Two stories about Germany circulate in Indian student groups and they contradict each other. One says Germany is free and taught in English. The other says you need C1 German before anyone will look at you. Both are repeated with total confidence and neither is right.
Here is what the official portal run by the DAAD — the German Academic Exchange Service — actually says, and what it means for the order you should do things in.
The default is German
The honest starting point, in the portal's own words: the language of instruction in most degree courses at German higher education institutions is German, and that is why you have to prove your knowledge of the language to be admitted.
Read that as the rule, not as a formality. If you pick programmes at random from a German university's catalogue, most of them will want German. The English-taught world is a real and substantial subset — it is not the whole catalogue, and a shortlist built by assuming otherwise falls apart at the requirements line.
The exceptions, which are the plan for most Indian students
The portal names them directly: if you are enrolled in an international programme or in special postgraduate courses, German is not a prerequisite.
That is the route most Indian master's applicants to Germany actually take, and it is legitimate — these are not back doors, they are programmes designed and taught in English on purpose. The practical consequence is that your language requirement is a property of the specific programme, not of Germany. Two master's at the same university can differ completely.
There is a narrower exception too: at some universities you do not need a fluency certificate if you are only going for one or two semesters. The portal is careful to add that this does not apply everywhere, and tells you to ask the institution. We would go further — get it in writing from the programme, because an exchange-length stay is exactly the case where a verbal "it should be fine" costs somebody a semester.
The two exams, and the difference that matters from India
Where German is required, the portal names two recognised exams. The distinction between them is the single most practical thing in this article.
- TestDaF — the Test Deutsch als Fremdsprache. It is offered in over 100 countries as both a paper-based and a digital test. In other words, you can sit it before you leave India. That makes it the one that fits an application timeline.
- DSH — the Deutsche Sprachprüfung für den Hochschulzugang, the German Language Test for University Admission. Many universities offer it, and the dates come from the international office at your university. The implication is in the name: it is taken in Germany, at the university.
So if your programme requires proof of German and you need that proof to get the admission and the visa, TestDaF is the practical route and DSH usually is not — you cannot normally sit a test in Germany to get the document that lets you go to Germany. Students lose a whole intake to this, having prepared diligently for the wrong exam.
One warning about the source. The portal notes that the TestDaF website is in German only. That is where exam locations, dates, test structure and preparation material live, so budget some patience, or have someone go through it with you.
Find out where you actually are first
Before paying for anything, the Goethe-Institut publishes a short, free placement test — the Einstufungstest — which gives you a recommendation on which course level suits you. The portal points to it directly.
This is the right first step and almost nobody takes it. People enrol in a "German A1 to B2" package sold locally without knowing their starting point or the level their target programmes require, which is how you end up paying for months of classes aimed at the wrong place.
We are deliberately not printing a required CEFR level here. There is no single national one — it is set per programme, and a number in an article gets quoted back as a rule. Read the requirement on the programme page of the specific courses on your shortlist. That is a ten-minute job and it settles the question for your actual case.
Learning German in Germany
If your German is not yet enough, you do not only have the option of classes at home. German universities run language courses during the semester break, usually between June and September, and some run them in winter too. The DAAD maintains a database of language and short courses.
Worth knowing for two reasons. It is a genuine route for someone whose German is close but not there. And a summer course is a far better way to find out whether you want to live in Germany than a brochure is.
The order we would do it in
- Take the free Goethe placement test. Ten minutes, no cost, and it tells you what you are working with.
- Shortlist programmes and read their actual language requirement. Not Germany's, not the university's — the programme's. This is where the English-taught question gets answered for your case.
- If German is required, plan for TestDaF, not DSH, unless your programme has specifically told you otherwise.
- Then start classes, aimed at the level your shortlist actually asks for, from the level you actually have.
Most people do this in reverse — classes first, shortlist later — and discover in month six that their programmes were English-taught all along, or that they needed a different exam.
What we have left out
- Exam fees and dates. Set by the test providers and revised; read them on the provider's own site when you book.
- How long it takes to reach a level. It depends entirely on hours per week and whether you are also working or studying. Any figure here would be marketing.
- Which local coaching centre to use. We have no view worth publishing, and a recommendation we cannot stand behind is worse than none.
The requirements, the two named exams, the placement test and the summer-course window above are from the DAAD's official Study in Germany portal, read on 16 October 2026. Requirements are set per programme and do change — confirm against the programme page before you commit money or time.
We hold over a thousand German master's programmes in our catalogue, and checking the language requirement across a shortlist is exactly the kind of unglamorous work we will do with you for free.