Pflege (telc)
Englisch
Would you like to work as a nursing professional in Germany? Then you need an official German language certificate. Here you will find all the important information — explained simply and clearly.
There is a great demand for nursing staff in Germany. Many hospitals and care homes are looking for professionals from abroad. But without an official German language certificate, it is not possible to work as a qualified nursing professional.
The reason is simple: nursing staff communicate daily with patients, colleagues and doctors. They write care reports and explain diagnoses. For this, very good German language skills are required — not just basic everyday German.
This exam is mainly needed by international nursing professionals who did not complete their training in Germany and who need to prove their language skills for professional recognition.
This affects people from Ukraine, Russia, the Philippines, India, Tunisia, Mexico and many other countries — all those who want to work in Germany as a nurse, care worker for the elderly or nursing assistant.
There are several recognised exams. Which one you need depends on the federal state and the recognition authority.
This exam has existed since 2013 — it is the oldest and best-known nursing language exam in Germany. It is recognised throughout Germany and is offered at many examination centres.
One advantage: you take just one exam and then receive either a B1 or a B2 certificate — depending on your result. This is called a dual-level exam.
The exam tests listening, reading, writing and speaking — all with topics from everyday nursing practice.
This exam from the Goethe-Institut has existed since 2019 — but only for B2 level. One difference from telc: the receptive part (listening and reading) can be taken digitally and adaptively. This means: the tasks automatically adapt to your language level.
This exam is less widespread than telc, but is also recognised by the authorities.
The FSP is a state exam conducted directly by the state authorities. It is already compulsory in some federal states — for example in Bavaria, Berlin, NRW, Hamburg and others.
Important: the FSP only tests language — no specialist nursing knowledge. It consists of three parts: a conversation with a patient, a conversation with a colleague and a written task (e.g. a care report).
From 2024, the FSP is the only recognised exam in many federal states. Check what applies in your federal state.
Germany faces an acute shortage of nursing staff. Hundreds of thousands of nursing professionals are lacking in hospitals and care facilities. To meet this need, many professionals come from abroad.
But general German is not sufficient for the nursing profession. Nursing staff must know specialist terminology, write care reports and speak empathetically with patients. That is why telc developed an exam specifically tailored to everyday nursing practice as early as 2013.
In 2019, the Conference of Health Ministers then established uniform standards: since then, B2 level has officially been required for all healthcare professions — with a focus on professional language competence.
The exam costs approximately 165–205 € depending on the examination centre. There are several funding options:
This depends on the federal state in which you want to work. In Bavaria, B2 level is explicitly required for professional recognition. In other federal states, B1 is sometimes sufficient.
The exam is demanding — but very manageable with the right preparation. The difference from a standard B2 exam: here the focus is on nursing topics. For nursing professionals, this is sometimes even easier, because they already know the everyday working environment.
What matters is: practise all four skills regularly — listening, reading, writing and speaking — with real nursing texts and typical exam tasks.
On Vorbereitung mit BO you will find exercises specifically for the Pflege exam — listening, reading, writing and speaking with real nursing topics.
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