The preparation map
Your language path to arrival
A five-stage route from your present German to the conversations of your first weeks—without pretending every move follows one timetable.
01 · Place the destination
Begin with city, date and responsibilities, not a generic word count. List the people you may need to understand during week one: landlord, registration clerk, colleague, neighbour, cashier, doctor’s receptionist. Mark which exchanges are likely by telephone, in writing or face to face.
02 · Establish a useful baseline
A CEFR level can guide course choice, but preparation also asks whether you can catch a date, spell your surname and say that you did not understand. We observe these small capabilities and choose a manageable next stretch.
03 · Build weekly anchors
Use three repeating practices: short listening on commuting days, spoken rehearsal twice a week, and one reading task tied to relocation paperwork. The rhythm should survive packing, farewells and changing schedules.
04 · Rehearse friction
Practise the moment when a flat has already been taken, an official requests another document, or a colleague switches to English too quickly. Useful German includes asking for repetition, confirming a number and buying time to formulate an answer.
05 · Prepare the handover
Before departure, keep one page of essential phrases offline and choose a course or conversation setting for your first month. Arrival is not graduation. It is the point where planned language meets daily speech.