#i mean this also goes for idk 70% of the audio dramas but let’s see

[idiotwithoutagoodname]

The audiodrama/queer media experience is having the one good episode of fluff to forget you are consuming a horror/drama and then be surprised when the mcs don’t get to run away together to live their merry gay lives the way they promised in said good episode.

[gra-sonas]

Hello! Can you recommend me some good songs in German and some tv shows? I started to learn it and i think it will help Danke? I am not sure if that's the right way Please stay safe! Also i came for TW and i think i'll stay for RNM

Hallo German-learning nonnie! :D

Mhmm, good songs in German. 🤔 Let me think.

I would definitely recommend listening to songs from “Neue Deutsche Welle” (New German Wave”). That’s not a band btw, it’s a (West) German rock music genre from the late 70s/early 80s. Sooo many great songs, and great lyrics (which is kind of the point for you, right?)

Maybe you’ve even listened to one? “99 Luftballons” (99 Red Balloons) by Nena is probably the internationally most well known NDW song.

If you have Spotify or Deezer, just search for Neue Deutsche Welle, that should provide you with some excellent playlists. I’m sure YT also has NDW playlists.

I’m not overly familiar with the current German music scene tbh. I don’t listen to the radio and don’t pay attention to German charts. 

There are several rock or pop artists and bands singing in German tho. In no particular order and not necessarily music I listen to myself, but at the top of my head I can think of the following artists (mixed genres across the board): Adel Tawil, Wincent Weiss, Annett Louisan, Glasperlenspiel, Silbermond, Herbert Grönemeyer, Die Ärzte, Fettes Brot, Die Fantastischen Vier, Sarah Connor, Mark Forster, Gil Ofarim, Tim Bendzko, Ich + Ich, Die Toten Hosen, Unheilig, and a million others.

Maybe just listen to some of them and see wether you like their music and then let the algorithm suggest you similar artists? Also check the lyrics and see whether that’s what you’ve been looking for and if it can help you to learn German.

Something I think could also be very beneficial: reading books. It doesn’t have to be Goethe (to Germany what Shakespeare is to Great Britain). It can be children’s books, or young adult books, also comics. (FUCK JKTERFROWLING TO HELL AND BACK, but if you liked Harry Potter, the books have been translated into German, pls just don’t buy them and make that transphobic asshole richer, the HP books in German are available as ebooks “for free”). 

Reading a familiar story in a foreign language will be easier than trying to read something completely new. Pretty much any YA book series will also be available in German, same goes for comics, romance novels, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, crime stories and so on. My English VASTLY improved by reading books (and fanfic 😌) in case you like to read, that’s something I‘d definitely suggest you also check out.

As for German TV shows. LOL, I watch so little German TV, kinda difficult for me to come up with recs. One show I highly recommend is DARK tho, it’s 3 seasons, all done and wrapped, and it’s on Netflix. It’s a bit like Stranger Things, only in 3-D (it’s super complex with various timelines, but it’s glorious and so, so good!). 

If you have Netflix, you could also see whether there are any other German shows available. IDK, Netflix differs from country to country/region to region, there are probably differences.

Oh, and I think on YT you can find several queer storylines from recent and older German soaps with English subtitles. We’ve had queer storylines on most soaps since the 90s, and international fans have been really great at curating playlists. Maybe that’s something you might enjoy.

Something that rather pains me to suggest: just watch your favorite TV show or movie in German. 🤦‍♀️ In Germany EVERYTHING (on TV and in movie theaters) is dubbed. Game of Thrones? Available in German. Wonder Woman? Sure, she speaks German fluently. This won’t help you with 1:1 translations (German dubbing tries its best to lip-sync, meaning that the spoken German is in sync with the lip movements of the original speaker, so dialogue translations are not always 100% accurate, certain jokes or word games will also be changed to make them work in German). A bit like reading a book you like in German, watching a familiar film or show in German can give you a better idea of the “flow” of the language. 

Also pronunciation. Shows and movies are usually dubbed in “high German”, so no tricky German accents you’ll struggle to understand. And if possible, download GERMAN subtitles for whatever you watch. You might not understand everything they say, but reading what they say will help you to recognize words much better than watching sth in German with subtitles in your own language and than you’re just busy constantly “translating” instead of paying attention to the German. 

Another genre we have in Germany, and German kids (and adults) LOVE: Hörspiele (audio dramas)! Whether you listened to Benjamin Blümchen (a talking elephant who lives at the local zoo), Bibi Blocksberg (a kid witch) as a kid or Die Drei ??? (The Three Investigators, most successful audio drama series world wide, the series recently celebrated its 40th birthday - the speakers started when they were kids in the late 1970s, they are all over 50yrs old now and still record 4-6 dramas/year and their live tours with more than 10K audience/show are legendary) as a young adult, most kids in Germany grow up listening to audio dramas. 

Even adults continue to listen to them (I’m a HUGE Drei ??? fan myself, I don’t listen to the dramas to fall asleep tho, unlike most other people, but I went to see them live last year and it was The Absolute Best Thing In All Of 2019). There are so many different genres, and stories, there are audio dramas for almost any age group (and thus language skill level), and it’s really cool.

Okay, this got long. Not sure if any of this will be helpful for you, but I hope you’ll find something you’ll enjoy, that will also help you tackling the German language. Good luck and “viel Spaß”!

You stay safe, too, nonnie!

And yay for staying for RNM, chances are you won’t regret it! ❤️

ETA: German movie rec from @manesalex : Lola Rennt (Thanks, Molly!)