The Best Podcasts to Learn German (Recommended by a Native German Speaker)

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If you’ve been struggling to find the best podcast to learn German, look no more! I put my husband, a native German, to the task on this one.

I’ve been falling behind on my German lessons (for a few years!). For a podcast junkie like me, there’s no better way to get me back on course than to start with podcasts.

Growing up in Maine, I didn’t have much knowledge of, or interactions with, Germans. Like much of Maine, my town was mostly made up of Canadian immigrants or first-generation Canadian-Americans.

My Mom and Dad grew up speaking both French and English. They often spoke French to one another in the house when I was growing up, but I only learned a few phrases here and there.

I’m not even sure if my high school had the option to take a German class. Most kids took French or Latin. I took Spanish, because: rebellion.

When I first started dating my husband and met his family, I thought of German as their native language, nothing more. And I took a real interest in learning German; I’ve just taken a lot of detours along the way.

What I’ve always found interesting though, is how many people we meet who have a strong desire to learn and speak German. Now that he’s learning his third language, my husband’s advice is: listen to a podcast.

Using Podcasts to Learn German

I wrote quite a bit about why I love podcasts for language learning at the end of my review of the Duolingo Spanish podcast. Both my husband and I have found that listening to podcasts has helped us reach the next level of language learning (in our case, for Spanish).

Long story short: you can study grammar all day long, but until your ear starts to hear the language being spoken, you’ll struggle to speak it yourself.

But not just any podcast will do. It took us a long time to find Spanish podcasts that we could understand and find useful. Some were too fast, others too basic. Some good ones never made it past 10 episodes.

I also came across many podcasts that were hosted by non-native speakers (people with strong Scottish accents teaching Spanish, for example). These podcasts are not recommended. Listening to native speakers is extremely important when you’re trying to learn proper pronunciation and enunciation.

So for these German podcast recommendations, I gave my husband some strict criteria. The podcasts had to:

• Have some structure to the learning (not just some people chit chatting in German)
• Be hosted or co-hosted by at least one native speaking German
• Be slow enough for a language learner to understand
• Include at least a Beginner and Intermediate level
• Have transcripts of the episodes available (so you can read/look up words)

Hubby took my very basic knowledge of German into account when selecting these podcasts, and after a listening to a couple episodes of each, I’m in agreement.

3 Podcasts to Help You Learn German

German Pod 101 (Beginner Level)

This podcast is co-hosted by a native German speaker and an American who has learned German. My husband’s advice: be sure to listen to the native speaker to learn proper pronunciation.

Hubby praises the structure of this podcast, because the German woman repeats and dissects words and phrases so that you can understand them better. There are also pauses so that you can repeat the words yourselves (sounds corny, and a little embarrassing, but it’s a must for learning a new language).

The lessons include ultra-beginner stuff, like how to say “Hello”, “My name is”, and “Nice to meet you”. If you have zero knowledge of German phrases and vocabulary, these lessons are for you.

Be sure to read the episode titles to find “Absolute Beginner” and “Beginner”, since the feed in iTunes and other podcast players is made up of samples of audio from GermanPod101.com. Listening to the episodes in the order in which they’re in the feed will only confuse you!

To get all the podcast episodes and other resources from GermanPod101, you’ll need to sign up for one of their paid plans.  I’ve already created an account on the site, and the free resources seem like solid learning tools. I’m considering the Basic plan, which is just $4.00 per month.

** Update 2024: Over the years, I’ve recommended the Pod101 podcasts and lessons for other languages, too. And WOW have my readers loved them. The company that makes this content, Innovative Language, is constantly offering discounts and specials, and they do continually add content to help you learn a language. I’ve subscribed to their SpanishPod101 courses and they’re great. I highly recommend checking out this resource.

Listen to GermanPod101

DaZPod – German as a Second Language (Beginner/Intermediate Level)

The concept of this podcast is to learn German by listening to a story. You’ll need some basic German vocab to follow along, but this show is definitely high-Beginner/low-Intermediate level.

Most episodes include two native speakers, a man and a woman. They tell stories at a very slow pace, so you can pick up each word they say.

It’s helpful to hear two separate people (and genders) speaking and repeating the same words. It helps me to trust the sounds I make when I attempt to speak the same words.

The stories are super random, ranging from “how to find a good doctor” to one about a mouse in the kitchen eating Nutella. This is a good thing, since you’ll learn a variety of words and phrases related to everyday life. Transcripts can be accessed by registering at Dazpod.de.

DaZPod ended production in 2014, but the 50 episodes that exist are plenty to help you learn new vocab and verb conjugation. Make it a habit to listen to an episode more than once; it helps your brain get used to the sounds and order of words.

Listen to DazPod

* Side note: the creator of DaZPod has another German learning podcast called Twilingo. I’ve listened to a couple of episodes, but neither Hubby nor I can recommend it since it uses a teaching method that we aren’t familiar with. If you’ve used that podcast to learn German, drop a comment below or email me at info@podcastmaniac.com.

Authentic German Learning (Intermediate Level)

This podcast requires that you have some basic knowledge of German grammar, plus a fair bit of vocabulary. I might not be able to understand everything in this podcast, but in the few episodes that I’ve listened to, I found the host to be fun and entertaining.

According to Hubby, the native-German host speaks clearly and uses a modern philosophy for language learning (based on listening). Hubby approved of the modern, useful phrases that are taught, like the episode about “Otto Normalverbraucher”, which Americans would translate to an “Everyday Joe”.

Episode transcripts are available on AuthenticGermanLearning.com, so you can see the spelling of words, and look them up when you don’t know their meaning (another “must” for learning a language).

Listen to Authentic German Learning

Please let me know what podcasts you listen to to learn German! Leave a comment below for me and other readers.

Related Posts:

3 Best Podcasts for Becoming Fluent In Spanish
Duolingo Spanish Podcast Review