5 Top Tips to Help You

Listen More Effectively to German

Listening to German is hard, especially at the beginning. Native speakers speak quickly, German has
many dialects and a short prefix can change the entire meaning of a word. It’s normal to get
frustrated, however with a few solid practice techniques you can give yourself the practice you need
to understand what you listen to the first time.

These tips may not be that unusual, however they are effective. And when you’re listening, you want
to be an effective listener. You’re listening to get information from someone, so keep that in mind
when you’re practicing or when you’re having a conversation with someone. It’s an important skill in
any language.

So try these tips out over a period of time (I’ve made some suggestions below) and see how your
listening changes. Give yourself (and your ears!) time to adjust to the new language and watch your
world open up.

Tip #1: Listen to your book’s recordings

until you can’t stand them anymore.

As I mentioned in the previous whitepaper, repetition has huge benefits. When you work with a
book specifically written for German as a Foreign Language, the written text and the accompanying
audios were written specifically to help you learn. Step-by-step you acquire vocabulary and speaking
skill, which are closely tied to your listening skills.

When you listen and re-listen to your book’s recordings you are listening to:

 audio which is 100% correct

 the same topics you’ve just learned in your lesson or course
 everything you are working on in your homework
 conversations using constructions that are not new so you don’t have to figure anything out.

Listening once or twice is fine, however have you tried listening to one audio track 6, 8, or even 12
times? Try it! Now is the time! You may be amazed at the details you discover when you’ve listened
to an audio that many times.

And now keep repeating it over the next week. If you are sick of it by the time your next lesson takes
place or your class meets, that means you have learned it exceptionally well. And you probably know
it by heart! If you aren’t sick of it yet, keep listening!
 Tip #2: Listen to a podcast with the transcript.

Back in “5 Top Tips for Speaking German” I recommended you check out two podcasts from the
Deutsche Welle: Alltagsdeutsch and Langsam gesprochene Nachrichten, both of which come with a
transcript. You can use these same podcasts again for listening comprehension in a very cool way.

So just as before, be sure you work with the same podcasts again to get more repetition in, and see
how the meaning of it all takes a new shape after using the same podcasts for listening.

How to use these podcasts for listening:

The goal of this activity is a two-dimensional kind of repetition because you are training your eye and
ear together at the same time. This is a specific kind of work and for this you’ll want to ensure you’re
not being interrupted for a stretch of time, at least two listens through a podcast.

1. Find a podcast that you have listened to several times before and download/print the
transcript.
2. Listen to the podcast again with the transcript, looking up any words and phrases that are new
or you don’t quite understand.
3. Choose one section of the podcast and read the transcript, noting key words, any of the words
that were new to you, and the gist of the section. Now listen to only that section of the
podcast, paying close attention to the key words and the words that were new to you.
4. Listen to that section again while reading through the transcript.

How well can you “hear” the words when you read the transcript? How well can you “see” the words
when you listen to the podcast? Keep up this exercise with the same podcast four times in one week.
How does it change your understanding and your listening comprehension?

Tip #3: Play Copycat.

Remember when you were a kid and your brother kept copying everything you said? It’s actually a
fantastic exercise that you can do now with a partner.

With a partner, decide on the activity. You can copy each other directly, like an echo:

Wir fahren nach Dresden. – Ja, wir fahren nach Dresden.

or it might be something a little more complicated, for example:

Wir fahren nach Dresden. – Ja, ihr fahrt nach Dresden.

Perhaps you want to say the opposite of what someone else says, or correct them:
 Am Sonntag besuchen wir Oma. – Nein, am Sonntag besucht ihr Oma nicht.
Ihr geht zum Sportverein.

You could even play Three Truths and a Lie with a partner and listen for a lie in their story. It’s not
just a get-to-know-you game, but a wonderful way to learn to listen closely.

Tip #4: Listen by repetition, not time.

There was one key method that I used in order to understand the news in German: EuroNews. In
Germany it’s a TV station that plays the same 10-minute newscast over and over again, hour after
hour. I would turn it on when I was at home and leave it run, so every time I was in the living room
I’d hear the same newscast. While I was cooking, I’d hear the same newscast two or three times.
And when I didn’t understand something, I knew to run into the living room to watch the video the
next time that section came up so I could try to understand it through visual context.

There were several times when I could listen to a newscast and understand everything except two
words, then I’d figure out what those two words meant, and there it was! I had understood the
entire newscast.

This is why repetition is so important. It gives you an opportunity to find out what you don’t know so
that you can figure it out. And then you know!

Tip #5: Watch re-runs of your favorite TV show in German

Whether you need to go to Germany or simply order the DVDs online to do this, it’s so worth it. If
you grew up watching “Little House on the Prairie” here in the US, find the German-dubbed version
and watch every episode. You’d be amazed at how much you can figure out just by watching.

You already know the show, you already know the context, and you can sit back & concentrate on
learning the German language for that situation. It’s absolutely brilliant.

Popcorn, anyone?
 Bonus Tip!
Tip #6: Watch German TV & movies with subtitles

This ties in to tip number two again, and it is one of the most relaxed, enjoyable ways of learning to
listen to German more effectively. Turn on the subtitles and you can practice listening and reading at
the same time as you’re watching a show or a movie. Das ist ja perfekt!

Subtitles are called der Untertitel in German. So look for German subtitles in a German movie, or turn
it on when you’re watching TV in Germany/Switzerland/Austria. Look for the “Display” or “Audio”
button on the remote and look for Untertitel or “Subtitles.”

Viel Spaß damit!

I most certainly hope you’ve enjoyed these tips and the two others coming your way. For more
German learning, find me on Pinterest!

If you’d like to read more, try:

Free Audio Books in German

Typisch Deutsch: Schlager!

Any recommendations in this document are just that, and not advertisements. There are no affiliate links in this
document. If you have a learning technique that you think would be helpful for others, please email me here. Viel Spaß!