Ten Pop Songs that Will Help You Learn German

Research has shown that listening to music can help you improve your language skills. These ten pop songs will help you master the German language.

May 12, 2015 by Nicolette Stewart

“In the 1970s, extensive research was carried out into the powers of music in the learning process, by the Bulgarian physician Georgi Lozanov. He revealed that music puts listeners into a state of relaxed alertness, the ‘alpha state,’ the ideal state of consciousness for learning, and his tests were conclusive.

“More recently, in the March 2005 issue of the journal ‘Nature’ researchers at Dartmouth College in the US reported that they had pinpointed the region of the brain where ‘ earworms ‘ or catchy tunes reside, the auditory cortex. They found that the sounds and words that have actually been heard can be readily recalled from the auditory cortex where the brain can listen to them ‘virtually’ again and again. Music it seems is the ideal catalyst to the memorisation of words.”  (source)

Why learn German with music?

Add to the research the fact that listening to music is a lot more fun than staring at a textbook, and you have an ideal formula for language learning.  If you've ever gotten a song stuck in your head, you are familiar with the way that music and lyrics can work their way into your brain effortlessly.  The melody carries them in and while you're humming that tune, implants important grammatical concepts and vocabulary in your memory.

Songs with clear, easy-to-differentiate lyrics are ideal for language learning, but if you're having trouble understanding what the singer is saying, Google the song title + band name + lyrics.  Then listen to the song while reading the words. Repeat.  Once a catchy tune gets into your head, you'll find yourself repeating phrases and words to yourself even when you aren't studying.

These ten songs will help you improve your German:

99 Luftballons by Nena

You've no doubt heard this song before, but did you know that it is about a nuclear apocalypse brought about by accident? Use this catchy pop tune to practice your listening comprehension skills and learn vocab that will help you discuss the pros and cons of war.

Listen to 99 Luftballons:

Leider Geil by Deichkind

"Geil" ist a German slang word for cool (ok; it can also have overtones of meaning "horny").  This humorous song will hammer both "leider" (unfortunately) and "geil" (cool/awesome) into your active vocabulary while explaining which of the negative/stupid/bad things in the world that are actually kind of, well  "leider giel."

Listen to Leider Geil:

Elke by Die Ärzte

This song by Berlin band Die Ärzte tells the story of a couple who start as pen pals and then "12 seconds later" end up together. Those whose musical taste has punk leanings will enjoy this humorous and energetic love song.

Listen to Elke:

Wir trafen uns im Garten by 2RAUMWOHNUNG

This twee but upbeat pop song is about a couple who meet in a garden.  When after the break up thoughts about her ex-partner leave her feeling tired and sad, the singer tries to distract herself with other things.  It is one of the many songs that will help you learn the vocab you will need to talk about a break-up, but unlike many of its thematic relations, it has an upbeat and positive sound and attitude.

Listen to Wir trafen uns im Garten:

Für immer Immer by Fettes Brot

Practice geography and German vocab with this song about all the women from around the world that Fettes Brot have loved.

Listen to Für immer Immer:

Halt Dich an mir fest by Revolverheld

This emotional ballad from Hamburg band Revolverheld will provide you with vocabulary to talk about a failing relationship.

Listen to Halt Dich an mir fest:

Wo willst du hin? by Xavier Naidoo

Mannheimer singer Xavier Naidoo is generally a good starting point for German learners who enjoy soul and R&B. This song is about a failed relationship and forgiveness.

Listen to Wo willst du hin?:

Ja by Silbermond

Silbermond hail from Bautzen, Saxony, and they have been playing quiet, emotional pop music since forming in 1998.  Ja will help provide you with vocabulary for talking about feeling down, but strengthened by a relationship.

Listen to Ja:

Fallshirm by Mia

Mia (not to be confused with Sri Lanken/British performer M.I.A.) writes upbeat, dancey pop music.  The group are from Berlin and having been making music since 1997.

Listen to Fallschirm:

Tage wie diese by Die Toten Hosen

The list ends with an upbeat rock-pop anthem written to get stadium crowds holding their lighters in the air and signing along. Days like these (as the title would be in English) is about those perfect days when you feel like you can do and be anything.

Listen to Tage wie diese:

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11 Oddly Specifc German Words That Make Other Languages Jealous

Danke noch einmal, FluentU

Words like these would definitely come in handy in English. You know, when you want to describe a very specific scenario that everyone knows. Instead, we’re limited to giving the same long-winded explanations again and again.

That’s why sometimes it’s just easier for us to stick to the original German words, like Zeitgeist (spirit of the time) or Doppelgänger (look-alike or double).  [Super Wörter -- jetzt sogar auf Englisch benutzt.  --rsb]

Here are a few more examples that the English language should consider adding.

1. Weltschmerz    [Gutes Wort!  --rsb]

Literally translated to “world pain,” Weltschmerz describes the feeling of having the weight of the world on your shoulders. You know those days where you watch some moving documentary on Netflix about starving children in some far-off place and suddenly you feel hopeless about the state of our plant? You have Weltschmerz.

When you read the news, see all the horrible things happening and feel deep resignation about your own inability to do anything about any of it? Weltschmerz. The next time your outlook is too dark and glum to bear seeing another photo exhibit on AIDS, just let your friends know you can’t. Du hast Weltschmerz.

2. Fremdscham

                       [This image more closely resembles Schadenfreude, I think. -- rsb]
 
This feeling may arise when you see a Facebook friend post a long-winded rant about something that turns out to be a gag article from The Onion.

Or when you watch one of those clips from America’s Funniest Home Videos where someone gets hurt in a stupid way.
Some might feel Schadenfreude, a German word that is somewhat commonly used in English, which means taking joy in others’ pain. Instead of this though, you cringe and feel embarrassed for them, almost as if you made the mistake yourself. That’s Fremdscham, literally “stranger shame.”

One might feel this at a party when someone else insult’s the host’s cooking, only to have the host walk up right behind them. Ouch — that stinging feeling in your stomach? Total Fremdscham.

3. Treppenwitz

English-language comedians have built dozens upon dozens of sitcoms entirely upon the premise of Treppenwitz, like in the Seinfeld episode “The Comeback.” Yet we still don’t have a good way to describe it.

Well, I’ll take a stab at it. You know those times when you get into an argument with someone and you want so badly to say a snappy comeback, but that snappy comeback doesn’t dawn on you until long after the altercation?
That’s a Treppenwitz.

The word literally means “staircase joke,” as in you don’t think of the retort until you’re on the stairs, leaving the scene. Then you kick yourself for not thinking faster. Shoot! Why didn’t I think of that? 

4. Mutterseelenallein      [Gutes Wort!  --rsb]

This one might come the closest to representing the internet meme “forever alone,” but the imagery it evokes cannot be matched in English.

Mutterseelenallein literally translates to mean “mother’s souls alone,” as in no soul, not even your mother’s, is with you. You’re so alone that not even your mother can stand being with you. Cue the sad violin music.

5. Unwort

Ever the clever linguists, Germans know that sometimes there are words that aren’t really words. They decided that those words deserve their own word to describe them.

That word is Unwort, or un-word. The term is generally used to describe newly created, and often offensive, “words.” There’s even a panel of German linguists that selects an “Un-word of the Year.”

6. Gemütlichkeit   [Gutes Wort!  --rsb]

If you tell a German “oh, we have a phrase for Gemütlichkeit in English — feeling cozy,” they’ll instantly correct you.
For German speakers, it’s so much more than that.

The word describes the whole atmosphere of your surroundings. It’s not just the state of being on a soft couch that gives you Gemütlichkeit. It’s being on a soft couch. Under a warm blanket. Surrounded by family. With a cup of hot chocolate in your hands. And maybe a knit cap on your head. It’s the whole experience and feeling that you have of being physically warm, but also metaphorically feeling warm inside your heart.

7. Backpfeifengesicht

In English, one might say someone has “a face only a mother could love.” In German, such faces might also deserve getting punched. Backpfeifengesicht, a “face that should get a slap that whistles across the cheek,” is a face that makes you want to smack that person.

8. Sprachgefühl   [Hmmm.  Auch oft negativ benutzt; was man nicht hat. --rsb]

Some people just have a knack for learning languages, collecting five, six or seven in their lifetime. It’s like they have a sixth sense for knowing when to say der, die or das. There’s a German word for this: Sprachgefühl, or “language feeling.” According to Wiktionary, it’s the “instinctive or intuitive grasp” of a language.

9. Aufschnitte   --- >  [Gutes Wort!  --rsb]

This translates to “cold cuts,” but it’s often used not only to describe the pieces of meat on the table, but the whole meal. Often Germans will have a meal of Aufschnitte where they sit down to eat a selection of breads with various fresh cheeses, smoked salmon and thinly sliced meat. It’s often a more convenient alternative to cooking for the whole family after a long day at work and driving on the Autobahn. What’s for dinner? Let’s just have Aufschnitte.

10. Streicheleinheit    [Gutes Wort!  --rsb]

Many online dictionaries translate this word to be a noun for “caress,” but when you break down the word, it sounds quite technical.

The word comes from the verb streicheln – to stroke or pet — and the noun Einheit – a unit of measurement. So it literally means “a unit of petting.”

But the way it’s used in practice is more along the lines of what in English might be shortened to TLC — tender love and care. A German might say “Wir alle sehnen uns nach Streicheleinheiten” – we’re all yearning for love and affection. And isn’t that the truth.

11. Sehnsucht   [Gutes Wort!  --rsb]

This is another word that describes a complex set of emotions. It comes from sehnen, which means “to yearn or long for,” and Sucht, an obsession, craving or addiction.

Literally, it would mean something like “an obsessive yearning” for something, but that doesn’t quite capture it. It could be used to describe an inconsolable yearning for happiness and the unattainable. It could illustrate that you’re intensely missing something or someone. It may also express a longing for a far-off place.

Either way, it’s a pretty profound emotion to be boiled down into just two syllables.

Wir denken...

So geht es bei "Easy German"



Ein paar Fehler gibt es doch...

German Language on a roll

When German Words Travel, Our Zeitgeist Goes Oom-Pah-Pah

Why do Finnish buses take coffee breaks? And why are the French always puzzled when they look at a skylight? It's because they use words of German origin, sometimes without even realizing it.

Learning German is for many students an excercise in delayed gratification

Many students of the German language -- especially those who suffered their way through cruel, Teutonic grammar drills, lost their sense of orientation trying to order their German words correctly, or wounded both their tongues and sense of self-esteem with sharp, unpronounceable compound words -- get rather surprised when they come to Germany and hear the language of Goethe in actual use.
People in Germany are often invited to attend "ein Meeting," asked to bring along their "down-geloadete" information and told "sorry" (with a rolling "r") when somebody bumps into them on the street.

But -- even in the age of digital communication, dominated by the English language and US American pop culture -- it is not only English words that cross national and linguistic borders.
The German Language Council recently organized an international contest called "Word Migrations." People from 70 countries -- ranging from Mexico to Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea to Nigeria -- participated in the linguistic hunt for German words that "migrated" to other languages. Over 6,000 such words were submitted. A winner was drawn from the entries and the award ceremony took place Thursday in Munich.

Coffee break par excellence
"The response to our first advertisement was enormous," said Rudolf Hoberg of the Association for the German Language, one of the organizations participating in the German Language Council.
The winning entry also showed that Germany is not only a language of profound philosophy and utmost, technical efficiency, but also a language of leisure and procrastination.
Susanne Bätjer from Germany was wondering why a Finnish public-transit bus, which she saw in 2005, had the word "Kaffepaussi" displayed on its automated destination display. Do Finnish buses really take coffee breaks? Bätjer learned in the end that the German word for coffee break had acquired an additional, slightly different, meaning in Finnish: "out of order."
Some German words -- such as kindergarten, zeitgeist, and sauerkraut -- have long been known as German imports into the English language. But the goal of the project was to go beyond the obvious examples and explore the extent to which German words have infiltrated other languages.
"We wanted to find out what German words are used on an everyday basis in other countries," Hoberg said.

A colorful collection
The results of this survey -- which one could best place in the category of linguistic anthropology -- told a fascinating story of German technical expertise, colonial history, cultural stereotypes and a delightful sense of humor.
The Turkish rail system was started in 1913 with German assistance, which is why Turkish train conductors always cry "fertik" ("fertig" -- ready or finished in German) when the train is about to leave the station. In Cameroon, once a German colony, train stations are called "banop" ("Bahnhof"). If one is anesthetized in Tanzania, they are -- all joking aside -- "nusu kaput" (half-broken). In Afrikaans, the language of Dutch settlers in South Africa, an impatient German is an "Aberjetzte" ("aber jetzt" in German means "on the double" or "ASAP").
"The vocabulary of the German language is far better known abroad than we thought," Hoberg said.
And even though contributions came from all over the word -- the Russians raise a glass of vodka to "Brudershaft," a gesture of friendship and brotherhood (German "Brüderschaft"), while some American presidential candidates can be best described as wishy-washy (from German "wischi-waschi," lacking a clear-cut standpoint) -- most of the words were submitted from Eastern Europe and Anglo-Saxon cultural areas.

What's that?
It may come as a surprise, however, that the most frequently submitted entry was the French word for skylight -- "vasistas." In the original German, "was ist das" means, literally, "what's that?" Yet most French speakers probably don't pay attention to the fact that skylights in French provoke, etymologically speaking, a sense of puzzled inquiry about the state of the world.
It is also unlikely that Japanese students who have an odd student job called "arubaito" realize that they are, from an etymological point of view, part of Germany's labor-intensive work culture ("Arbeit" means work in German).
"The project does not attempt a linguistic investigation," Hoberg said. "Some words that were sent in might well be only passing fads."
Whether as temporary guest workers in foreign languages, or as naturalized citizens, German words have long left the confines of the German-speaking world. A large collection of colorful cross-linguistic gems -- along with personal anecdotes and insights into the way cultures collide and enrich each other -- has now been collected and published as a book under the title "Ausgewanderte Wörter" (available in German only).