Physiotherapy

For recognition as a physiotherapist from a non-EU country, you usually need German at B2 level. This requirement is set by each federal state, and in Bavaria there is also a specialist language exam for health professions, including physiotherapy.

Physiotherapy is a regulated profession, so you need permission to use the professional title. The state authority compares your training with the German one, and if there are differences, you choose a compensation measure: an adaptation course or a knowledge test with an oral and a practical part.

Yes, you can apply for recognition from abroad. In Berlin, processing takes about 3 to 4 months once all documents are complete. In the course, you follow Daniel through recognition and arriving in Germany, so you get useful language for that stage too.

You follow Daniel, a physiotherapist from Kenya, as he goes to a physiotherapy practice in Munich. The story covers his goal and job interview, recognition, arriving and his first working day, then practice management, assessment and treatment planning, specialties, and difficult situations. You listen, speak, write and practise conversations with patients and the team in role plays.

You learn practice words like die Therapieliege (treatment couch), die Anmeldung (reception), die Beschwerden (symptoms, complaints), das Theraband (resistance band), die Schweigepflicht (confidentiality), die Beweglichkeit (mobility), das Elektrotherapiegerät (electrotherapy device) and das Verbrauchsmaterial (consumables). These words come up in the course story and in practice conversations.

The physiotherapy course itself is at B1 level, so it is not the B2 certificate course. If you want to prepare for a B2 certificate, Fluedy’s German B2 course includes mock exams in the Goethe format.