A language certificate is proof of your language competence in the areas of oral interaction, reading and writing according to the GER. It can be used to apply for a scholarship abroad or a master's degree program. You can apply for a language certificate at the ZEMS if you have attended a language course in the last two semesters and completed it with a minimum grade of 2. If you have not attended a language course at the ZEMS, you can obtain the language certificate by taking an examination.
Language certificates are issued for the languages English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian and Chinese. Due to high demand by TU students, we will not offer English language certificates for students from other universities.
TU-Students | External and guest / auditing students | ||
40.00 Euro | 80.00 Euro |
The ZEMS course certificate certifies your performance in the language course and is assigned credit points that can be recognized as a free choice elective or additional module, depending on your course of study.
The language certificate, in turn, is an additional exam that certifies your language level can be used to apply for a Master's program or for some exchange programs such as Erasmus, Overseas programs, and others.
For language certificates except for Chinese: After registration, you will be directed to the ZEMS-Moodle course where you need to log in with your TU log-in data on https://moodle.zems.tu-berlin.de/. There you will find a course that has been set up for your exam date. Please read the information and follow the instructions. The test will only be visible on the exam date.
For the Chinese language certificate: You do not need to register in ZEMS Moodle as a guest. To make an appointment as well as to get information about the procedure of the exam, please contact Mr. Lee (h.lee@tu-berlin.de).
Due to high demand, we are unable ro accommodate individual needs. If a registered person for the test cancels and you are on the waiting list, we will contact you as soon as a place becomes available.
=> For TU students ZEMS also offers the language exam onSET in English and German for, which is also recognized in some cases.
Please send an e-mail with your name and matriculation number to sekretariat(at)zems.tu-berlin.de.
You can apply for more than one language certificates provided that they are in different languages. Only one language certificate is issued per semester and per language.
The issuing of language certificates is subject to a fee.
After successfully registering, log in again at moodle.zems.tu-berlin.de, select "TU-Login". All information about the exam itself can be found in a moodle course on our moodle instance. After you have successfully logged in, the course will be displayed in the left menu and as a tile.
The exam consists of two parts:
1. Six multiple-choice reading comprehension questions and a writing task of 250-300 words. You will have a total of 45 minutes for this part.
2. Oral conversation with another participant and examiner via Zoom for a total of 15 minutes.
You can find the dates under Language Certificates on the ZEMS website.
Unfortunately, no. Language certificates without a language exam are only awarded to students who have successfully completed a language course in the last two semesters.
You must have attended the language course in the last two semesters and have achieved a minimum grade of 2.0.
Only in this case you will receive the language certificate without an additional language test.
You will receive the language certificate by e-mail within 7 working days.
For more information, please see Language Certificates on the ZEMS website.
Since each exchange has its own requirements depending on the country/university, we recommend that you contact the International Office of the TU Berlin.
Each university has its own guidelines for the approval of language certificates or language assessments.
Please contact the International Office of the TU Berlin for further information.
Language certificates and onSET tests are subject to fees in accordance with the Framework fee schedule of the ZEMS and the applicable determinations by the Executive Board of the TU Berlin.
Fees must be paid prior to the exam and proof of payment must be presented at the exam date.