6 podcasts to learn German at any level

Interviews, news, stories, comedy and informal conversations on every topic under the sun? All for free? Podcasts are an excellent way to learn more about a country, a culture and a language. Whether you’re a beginner or just closed the back page of untranslated Kant, here are some of the best podcasts for learning German.

The best podcasts for learning German

From your first “ich” to the Einbürgerungstest, learning German is a long journey. While some newcomers arrive in the federal republic and are lucky enough to be plunged head-first into work or study that allows their language skills to flourish quickly, others may find themselves moving in international circles for a while.

If you find yourself in the latter scenario, listening to German-language podcasts hosted by native speakers is a great way to ease yourself into the language. As with watching German films or reading German books, listening to native speakers talk on podcasts allows you to pick up informal vocabulary such as slang or filler words, while tuning your ear to pronunciation.

Whatever your language level, here is our pick of the best podcasts to learn German. 

German podcasts for beginners

Where to begin? Language learning podcasts for beginners usually use a mixture of languages, i.e. the native language and the target language. Since English is so widely spoken, it will be easier to find dual-language German-English podcasts, but if your native language is not English, some podcasts may be hosted in your mother tongue too.

When you start listening, remember: don’t give up if you don’t understand everything immediately. That’s the point - if you could understand everything it would be time to move up a level! 

At this stage of language learning, active listening will make your pursuits much more fruitful. For example, listen while you are in the park or on the U-Bahn, and take a note of any words you hear repeatedly that you don’t understand, rather than half listening while doing the washing up.

Be patient with yourself and remember, you can always slow the playback speed!

Coffee Break German

Coffee Break Languages is a beginner classic. The Scotland-based company produces 15-30-minute episodes to help learners of 10 languages, including German.

Coffee Break German is hosted by Mark, a Scottish German learner and Thomas, a German with a Scottish twang. Each episode of the podcast focuses on a very specific remit to keep things short and sweet; dialogue for the supermarket, the word “oder”, or breakfast vocabulary.

You’ll be confidently debating your choice of Saturday morning Brötchen with the bakery employees in no time.

Video credit: Coffee Break German / YouTube.com

News in Slow German

Learning languages as an adult is a humbling and sometimes frustrating experience, thrown back to a childlike vocabulary and a limited number of topics you can discuss. News in Slow German will motivate you to push through this stage, presenting big, complex topics using simple vocabulary and slow-spoken German. 

The ability to understand journalistic language and texts in a foreign language is a skill associated with the later intermediate and advanced stages of language learning, but News in Slow German means you won’t have to wait until B2 to find out more about your more complex interests from a German perspective.

Available at beginner and intermediate levels, each episode lasts around 15 minutes and covers three news stories from that day. Listening to the podcast is free, but if you want to take advantage of an annotated transcript alongside, monthly subscriptions cost 12,75 euros.

Video credit: linguistica360 / YouTube.com

German podcasts for intermediate learners

Intermediate-level German is a true test of one’s determination. “Wow, I can say everything now! That was easy!”, you may think. Then, just as you’ve got your head around the three ways to say “the”, a fork in the road appears in the form of the case system and now there are 16 ways to say “the”.

Many are tempted to resign their efforts at this stage and stick to what they know. But it’s worth pushing through, because while things get harder, they also get more interesting and even more rewarding. These podcasts will ease the pain of the persistent.

The Easy German Podcast

The Easy German Podcast is a big hitter among German language learners, largely thanks to the podcast’s loveable, engaged and energetic hosts, Cari and Manuel, and the diversity of topics they discuss.

Releasing 30-minute episodes twice a week, the podcast covers what Cari and Manuel have been doing recently, documentary recommendations, listener questions about German culture and language, and weekly segments like “Darüber redet Deutschland” (What Germany is talking about) or “Ausdruck der Woche” (Expression of the Week).

As with News in Slow German, The Easy German Podcast is free to listen to or 5 euros per month for members, who receive interactive exercises and vocabulary sheets for all episodes.

Video credit: The Easy German Podcast / YouTube.com

Frisch an die Arbeit

If you find yourself able to understand The Easy German Podcast with no hassle, it might be time to graduate to the next step to keep yourself challenged: German-language podcasts which aren’t aimed at language learners.

Enter, Frisch an die Arbeit. Created by the German broadsheet newspaper Die Zeit, Frisch an die Arbeit is an interview podcast. In each 30-40 minute episode, hosts Elise Landschek, Hannah Scherkamp and Daniel Erk speak to people of every imaginable occupation about their work: a lawyer responsible for marriage contracts, a supermarket cashier, a comedian, a waitress, and an obituary writer, to name a few.

This podcast is an excellent combination of the everyday language related to routine and work that we master at the early stages of learning German and specific vocabulary and jargon related to the featured jobs. Dipping its toe into every corner of Germany’s world of work, Frisch an die Arbeit will help you understand German culture on a deeper level.

Video credit: Studio ZX / YouTube.com

German podcasts for advanced learners

Schön, dass du hier bist, well done for pushing through. At this level, we are doing full Deutsch, ohne Bremsen. Here are the best German podcasts for advanced speakers.

Fest & Flauschig

If you’ve been in Germany a while you’ll know the name Jan Böhmermann, Germany’s answer to John Oliver. Together with singer and actor Olli Schulz, “Böhmi” presents a twice-weekly podcast.

Fest & Flauschig (literally, "firm and fluffy") is a wonderful demonstration of the art of "quatschen" (chatting away, chewing the fat, blethering on) often about "Quatsch" (nonsense) and sometimes about serious matters: German elections, Meddl (metal music), Bahnstreiks and "Dad-Cover-Versions" of Olivia Rodrigo, to name a few topics.

With more than 100.000 listeners, Fest & Flauschig is one of Germany's most popular podcasts. Head to the backlog of nearly 600 episodes (only available on Spotify) to understand, or not, why it is so beloved.

Video credit: Fest & Flauschig / YouTube.com

Lage der Nation

With no fluff and almost entirely firm, Lage der Nation is one of Germany's favourite politics podcasts. Each week, journalist Philip Banse and lawyer Ulf Buermeyer take listeners through the "Lage der Nation" (State of the Union) and discuss the latest in German, European and international news and politics in an in-depth, 90-minute episode.

These often include interviews with politicians, economists or sociologists on topics such as the Sylt song, Israel's bombardment of Palestine, cannabis legalisation, migration to Germany from an economic perspective and US politics from a German perspective.

Since Banse, Buermeyer and their guests tend to speak quickly, the playback speed adjustment tool will be your friend while tuning into Lage der Nation. Each episode is also helpfully divided into chapters lasting between one and six minutes, where a specific topic or sub-topic is being discussed. The titles of these chapters will help you to keep up while listening.

If you find yourself listening to Lage der Nation and following everything or almost everything, well done! This is a language learning milestone. Enjoy the freedom it gives you to enjoy all kinds of German-language podcasts and other media!

Video credit: Küchenstud.io / YouTube.com

What is your favourite German-language podcast?

Which podcasts have accompanied you through your German language learning journey? And which can you recommend to fellow readers? Let us know in the comments below!

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