Friday was our final test at the language school. This is the official test. The one that they send to the government to be graded and you don’t hear back for about a month. This test determines if many people can maintain their permission to live and work in Germany. In honor of this very momentous occasion, I have decided to write this post “auf Deutsch.” This will be my first ever blog post in German. For all my non-German speakers, I will translate the blog at the end. My German is very simple. Maybe it is sixth grade level, but maybe not. I will translate it the way it really is and not the way I would write it in English so that you can see what the B1 level really sounds like. I have purposely inserted the German text as a photograph so that your browser will not automatically translate it to your language. Here we go.
*Please note: Thorsten was my editor. My main mistakes are that I tend to forget to capitalize nouns. (All nouns must be capitalized in German.) Sometimes I mix up the German sentence structure with English, so he had to help me there. Also, I’m not great at knowing when to use zu in front of a verb, for example: in English, “I like to read,” as opposed to, “I like reading.” The meaning is the same but the words are different. Often in German you just glue two or three words together and it becomes one word, but I’m never sure when to do that. Sometimes you “make” things in German but sometimes you “get” things, it’s difficult to know which verb is appropriate. Similies (i.e. like and as) are structured differently and I haven’t mastered those either. Ok here is it in English:
Today was the B1 Test. Finally. Since September we have been learning German. The last weeks we have learned more difficult German sentence structure. We need this structure for the test. Easy structure is not B1 level. So, Friday I was very nervous. The written test was first. It had three parts: listening, reading and writing. There are 100 minutes for the written part. I found the written parting a little bit difficult, especially the listening part. We did many practice tests. But the real test was harder than the practice. The written part always has a few words that I don’t know. Sometimes I think I understand it, but I’m not sure. But, I believe I did it right.
Friday afternoon was the oral part. The oral part also had three parts. First we had to introduce ourselves to the examiners and tell a little bit about our lives. After that the examiner asked us something about our introduction. Next we are looking at a picture and describing it. We must use words like, “either this or that,” “not only, also,” because, that, then, even though.” After our description, the examiner asked us questions about our opinion. The third part was organizing an event with our language school partner. I had a lot of fear about the oral exam but it was really a little bit fun because the examiners were very nice. Speaking with them was easy and natural. At the end, my school partner saw our grade and she said,”We got B1.”
Next week we start with an Integration course. This course is about German culture and history. It is 12 days with another test at the end. But I am not scared for this test. I think it is not as hard as the B1.
We are waiting 2 or 4 weeks for our results. The test is sent to Frankfurt. After this experience, I am hungry to learn more German. I want to write and speak in German the way I write and speak in English.
So, there it is and at least we know that we passed the oral exam at the level that is required!
Phew!
Laurie's Franconia 