diff --git a/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/GridToolbar.tsx b/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/GridToolbar.tsx
index 0113f15..cddbc53 100644
--- a/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/GridToolbar.tsx
+++ b/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/GridToolbar.tsx
@@ -21,12 +21,16 @@ interface GridToolbarProps {
 
 const IPA_LABELS: Record<IpaMode, string> = {
   auto: 'IPA: Auto',
+  en: 'IPA: nur EN',
+  de: 'IPA: nur DE',
   all: 'IPA: Alle',
   none: 'IPA: Aus',
 }
 
 const SYLLABLE_LABELS: Record<SyllableMode, string> = {
   auto: 'Silben: Original',
+  en: 'Silben: nur EN',
+  de: 'Silben: nur DE',
   all: 'Silben: Alle',
   none: 'Silben: Aus',
 }
diff --git a/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/useGridEditor.ts b/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/useGridEditor.ts
index 84a4b69..83e5c10 100644
--- a/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/useGridEditor.ts
+++ b/admin-lehrer/components/grid-editor/useGridEditor.ts
@@ -14,8 +14,8 @@ export interface GridEditorState {
   selectedZone: number | null
 }
 
-export type IpaMode = 'auto' | 'all' | 'none'
-export type SyllableMode = 'auto' | 'all' | 'none'
+export type IpaMode = 'auto' | 'all' | 'de' | 'en' | 'none'
+export type SyllableMode = 'auto' | 'all' | 'de' | 'en' | 'none'
 
 export function useGridEditor(sessionId: string | null) {
   const [grid, setGrid] = useState<StructuredGrid | null>(null)
diff --git a/klausur-service/backend/cv_syllable_detect.py b/klausur-service/backend/cv_syllable_detect.py
index e86ef09..cc43cf9 100644
--- a/klausur-service/backend/cv_syllable_detect.py
+++ b/klausur-service/backend/cv_syllable_detect.py
@@ -196,6 +196,7 @@ def insert_syllable_dividers(
     session_id: str,
     *,
     force: bool = False,
+    col_filter: Optional[set] = None,
 ) -> int:
     """Insert pipe syllable dividers into dictionary cells.
 
@@ -209,6 +210,8 @@ def insert_syllable_dividers(
     Args:
         force: If True, skip the pipe-ratio pre-check and syllabify all
             content words regardless of whether the original has pipe dividers.
+        col_filter: If set, only process cells whose col_type is in this set.
+            None means process all content columns.
 
     Returns the number of cells modified.
     """
@@ -247,6 +250,8 @@ def insert_syllable_dividers(
             ct = cell.get("col_type", "")
             if not ct.startswith("column_"):
                 continue
+            if col_filter is not None and ct not in col_filter:
+                continue
             text = cell.get("text", "")
             if not text:
                 continue
diff --git a/klausur-service/backend/grid_editor_api.py b/klausur-service/backend/grid_editor_api.py
index cc190c0..82c04ad 100644
--- a/klausur-service/backend/grid_editor_api.py
+++ b/klausur-service/backend/grid_editor_api.py
@@ -80,9 +80,11 @@ async def _build_grid_core(
         session_id: Session identifier (for logging and image loading).
         session: Full session dict from get_session_db().
         ipa_mode: "auto" (only when English headwords detected), "all"
-            (force IPA on all content columns), or "none" (skip IPA entirely).
+            (force IPA on all content columns), "en" (English column only),
+            "de" (German/definition columns only), or "none" (skip entirely).
         syllable_mode: "auto" (only when original has pipe dividers),
-            "all" (force syllabification on all words), or "none" (skip).
+            "all" (force syllabification on all words), "en" (English only),
+            "de" (German only), or "none" (skip).
 
     Returns:
         StructuredGrid result dict.
@@ -869,32 +871,51 @@ async def _build_grid_core(
     all_cells = [cell for z in zones_data for cell in z.get("cells", [])]
     total_cols = sum(len(z.get("columns", [])) for z in zones_data)
     en_col_type = None
+    ipa_target_cols: set = set()
+    all_content_cols: set = set()
     skip_ipa = (ipa_mode == "none")
     if not skip_ipa and total_cols >= 3:
-        # Find the column that contains IPA brackets → English headwords.
-        # Count cells with bracket patterns per col_type.  The column with
-        # the most brackets is the headword column (IPA sits after or below
-        # headwords).
-        col_bracket_count: Dict[str, int] = {}
+        # Detect English headword column via IPA signals (brackets or garbled).
+        col_ipa_count: Dict[str, int] = {}
+        all_content_cols: set = set()
         for cell in all_cells:
             ct = cell.get("col_type", "")
+            if not ct.startswith("column_"):
+                continue
             txt = cell.get("text", "") or ""
-            if ct.startswith("column_") and '[' in txt:
-                col_bracket_count[ct] = col_bracket_count.get(ct, 0) + 1
-        # Pick column with most bracket IPA patterns.
-        # ipa_mode="auto": only when OCR already found bracket IPA (no fallback).
-        # ipa_mode="all": fallback to headword_col_index from dictionary detection.
-        if col_bracket_count:
-            en_col_type = max(col_bracket_count, key=col_bracket_count.get)
-        elif ipa_mode == "all":
-            # Force IPA: use headword column from dictionary detection
-            hw_idx = dict_detection.get("headword_col_index")
-            if hw_idx is not None:
-                en_col_type = f"column_{hw_idx + 1}"
-        if en_col_type:
+            if txt.strip():
+                all_content_cols.add(ct)
+            if '[' in txt or _text_has_garbled_ipa(txt):
+                col_ipa_count[ct] = col_ipa_count.get(ct, 0) + 1
+        if col_ipa_count:
+            en_col_type = max(col_ipa_count, key=col_ipa_count.get)
+        elif ipa_mode in ("all", "de", "en"):
+            # Force mode without auto-detection: pick column with most cells
+            col_cell_count: Dict[str, int] = {}
             for cell in all_cells:
-                if cell.get("col_type") == en_col_type:
-                    cell["_orig_col_type"] = en_col_type
+                ct = cell.get("col_type", "")
+                if ct.startswith("column_") and (cell.get("text") or "").strip():
+                    col_cell_count[ct] = col_cell_count.get(ct, 0) + 1
+            if col_cell_count:
+                en_col_type = max(col_cell_count, key=col_cell_count.get)
+
+        # Decide which columns to process based on ipa_mode:
+        # auto/en: only the detected EN headword column
+        # de: all content columns EXCEPT the EN column
+        # all: all content columns
+        ipa_target_cols: set = set()
+        if ipa_mode in ("auto", "en"):
+            if en_col_type:
+                ipa_target_cols.add(en_col_type)
+        elif ipa_mode == "de":
+            ipa_target_cols = all_content_cols - {en_col_type} if en_col_type else all_content_cols
+        elif ipa_mode == "all":
+            ipa_target_cols = all_content_cols
+
+        if ipa_target_cols:
+            for cell in all_cells:
+                if cell.get("col_type") in ipa_target_cols:
+                    cell["_orig_col_type"] = cell["col_type"]
                     cell["col_type"] = "column_en"
         # Snapshot text before IPA fix to detect which cells were modified
         _pre_ipa = {id(c): c.get("text", "") for c in all_cells}
@@ -1476,24 +1497,31 @@ async def _build_grid_core(
 
     # --- Syllable divider insertion for dictionary pages ---
     # syllable_mode: "auto" = only when original has pipe dividers (1% threshold),
-    #   "all" = force syllabification on all content words,
-    #   "none" = skip entirely.
+    #   "all" = force on all content words, "en" = English column only,
+    #   "de" = German columns only, "none" = skip entirely.
     syllable_insertions = 0
     if syllable_mode != "none" and img_bgr is not None:
         _syllable_eligible = False
-        if syllable_mode == "all":
+        if syllable_mode in ("all", "de", "en"):
             _syllable_eligible = True
         elif (dict_detection.get("is_dictionary")
                 and dict_detection.get("article_col_index") is not None):
             # auto: only on dictionary pages with article columns
             _syllable_eligible = True
+        # For language-specific modes, determine allowed columns
+        _syllable_col_filter: Optional[set] = None  # None = all columns
+        if syllable_mode == "en" and en_col_type:
+            _syllable_col_filter = {en_col_type}
+        elif syllable_mode == "de" and en_col_type:
+            _syllable_col_filter = all_content_cols - {en_col_type} if total_cols >= 3 else None
         if _syllable_eligible:
             try:
                 from cv_syllable_detect import insert_syllable_dividers
-                force_syllables = (syllable_mode == "all")
+                force_syllables = (syllable_mode in ("all", "de", "en"))
                 syllable_insertions = insert_syllable_dividers(
                     zones_data, img_bgr, session_id,
                     force=force_syllables,
+                    col_filter=_syllable_col_filter,
                 )
             except Exception as e:
                 logger.warning("Syllable insertion failed: %s", e)
@@ -1538,7 +1566,7 @@ async def _build_grid_core(
         "processing_modes": {
             "ipa_mode": ipa_mode,
             "syllable_mode": syllable_mode,
-            "ipa_applied": en_col_type is not None and not skip_ipa,
+            "ipa_applied": bool(ipa_target_cols) if not skip_ipa else False,
             "syllables_applied": syllable_insertions > 0,
         },
         "duration_seconds": round(duration, 2),
@@ -1554,8 +1582,8 @@ async def _build_grid_core(
 @router.post("/sessions/{session_id}/build-grid")
 async def build_grid(
     session_id: str,
-    ipa_mode: str = Query("auto", pattern="^(auto|all|none)$"),
-    syllable_mode: str = Query("auto", pattern="^(auto|all|none)$"),
+    ipa_mode: str = Query("auto", pattern="^(auto|all|de|en|none)$"),
+    syllable_mode: str = Query("auto", pattern="^(auto|all|de|en|none)$"),
 ):
     """Build a structured, zone-aware grid from existing Kombi word results.