FAQ

This varies greatly. However, especially for beginner courses in languages that are in high demand, such as German, Turkish, Spanish, English, French, Japanese, it is advisable to register on the first days of enrolment, if possible, if you want to be sure of getting a spot.

Your place in a course is not booked until you have paid the course fee.

You can find our prices under Fees and conditions.

We offer language courses twice a semester: Semester-long courses during the winter and summer semesters and (semi-)intensive courses during the winter and summer semester breaks. About 2-3 weeks before a course block starts, there is a registration period, during which you can enroll.

To register for a course, you must pay the course fee via bank transfer. We will provide you with the account information when you register. Unfortunately, no other payment methods are possible at the moment.

Important: The registration is only complete when your payment has arrived on our TU bank account. A reservation for a spot in a language course without payment isn't possible!

If you have already registered and paid for a course, but then decide not to participate, you have the possibility to withdraw from the course.

However, a withdrawal is only possible within the registration period. This means that you have to inform us of your wish to withdraw in writing (via e-mail or cancellation button in your user account) by the last day of the registration period at the latest. We will then refund you the course fee you paid minus an administrative fee of 15,- Euro.

Each SKB teacher decides individually which material they will use in their course. If a certain book or material is needed in the course, it could be that you will have to buy this for the course. If and which material is requires for a course, is always mentioned in the course description. So you will already know which extra costs might arise before registering.

Our courses have between a minimum of 4-5 and a maximum of 14 participants.

Our courses have a minimum number of participants, usually four or five people. To teach a course with less participants would entail an unsustainable financial loss. This means that if fewer people than the minimum register for a course, unfortunately the course can't take place.

If this is the case, the teacher then tries to find alternatives, for example by combining two similar course levels in one course. Unfortunately, this is not always possible. If a course cannot take place, we will inform you in good time and of course refund your complete course fee.

Also if a teacher gets ill and a course does not take place or only takes place partially, we will refund you all the cancelled lesson units.

You do not need a placement test if you have

a) have successfully completed an SKB course no longer than two semesters ago with a certificate of attendance and now wish to enroll in the follow-up course,
b) you would like to register for a "Beginners without previous knowledge" (A1.1) course.

c) you have a level certificate from another university / language school that is accepted by SKB. You will find out which certificates are accepted in the next question.

The following language groups accept the following certificates from other institutions:

German: Goethe certificate, certificates from other Berlin universities, Telc certificate and certificates from the language schools Kapitel Zwei, die deutSCHule, Humboldt-Institut and speakeasy.

Greek: "Greek Language Diploma

Italian: CELI, PLIDA, Laboling, Volkshochschulen and university language centers.

Korean: TOPIK (Test of Proficiency in Korea) 

Spanisch: Instituto Cervantes, ZEMS, Zentraleinrichtung Sprachzentrum FU Berlin, Sprachzentrum HU, Uni Potsdam, VHS 

For the other languages, only SKB certificates are accepted.

Although we can confirm your successful participation in one of our courses, we are not authorized to award credit points. It is up to your university to decide whether you can get an SKB course recognised in your course of studies after presenting the confirmation of participation. You will have to ask your institute or the responsible examination office. So far, recognition has only been granted in exceptional cases.

No, but we can confirm successful participation with a certificate.

Please always talk to the instructor if you think the course level is not right for you. If we have misclassified you, we will try to find another course for you.

Rechnungen werden nur auf Anfrage erstellt.