured language and not something for the 'weak-of-heart'.  After a couple hundred hours in the classroom....you end up with a list of 'rules' that gets to being fairly long and in depth....where masculine, and feminine situations are not easily figured out (take the word 'sie' and try to figure if they are talking about a woman or a group, and then you realize only the verb will help you sort this mess out).

In this past class, I was a bit amazed at sickness or illness being used a good bit.  There were at least two individuals in the group who probably missed over 50-percent of the classes.  If you asked me over the odds of either passing the course with the final test?  It just isn't great odds.

With my A2 test deal....I got into the 75-to-80 range....mostly with a marginal 'brief' (letter) that you have to write.  I commented on this with my German-American son, who mostly grinned, and noted he hasn't written a real letter in ten years.  I suspect if you went to test the German population....around one-third would admit they just never write letters (preferring email correspondence instead).  In a way, it's a dying 'art'.

As for the implications here with the high failure rate?  Well...either they will lessen the test threshold, or have to add some additional study classes into the whole thing.  As for the sick-days?  I'm not sure what you can do about that problem.