Boys at Charterhouse are taught to speak, read, and write German with a high degree of confidence and familiarity. The main objective of the course is to provide pupils with an understanding of the language that will exceed the examination requirements and equip them to communicate in relatively sophisticated and fluent German. The Fourths learn to make practical use of German grammar and vocabulary in a variety of written and spoken exercises. The school has links with a school near Hamburg and most Fourths take the opportunity to correspond with German boys and girls.
Boys in the Removes and Fifths follow a course which covers the fundamental skill areas of the GCSE (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing). During these two years, an increased emphasis is placed upon the acquisition of idiomatic vocabulary and advanced grammatical structures. In addition to tackling regular prose translations and listening comprehensions, boys are also given the opportunity to acquaint themselves with short stories in German by writers such as Stefan Zweig and Siegfried Lenz.
The AS exam is composed of three papers : Listening and Writing, Reading and Writing, and an Oral Topic based upon some aspect of German life or culture (12 minutes). There are 8 hashes of German per week, which normally involve tuition by a native speaker. Regular listening comprehensions and discussions in the target language ensure that pupils learn to communicate in modern, everyday German. A considerable amount of time is also devoted to advanced grammar and to translation work. Pupils are introduced to works of German literature by writers such as Bernhard Schlink and Friedrich Dürrenmatt.
The A2 exam is composed of three papers : an Oral Discussion (15 minutes), a Literature Paper, and a general paper which comprises a Listening Comprehension, a Discursive Essay, and a Reading Comprehension.
Pupils studying German are encouraged to spend time in a German-speaking country.
All pupils who study the language at AS and A-Level attend intensive language study courses in places such as Cologne or Hamburg.