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STUDYING IN GERMANY

Studying in Germany: These are the words you need to know

We break down the words you need to know when starting your studies in Germany, whether it's your first day or you're well into the semester.

Published: 28 April 2021 18:20 CEST
Updated: 26 December 2021 08:54 CET

Studying in Germany: These are the words you need to know

Archive photo shows students at the University of Jena. Photo: DPA

Settling into student life can often involve a lot of admin, and Germany universities’ love affair with having physical copies of every document may leave you drowning in paperwork.

Knowing the basic vocabulary you are bound to encounter on arrival – whether physically or virtually amid the pandemic – at your host university will remove some of the stress from your first few weeks.

Sich immatrikulieren

Let’s start at the very beginning. The phrase sich immatrikulieren, close to the English matriculate, means to enrol yourself at your new university. This is something you will likely have to do before you even step foot in Germany and is definitely not a step you can skip. Remember to check how you should go about enrolling at your host institution well in advance of arrival.

Die Immatrikulationsbescheinigung

At German universities you will find you need a Bescheinigung (certificate) for almost everything, so this is not a term you should forget. The Immatrikulierungsbescheinigung is your certificate of enrolment. It is good to keep this to hand as you may have to present it to receive funding such as an Erasmus grant.

Sich anmelden

This phrase means to enrol yourself, or register for something and is generally used when signing up for teaching modules in Germany. Very little of the enrolment process is handled by your subject faculty and in many cases you will be solely responsible for registering for each individual class you want to take, as well as making sure they fit well into your timetable – look out for the ‘sich anmelden’ button on your university’s online learning portal.

Das Semesterticket

This is something you will want to make the most of during your time in Germany. The Semesterticket, often doubling as your student ID or library card, entitles you to travel for free across the region you are living in. Your university website will usually include information on the exact boundaries of the travel area, but the pass is generally valid for all regional transport links within your city and its surroundings.

Die Vorlesungszeit

The concept of a holiday or vacation period does not really exist in the German education system and instead the calendar is split into die Vorlesungszeit (lecture period) and die vorlesungsfreie Zeit (non-lecture period). During the months where there is no teaching, you may still have coursework deadlines or online/in-person exams. There is some time for rest, but don’t get too carried away by the holiday spirit!

Die Mensa

This is perhaps the most important piece of vocabulary you will need to get to grips with. The Mensa is your university canteen or cafeteria, and will often serve food for every meal of the day. It is worth making use of this as at most universities you can buy a whole meal for under €3.

University of Cologne’s Mensa. Photo: DPA

Here are some other useful terms you may come across:

die Kommilitonen – classmates/fellow students

der Dozent/die Dozentin – tutor/lecturer

das Seminar – seminar

die Vorlesung – lecture

die Bibliothek – library

die Klausur – exam

das Referat – oral presentation

der Hörsaal – lecture hall

das Hochschulbüro für Internationales – university international office

der BAföG – government loan system for German students

ECTS Kredite – international system for module accreditation. These credits can then be converted into your home country’s own credit system

die Pflichtleistung – compulsory coursework

belegen – to take (a class)

absolvieren – to pass

sich exmatrikulieren – to de-register

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10 essential tips for avoiding rental scams in Germany

When it comes to settling in Germany, one of the most stressful and difficult tasks you’re likely to face is finding a place to live.

With the country in the grip of an ever-worsening housing shortage, there aren’t enough rental properties to meet the high demand – especially in big cities like Berlin, Munich and Frankfurt – and the flats that are available can often stretch even the most healthy of budgets.

With renters desperate to find affordable homes, crafty scammers have seized the chance to place fake ads on the market, often in dream locations with lower-than-average rents.

While some of these scams may be easy to spot, others can be highly sophisticated, with fraudsters setting up professional-looking websites and even allowing hopeful tenants to view their properties in person.

Recently The Local reported on a Polish couple who lost around €7,000 through a rental scam in Berlin. The scammers had sublet a beautiful Altbau apartment in the popular district of Neukölln and created an advert for it via a fake letting agent website, then arranged for people to use a key box to view the property while the real tenants were away.

Despite checking the contract over with legal experts from their local tenants’ association, nobody saw anything out of the ordinary – that is, until they tried to access the apartment and found a family already living there.

So, how do you protect your hard-earned savings and steer clear of scammers while looking for a new home?

Here are 10 important ways to protect yourself from rental scams.

1. Be alert to suspicious signs

The key to avoiding scammers in Germany is to be fully clued up on the warning signs. Was the listing for the property uploaded in the middle of the night, is the advert thin on details or written in bad German or English, and does the offer feel too good to be true?

Though it would be nice to believe there are still cheap flats to be found, finding an attractive property at an overly reasonable price is usually a red flag.

Hamburg

Modern apartments in Hamburg. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Daniel Bockwoldt

If someone claiming to be a landlord contacts you out of the blue, that’s also your cue to run a mile. With so many people looking for housing, most letting agents and landlords will have more than people looking to rent their properties without needing to get in touch with people themselves. Anyone who does is more than likely to be a scammer.

2. Rule out landlords who say they live abroad

One of the major warning signs to look out for is a landlord who claims to be renting the property from abroad, or who says they are out of the country for other reasons, like a last-minute business trip.

That’s usually a scammer’s way of excusing the fact that they won’t be able to meet you personally or even show you the property before you rent it.

“When the country the landlord lives in appears then I would say there’s a really big chance this is a scam,” said Kuba Rudzinski, one of the victims of the Berlin-Neukölln rental fraud.

Even if the excuse seems plausible, your best bet is to ignore anyone who tries to sell you a story about living abroad and simply move on with your house hunt.

3. Do your research online

Before committing to anything, take time to do some thorough research to scope out the property, landlord and letting agent.

Running the pictures and text used in apartment listings through a search engine like Google will help you quickly identify stock photos and text stolen from other listings. For pictures, this is known as a reverse image search.

A laptop

Photo by 2H Media on Unsplash

It’s also worth checking that any websites you’re sent to are fully functional and not copies of other letting agent sites, and that any email addresses match the website domain.

4. Visit the property and ask around

Never agree to rent a property without seeing it in person first. Arrange a viewing and take the opportunity to ask questions about the property and the neighbourhood.

Kuba also recommends speaking with the neighbours in the building to check if the property is genuinely being rented.

“Go to the place before and ask the neighbours, is this flat really for rent? Because these people generally know,” he said. “You’ll need to convince yourself to do it of course, but just ask in the building, ask on the floor where the flat is.”

5. Don’t transfer the full deposit in advance

Advance payments for anything, whether it’s furniture, a deposit or getting a chance to view the property, should be considered a major red flag.

Under German law, you are usually only expected to pay the deposit by the start of the agreed rental contract – and certainly not several months in advance.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table.

Euro notes lie next to some house keys on a table. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Andrea Warnecke

You are also legally entitled to pay your three months’ deposit in three instalments on top of your first three months’ rent after moving in, so definitely be cautious of landlords that place pressure on you to transfer a large lump sum.

If you’re really concerned, look into alternatives for paying your deposit, such as Kautionversicherung (deposit insurance) or a Mietkautionssparbuch, where you open a bank account and pledge the amount to the landlord, rather than transferring the money directly.

6. Insist on meeting the landlord or letting agent in person

If a landlord or letting agent refuses to meet you in person or insists on conducting all communication online, they’re probably not who they say they are.

Insist on meeting face-to-face to verify their identity and ensure they have a legitimate connection to the property.

7. Avoid sending documents straight away

Not all rental scams are about getting money from you directly: many scammers are simply after your personal details for the purposes of identity theft.

Be wary of providing personal documents or sensitive information before you’ve verified the legitimacy of the rental agreement, especially when it comes to things like passport scans or other forms of ID.

8. Seek legal advice from experts

If you’re unsure about any aspect of the rental agreement or if something seems suspicious, seek advice from legal experts or tenants’ associations.

However, be aware that this isn’t always a cast-iron guarantee that a tenancy is legitmate. Over the past few years, fraudsters have become increasingly sophisticated, even down to producing water-tight rental contracts for would-be tenants.

An estate agent hands over keys to an apartment. Photo: picture alliance/dpa/dpa-tmn | Christin Klose

According to civil lawyer Emilia Tintelnot, becoming a member of a tenants’ association can be a good way to get affordable legal advice, and it can also be helpful to set up legal insurance to ensure you can access help when you need it without having to pay lawyers’ fees up front.

9. Be wary of stereotypes

Avoid making assumptions based on stereotypes or preconceived notions about someone’s gender or nationality, as this may cause you to overlook things you might otherwise see as warning signs.

In Kuba’s case, the fact that the fraudsters were German made them appear more legitimate in his eyes, as Polish people tend to see Germans as law-abiding and trustworthy.

Be aware that scammers can come from any cultural background and may use a variety of tactics to deceive unsuspecting renters.

10. Keep an extensive paper trail

Document all communication, agreements, and transactions related to the rental process, including phone numbers and any bank details provided.

According to the Berlin police, this type of evidence can be crucial for an investigation if you do suspect a scammer.

While evidence can differ across cases, “pictures, contact details used by the perpetrators, original documents, bank details with payment receipts” are particularly helpful for investigators, and could help the police stop the scammers for good.

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