Sign Language

Hello and welcome to the German Sign Language courses of the Language Centre at Paderborn University!

In­form­a­tion about the courses

The courses first introduce the basics of German Sign Language, i.e. the finger alphabet, sentence structure and some vocabulary for everyday situations. Students learn the associated signs by imitating and interacting with their fellow students. In the course, communication is mainly non-verbal in order to familiarise students with the situation and silent communication. In addition, there will be perception exercises to improve listening and the associated interpretation of gestures.

For general information on enrolment and certificates of achievement, please read here.

  • German Sign Language DGS I: This course is aimed at students who have no or very little previous knowledge of the language.
  • German Sign Language DGS II: This advanced course is aimed at students who have already attended the beginners' course or have other previous experience with the language.

Learners with no previous knowledge choose course I / A1 / A1.1. Cross-entry to higher levels is possible: please use the global scale as a guide for self-assessment. If you have any questions, please contact the ZfS team(zfs@upb.de), who will forward your enquiry to the appropriate teacher if necessary.

Please note that attendance is compulsory for the courses and that you are expected to spend 3-6 hours per week preparing for and following up on the course content.

A handbook containing illustrations of the vocabulary learnt, grammatical rules and dialogues for practising is used as support.