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Better German Podcast with Susi

Susanne Schilk-Blümel
Since 09/2023 36 episodes

Episode 14 - Introduction to Watching Movies to Learn German

Have Fun with Movies and TV Shows while Learning German

2023-11-30 21 min

Description & Show Notes

In this episode we will explore the benefits of watching German movies and TV shows with subtitles as a tool to aid in learning the German language. This is great for both independent learners and students that are taking a course or classes.
We will cover programs on Amazon, Netflix, Disney Plus and YouTube. You will find a free interactive movie guide on my homepage with all the movies that we are going over in this episode and more. 

Unleashing the Power of Subtitled German Movies: A Beginner's Path to Fluency

In this episode we will explore the benefits of watching German movies and TV shows with subtitles as a tool to aid in learning the German language. This is great for both independent learners and students that are taking a course or classes.
We will cover programs on Amazon, Netflix, Disney Plus and YouTube.
For every one of these platforms we will cover specific movie or TV show recommendations that are suitable for different levels - advanced beginners, intermediate students, upper intermediate and advanced. 
You will find a free interactive movie guide on my homepage with all the movies that we are going over in this episode and more.

Key Topics and Bullets
Primary Topic: Watching German Movies and TV Shows with Subtitles to Help Learn German
- Importance of Watching Movies and Shows with Subtitles for Learning German
- Recommendations for Watching German Movies and TV Shows with Subtitles
  - Amazon Prime Recommendations
  - Netflix Recommendations
  - Disney Plus Recommendations
  - YouTube Recommendations
  - Interactive German Movie Guide for Accessing Recommendations
- Suggestions and Tips for Watching German Movies and TV Shows with Subtitles
- Freebies and Additional Resources for Finding German Movies and TV Shows with Subtitles
  - Access to Interactive German Movie Guide
- Advice on When to Start Watching Movies and Shows with Subtitles Based on German Proficiency Level

Primary Topic: Detailed Recommendations for German Content on Various Streaming Platforms
- German Content on Amazon Prime
  - Inclusion of German Shows and Movies
  - Recommendations for Specific Movies with Subtitles
- German Content on Netflix
  - Inclusion of German Shows and Movies
  - Recommendations for Specific TV Shows and Movies with Subtitles
- German Content on Disney Plus
  - Inclusion of German Disney Movies
  - Recommendations for Specific German Shows and Movies with Subtitles
- German Educational Content on YouTube
  - Recommendations for Specific German Movies and Shows with Subtitles
  - Free Resources for German Learning on YouTube

Primary Topic: Accessing Additional Resources and Freebies for Learning German by Watching Movies and Shows
- Interactive German Movie Guide
  - Details on Movie Search Options
  - Level of Difficulties, Categories, and Subtitles Available

Links

- Interactive Movie Guide to help you find German movies with subtitles on your level.





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And watch out for the next episode - I publish a new one every Thursday.

Transcript

Welcome to the Better German podcast. My name is Susi Blümel, and I will teach you German and everything around the language , the countries and the culture. In this episode, we're going to talk about watching German movies or TV shows with subtitles, in order to help you learning German. I suggest this to all of my students, or actually it's part of the courses when you are one of my students to watch movies, or shows with subtitles. but you can do that whether or not you're doing a course, and it will help you. And if you do it long enough, you will probably learn German just by doing that, to be honest. I do think you just should do some other things, but whatever else you do to learn German, you should definitely watch, movies or shows with subtitles. So for this episode, there is a very special freebie. You go to my homepage to better german.info and there you will find an Interactive German Movie Guide. So, what that is is, you will find a page where you can look for German movies based on the platform, but also based on the level of difficulty, advanced beginners, intermediate, upper intermediate and advanced. And also on categories, like, is it comedy or science fiction or documentary, there will be something in there for you. And the most important thing also by the language of subtitles available. So go to my homepage and get access to the interactive movie guide, and then you will get the most out of this episode. Also, all of the movies, that I'm talking about in this episode are of course in there. So go there, and have fun and enjoy this podcast episode. So let's jump into this episode, the first platform I'm going to talk about, where you can find, things to watch, is actually Amazon. So when you are an Amazon prime member, which you may or may not be, you also to automatically can watch a lot of movies and TV shows on Amazon prime. But whether or not you are an Amazon prime member, there are things you can watch and you pay once for watching the movie. There is something I'm going to suggest to you for both of these lists. In any case, Amazon has recently started producing German content German movies or TV shows. And some of them are very good and the new ones also always come with subtitles and I'm thrilled about that. So my favorite tip for Amazon actually, is am new movie and it's called " Die Sachertorte". That's my number one tip, to watch on Amazon prime. That's included in Prime. It's an Amazon production, it's called "Sachertorte" It's a very cute movie. It's. The location of the filming is like partially Germany, Berlin, I think, and partially it's Austria, which I'm particularly happy about because that's where I'm from. So it's partially, filmed in Vienna and it's playing in Vienna. And it's a very nice story. It's not a very deep story. It's a cute story. And that's my favorite tip. Then there is another one. Which is not included in Amazon prime, you have to pay for it, but it's a very nice movie. It's a German movie. It's "Gut gegen Nordwind" it's actually made out of, one of the better books of the last few years that were published in German. I think. I haven't read old books that were published obviously, but this one I read and it was a very nice movie and it's called "Gut gegen Nordwind" Oh, I forgot to tell you. So "Sachertorte", the name of the first movie I mentioned, is the name of a very famous sweet, like a very famous dessert, a cake, it's called "Sacher"-cake. So "Sacher" is the name of a hotel. And you will see the hotel in this movie quite a lot. And the cake is just the cake that this hotel is famous for. It's a chocolate cake. It's it's a good cake. You get "Sachertorte", by the way, if you ever come to Vienna, you can, do a "Sachertorte"-tasting. There's a lot of places in Vienna. Anyway, that's what that means, and it's a cute movie. And the other one. "Gut gegen Nordwind" actually means, "It's Good against the North Winds." And it will only make sense when you watch the whole movie. It's a story about two people who get to know each other by mistake. Basically, and they started writing emails to each other. And that's all they do for a long time. And it's very interesting how the relationship evolves. It's also, it's, it's a little, deeper story. Let's put it like that, but it's very nice movie. And it's not super fast language. It's it shouldn't be so hard. I suggest to start watching movies with subtitles. You can do it whenever you enjoy it. There is no wrong about it, but basically. I suggest to you when you are not a beginner, but, and more intermediate students. I will have towards the end of this episode, I will have a few tips for you, if you are really a beginner, I also have some tips for you. But basically there is no right or wrong here. You can, if you enjoy it, and you enjoy watching it and reading it, then go ahead. There's no harm in it and you will learn anyway, eventually. So, just do what you feel good about and what you like. The only thing that I don't suggest, don't watch a German movie, with no subtitles, because you will not understand anything. Probably. If you already do, then you're not going to listen to this podcast because then you already understand German. But as long as you have subtitles and you can follow with the subtitles, go ahead and have fun. And do whatever you like. There are very different kinds of things that you can watch. There will be more, or there are more in the interactive movie guide. So definitely go to the homepage, bettergerman.info, and go to the movie guide and there you will find more movies. But there's one last one that I suggest here. It has quite a complicated title. And it's called "When Hitler stole the Pink Rabbit". It is a, it's a movie that is taking place in the Second World War. And it's about a family, that has to flee. And it is a very good movie. And it's not available for free, but it is available German, obviously because it's a German original movie, with subtitles. So, let's go to the next platform and that would be Netflix. There's quite a lot of German content on Netflix. Netflix was the first one, of these platforms that started producing movies and TV shows originally in German. So you can find a lot on there, that is good. My favorite. suggestions are the following. First of all, there is, a mini show, It's called "Die Kaiserin",. "the Empress", the English title. In German it's called "Die Kaiserin", and it's six episode and it's based on the life of Elisabeth. It's clear and relatively accent-free German, so it will be good to follow if you are a little bit, not beginner anymore, but little bit advanced, but you don't have to be super advanced. And the audio, by the way is also available in many languages. But obviously you need to watch it in German. However, what you can do, is you could watch it first, in English or Spanish or whatever your language is, and then watch it in German with the subtitles and you have subtitles in, in like, pretty much everything. There is subtitles in English and French and Ukrainian. In Chinese, even. So that is a very, very, very good one, because you can just watch it, many people have Netflix. You can get Netflix, probably, and you will have, subtitles most, probably in a language that you can understand. Ideally, put the subtitles in your native language. Then, another tip I have, it's a cute movie. It's a little bit more advanced, but it's still, I want to put it on there. It's called "Isi & Ossi". You'll see it in the movie guide, it's a comedy, it's a German original comedy, and I think it's a cute one. It's about a rich rich girl. And she gets to know a guy from a very, very different environment. And there's a lot of comedy happening out of this and what what they go through and what's going on there. The language is fast, and it's some standard German and it's also some slang, particular German slang, but you can follow with the subtitles. You'll have fun anyway. The voice track is even available in German, Italian, English and Turkish. And subtitles are available also in many languages, not just in English, also in French, in Italian in Hungarian and Russian and so on, but it is not, I would say you have to be an upper intermediates in order to do that, but if you enjoy it, go ahead and have fun. For sure. Even if you're not operating intermediate yet. And my last tip from Netflix. is a film is called "Friendship". It's not. Super easy. It's about two young men who traveled to America after the Berlin wall false. So that's 1990. They lived in East germany, and until the Berlin Wall fell, they couldn't leave the country. And then they could and, they were traveling to America. It is funny, but it's kind of also real. It's not easy, but anyway, I wanted to put it, there, it is German. And you have subtitles. So these are my three favorite tips here. You can find more in the downloadable PDF. So go ahead and grab that. you can look for German original, particularly on the computer and the Netflix computer app. You can look for German and then you can see if it had subtitles. You can also, there is a a lot of movies, like all the cartoons you can probably journ turn on German. voice and, and put on subtitles. That is something you can always do. And that's a good tip. So then let's go on Disney Plus. I don't know if you have it. Disney plus is not as big as Netflix or Amazon, but still, it's also a similar to subscription and there are a lot of, obviously all the Disney movies. So that's something you can do on this Disney Plus you can watch all the Disney movies, if you have kids, you maybe know them, so you can watch all the Disney movies in German and put on English, French, Italian, Ukrainian, Russian subtitles. That's one of the tips and you can even do that, when you're relatively beginner because they're not as difficult, many of them, as others. Then there is a movie, it's called "Der Schlussmacher" "Schlussmachen" means to break up, like to end the relationship. It's a, it's a comedy, it's a nice, it's a funny German comedy and you have English subtitles there. Generally Disney plus doesn't have as many German shows or movies is Netflix, for example, or even Amazon. They have just recently started to add more German programs. However, there is a, another show that I want to mention. It's called Sam the Saxon. It's a mini show with a few episodes. And it's based on a real story of a person from Eastern Germany, and his rise and fall. And then, and that is actually quite good, if you are a beginner, or just starting with watching things, there are a couple of very nice documentary series, that you can watch on Disney plus with subtitles. One is "Europe from above". This is nice, slow German. You can watch this in several languages and all of them are original because it's a different kind of TV show. It's very nice pictures of Europe, for every episode another country. And you learn a lot about the country and you see a lot from the country. It's nice, standard, slow German. And you can turn on subtitles In many different languages. And then there is another, quite interesting, show I want to mention here, it's called Farm Rebellion. It's not purely German, it's German and the little bit of English mixed in there, but it's actually still an original German show, just sometimes there are people speaking English in there. And it is a documentary about a former investment banker who wants to change his life, and after the financial crisis, Starts with the farm, and is doing research as part of a team. About new agricultural ways. And this is very interesting. I think I haven't finished it myself, but I wanted to give you that information. So these are my tips for Disney plus There are a few more in the interactive guide, so you can get even more information there. And then I promised you some tips on something you can do when you're a total beginner and it's also free, so I wanted to include that a little bit on YouTube. For you tube, I have three tips for you. One is a movie, you will actually find it in different places on YouTube. I suggest you to take the link that is in the interactive guide because with that link you have, subtitles for many, many different languages. Another thing that is cool in YouTube, you can turn down the speed. So that's something that is very good for a beginner. You can watch a few of those things. I'm going to give you three tips on what to watch on YouTube. One is called "Nicos Weg". It is a movie. It has part one and part two. Part one, you could start as a beginner. All of these three things are totally beginner friendly. so that's part one and part two, they're like 90 minutes each approximately. And it's actually a story about a guy that comes to Germany and is he's learning German and his way of finding friends finding a job and things like that. So, It's nice. And it's probably relatable to you, if you're learning German. And then I have two more tips. One is something you can do with your kids together, if you'd like to do that. It's called book box. If you Google "Book Box" German, you'll find it. And it's, basically children's stories, not just for children, it's cartoons, short stories, like a few minutes. And you will find them in German and English there. So, and you you have different categories, you have friendship stories and dog stories and Christmas stories and so on. It's nice. And it's not too difficult. So that's something you can even do with your kids. And then my other tip on YouTube is called "Hallo Deutschschule". So "hallo" is. "hello". "Deutschschule" is German school. So it is actually a Swiss channel. And they have very nice. helpful videos that you can follow. And yeah, these are my three favorite tips for YouTube. To sum it up my favorite tips on Amazon "Sachertorte", "Gut gegen Nordwind" und "Als Hitler das rosa Kaninchen stahl". You will find the links in the Show notes.. My favorite tips on Netflix are. "Die Kaiserin" - "The Empress" "Isi und Ossi" - these are just two names. And then "Friendship". My favorite tips on Disney plus, are any of the classical Disney movies in German with English subtitles, plus "Der Schlussmacher". And then finally, my favorite tips on YouTube are "Book Box", "Nicos Weg" und "Hallo Deutschschule", all right. As I said, go to my homepage, get access to the interactive guide. And you will find links in the show notes as well. The next episode, is actually introduction, on capitalization, which means which words do you write with a capital in the beginning? German is different than other languages. So, this is going to give you an idea. And I'm going to give you my take on it. Is it super important or not? And why, and what do you do with it while you're learning German? Okay, so see you then. And, hang in there. Keep learning, have fun and watch a lot of movies. Thank you for listening to this episode. You can find a transcript of this episode at www. bettergerman. info and slash and then the number of the episode. You can also sign up for a newsletter there and then you will be informed when there is a new episode coming or any other important events going on, new articles, new freebies or... things like that. If you liked it and, it was helpful for you, please share it with other people and let them know that this exists. And if you are looking for a course and you want to learn German online, then you can, of course, find all the infos as well on www. bettergerman. info. So, see you there and see you in the next episode. Bye bye!

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