About us

The Landesspracheninstitut (LSI) is a further education institution that develops and runs intensive language courses based on scientific research. For over 50 years, we have been providing practice-oriented foreign language skills that enable our graduates to communicate actively and confidently in everyday life.

Whether Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Persian, Russian or Ukrainian - we build linguistic and cultural bridges and, with our specialisation in Eastern Europe, Asia and the Near and Middle East, we are a leading provider of language courses in adult education for language enthusiasts of all ages.

Since the institute was founded in 1973, more than 40,000 participants have successfully completed our courses - including numerous diplomats, journalists, business representatives and scientists, among them ESA astronauts, whose language training in Bochum is part of their preparation for missions on board the International Space Station ISS.

Since 2007, as a part of the Ruhr University Bochum, we have been part of the academic and professional further education programme of one of the largest universities in Germany. Our courses are designed for private and corporate clients interested in professional or personal development, as well as students from all over the German-speaking world who wish to acquire specialised foreign language skills alongside their degree course.

Our unique intensive course format enables quick learning progress within a very short time. In two-week intensive language courses, highly qualified teachers teach active skills (speaking and listening), vocabulary and grammar. Classes are held in small learning groups with a maximum of twelve students, ensuring a high level of interaction and individual attention.

The demands of the modern working world have made flexibility of time and space an increasingly important factor, especially in matters of professional development. Therefore, since 2020, we have also been offering online evening courses in a ten-week format or in hybrid form through the option of online participation via Zoom in the well-established two-week intensive courses to accompany your work or studies.

Our own textbooks
e-learning to accompany the course

Learning and teaching based on our own methods and concepts - this philosophy is an important part of our recipe for success. The textbooks we have developed are also very popular outside LSI and are used in foreign language teaching at many universities and educational institutions. Our learning platform LSI.Digital, which we have been using since 2013, is a complementary e-learning platform that can be used to individually prepare and review course and textbook content.