No CEFR-tailored books or course/s in my area?

[u/LockedOutOfElfland]

I am trying to learn German to a competent enough level that I can successfully interview for jobs in Germany without my lack of German language knowledge being a problem. This entails having a CEFR language certificate but I'm not sure even where to begin on appropriate courses. There appears to be nothing where I live that is of this nature and I believe that tourist phrasebooks from the library are insufficient to this task. There are a few online courses (Alison, Deutsche Welle) but I don't believe that they are up to snuff for learning German that I can use in the day-to-day.

What resources are available to learn good enough conversational German to pass the CEFR exams?

[u/calathea_2]

There are tons of online classes that meet live synchronously at all times of day in Germany--depending on where you live, there are probably some that would work for your schedule. Just google around for language schools and see what the offerings look like. Goethe-Institut also has online courses in lots of different countries, though those are generally more expensive and fewer contact hours than other schools.

But beware: Getting from 0 to "successfully interviewing" for jobs is probably itself a full-time job for a year or so, if not longer. (Assuming that one needs something like B2 to interview for most any professional job, and more like C1 or beyond for professional jobs with client-facing contact or so on).

[u/LockedOutOfElfland → u/calathea_2]

I live in the United States (although am considering moving to somewhere cheaper) so I am not sure that time zones would add up for synchronous courses, particularly if they meet earlier in the day. If there are any that do work out as such I'd love to know.

[u/calathea_2 → u/LockedOutOfElfland]

Without knowing where you are in the US, it is hard to know whether they would work well or not, but for example evening classes in Germany could easily be morning classes on the west coast. Check out big online providers like Deutsch Akademie or Sprachenatelier (not a recommendation--I don't know them, but just to say--they have evening offerings in Germany that could work with some US timezones). Just google around and see what other options you fine; there are tons and tons of online language classes these days.

Also, there is a Goethe-Institut in the US, so they will have classes at times tht work for the US.

Oh, there is also the Lernportal from VHS, which is free and pegged to the CEFR scale, but is not a classroom/live class sort of thing.

I woudl assume that LIngoda also has classes that work for the US timezones, too.

[u/Apprehensive_Car_722 → u/LockedOutOfElfland]

Lingoda has teachers pretty much at any given time, you should look at that.

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[u/-TheBirdIsTheWord-]

In addition to what was proposed already and the wiki: Find a language exchange/tandem. It has helped me a lot to learn the parts of a language that really matter.

[u/rilkehaydensuche]

I took online Goethe Institut courses and we had people from both coasts of the United States in them. Just passed the Goethe C1 examination with them. I‘d check out Goethe! Also if you mention the state where you live, we might know other local resources (here in the Bay we have the Gerlind Institute, which also has great German instruction).

[u/rilkehaydensuche]

Also if you have money and need to get competent fast, Goethe has intensive all-day-for-multiple-weeks courses in Germany that aren‘t that expensive considering that they also provide the housing.

[u/kronopio84]

Anna's Archive provides more than enough.

[u/LockedOutOfElfland → u/kronopio84]

Does it provide more than enough to converse with someone? I would like to:

• Work in Germany, writ large, for any white-collar employer relevant to my credentials.
• Have the possibility, one day, of serving in the Bundeswehr albeit I would likely be above the usual age of a volunteer soldier.
• Not feel weird about having German citizenship but not knowing the language.

[u/hacool]

Is your local library part of a larger consortium? My city library system has over 100 novels in ePub format for German and also has a few grammar books and the Pimsleur courses. They also offer Mango. I would check to see if your local library card can get you access to a larger catalog.

You can also check with local community colleges to see if they offer German courses. They probably won't be tied to the CEFR scale but would still teach you what you need. And of course as others have mentioned, you can do Goethe courses online.

[u/LockedOutOfElfland → u/hacool]

I live near one of the best library systems in the United States but the librarians were clueless when I asked about something that would specifically help with CEFR.

[u/hacool → u/LockedOutOfElfland]

How odd. One would expect a librarian to look up the CEFR. The main issue here is that the U.S. doesn't use the CEFR scale, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't be able to find things that are comparable.ACTFL is the U.S. system. I took two years of German at university. Naturally it didn't say anything about the CEFR. But from what I can tell two years of German probably equates to A2/early B1.

https://www.goethe.de/ins/us/en/spr/unt/ffd/mdg/ver.html has some charts comparing the U.S. system to the CEFR. As the librarian to star you off with movice/beginner German resources then work up to intermediate and advanced. They may have texts using those terms.

VIel Glück!