Inside sprachschule.org: finding the right language school

German is the key to studying and everyday life in Germany. Without the language, lectures, official letters and evenings with your flatmates all stay equally hard — and as a rule you’ll need proof of your language level for university admission.

The trouble is, the language-course market is hard to navigate. Lots of schools, lots of course formats, prices from cheap to expensive, plus certificates with names like telc, TestDaF and DSH. If you’re new to all this, you often don’t even know what to search for.

That’s exactly the problem www.sprachschule.org solves — stop 2 on the arrimundo journey, the Language stop.

Background and mission

sprachschule.org is a free, independent information portal for finding and comparing language schools in Germany. It’s part of the arrimundo family: the site’s footer reads “A service by arrimundo”, and the mission is the same as for all our portals — making international education simpler, clearer and safer.

Neutral means: the portal doesn’t recommend the one “best” school. It gives you tools to compare for yourself — by the criteria that matter to you. That fits a principle you’ll find everywhere at arrimundo: you stay in control.

And because most of its users aren’t native German speakers, the site comes in ten language versions — from German and English through Spanish, French, Chinese, Russian, Turkish and Arabic to Korean and Hindi.

What you’ll find on the portal

The school directory

At the heart of the portal is a filterable directory with search and comparison features. The homepage counts 74 vetted schools across Germany, spread over 19 cities — with the biggest selection in Berlin and Munich, though Cologne, Düsseldorf, Stuttgart and Leipzig are well represented too. Among them are well-known names like the Goethe-Institut Munich and BAMF-approved schools such as acb lingua in Bonn.

You can filter by:

• Language — the focus is on German (DaF/DaZ — German as a foreign or second language), but the directory also covers English, Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese
• Level — every CEFR level from A1 to C2
• Federal state
• Teaching format — in person, online or hybrid
• Exam preparation — for telc, the Goethe certificates, TestDaF, DSH, IELTS or TOEFL, for example

You can sort the results by relevance, price, rating or distance. On top of that come eight course formats: general courses, intensive, evening and company courses, live online and hybrid courses, exam preparation and one-to-one tuition.

The guides

Alongside the directory there’s a guides section with more than 20 guides across six categories: certificates and exams, course types, city guides, funding and finances, quality and accreditation, and placement and levels. Typical questions answered there: What’s the difference between telc and Goethe? How do I apply for a Bildungsgutschein (education voucher)? What do the CEFR levels mean? And how does the language-course visa work?

Costs and funding — with real numbers

When it comes to money, the portal gets specific. The costs page gives price ranges instead of vague promises: private intensive courses run from €350 to €900 a month, evening and weekend courses from €120 to €350, one-to-one tuition from €35 to €80 an hour. Exam fees add another €80 to €220 on top.

Just as important: the funding options. The BAMF integration course costs €2.29 per lesson or is entirely free, and then there are the Bildungsgutschein, Bildungsurlaub (paid educational leave) and early-bird discounts of up to 15 per cent. And the overview thinks beyond the course itself — extra costs like health insurance and the blocked account are covered too.

Where this stop sits on the journey

The arrimundo journey has six stops, and Language is the second. Before it comes Orientation: on www.study-abroad.org you sort out where you want to study — which country, which university, which programme — more in our profile of study-abroad.org. Only once your destination is set do you know which language level you actually need.

After it comes stop 3, Funding: for your visa you’ll usually need a blocked account, and that’s what www.flexblocked.com takes care of — more in our profile of flexblocked.com. The fact that sprachschule.org’s costs page already lists the blocked account among the extra costs shows nicely how the stops interlock. You’ll find the complete sequence of all six stops in our roadmap of the journey.

What the portal won’t do for you — honestly

We also tell you what gets difficult or expensive. That applies here too:

• The learning is on you. No portal takes you from A1 to a level fit for university. That’s months of focused work — sprachschule.org helps you find the right setting for it, no more and no less.
• A good course costs money. €350 to €900 a month for an intensive course is a real investment. Funding options like the integration course or the Bildungsgutschein come with conditions attached — not everyone qualifies.
• Registration and the contract go through the school. The portal informs and compares; the placement test, course booking and payment are things you arrange directly with the school of your choice.
• You apply for the visa yourself. The guides explain the language-course visa, but they don’t replace the application at the embassy.
• The decision stays with you. Neutral means filters, numbers and guides instead of a ready-made recommendation. Which school fits is your call.

Your next step

If Language is your next stop, start with the directory: set your filters, shortlist two or three schools, compare prices and exam preparation. That’s exactly what www.sprachschule.org is built for.

And if you’re not yet sure where you stand on the journey right now, our homepage gives you an overview of all six stops.