Becoming a Facharzt takes five to six years of full-time hospital work, following six years of basic medical training.
Each state’s Weiterbildungsordnung specifies the minimum content and duration for every specialty. All training periods must be recorded in a logbook and confirmed by the supervising trainer, after which the doctor registers for the specialist examination before the state medical association.
Eleven or twelve years before the title. The German patient asking for a Facharzt is asking for that, and knows it.