Youtube
A0- A1 Beginners
Easy German is a great YouTube channel for learning German
Don’t Trust the Rabbit is a funny channel about the German language. There are also very good pronunciation exercises
Mrs. Ebbers explains German grammar in Dutch
Feli from Germany is from Munich and moved to the US. She makes her videos in English
German Short Stories is exactly what it says: short stories in German. This makes it easier to learn vocabulary (words) in German related to a specific topic.
B1 - C2 advanced to expert
Kurzgesagt (in a nutshell) are self-animated videos that explain many different topics simply and briefly. This channel is also available in English.
Mailab is the channel of chemist Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, who explains scientific topics. Her videos are funny and informative
Comedy
Jilet Ayse is the alter ego of comedian İdil Baydar. She parodies her Turkish origins and the lives of migrants in Germany.
This video by comedian Tedros Teclebrhan, better known as Teddy, became famous with this satirical video about an integration test.
This is a monthly comedy program with constantly changing comedians.
More? Here are more comedy shows
This group of comedians makes funny sketches about the lives of (Muslim) migrants in Germany
Volker Pisper is a comedian who unfortunately no longer performs. His humor is satirical and very dark
Heute Show is a weekly comedy program with a humorous look at the past news week
Hagen Rether also has a satirical, sarcastic style and very dark humor
Magazin Royale is also a weekly satire program about the news
cooking and baking
Cooking and baking is a very big hobby in Germany and we also have one of the largest recipe websites: Chefkoch. There are numerous websites on this subject, but I will mention just two: Dr. Oetker (pronounced Ötker) and the YouTube channel Sally’s Welt
Politics
Rayk Anders makes short political videos about Germany
Mr. Wissen to go covers ‘what if’ scenarios and explains many topics, especially political or historical ones, in a simple way
Die da oben explains political topics in a longer format
Jung und Naiv is a group of journalists who ask ‘naive’ questions to politicians. They have a lot of in-depth interviews with celebrities
social media
Books
Is Dutch your native language? Then these two German books are my recommendation for you: zakelijk Duits – Prima and zakelijk Duits 2 – Prisma
Romans
Of course there are many books in German. I chose the books below because they are very well-known German books that have also been made into films.
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- Till Eulenspiegel short stories
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- Michael Ende: the Neverending story
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- Cornelia Funke: Tintenherz
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- Patrick Süßkind: das Parfum
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- Gebrüder Grimm: Aschenputtel, Rapunzel, Hänsel und Gretel, Rotkäppchen, Frau Holle, Dornröschen, Schneewittchen, der gestiefelte Kater
Books are royalty-free (free) after 100 years. Here you will find a lot of texts in German and English that you can read for free
https://www.projekt-gutenberg.org/
The same goes for audiobooks, take a look here: https://librivox.org/
News, Newsletters, Podcasts
Newsletter
These two newsletters are great for German learners. You can enter your email address here and receive daily or weekly newsletters in German so you can stay informed! Nu beter Duits is for Dutch people, the newsletter links to a quiz with 4 – 5 questions. The Deutsche Welle newsletter contains links to news, texts about German culture and also a German quiz
Podcasts
Apps
You can use apps to support your German lessons or to practice regularly after lessons. A well-known and popular app is Duolingo. You can also use any flashcard app that allows you to create the cards yourself and add the words you find difficult. You can also add me yourself on Duolingo:
Recently the famous Goethe institute also came up with a game app to facilitate learning for higher German levels: Learn more about the detective game “Ein rätselhafter Auftrag” here.
In real life
You can register for volunteer work, for example in a retirement home, the volunteer fire brigade or the Homeless Assistance. Libraries also often offer help with learning German, such as a language café. Sign up for clubs and meet Germans there to practice your hobby together. An overview of the clubs can often be found on the website of the city or municipality. Also visit festivals, markets and other events in your city!
