Language Learning

A1+ German learner here. A huge part of my studies over the last 3 months have been songs, specifically Kinderlieder (aka: Children Songs). I'll list off my recommended songs for beginners and my overall opinions of them here.

I'll order songs roughly by difficulty. Beginners should start at the top of the list and work their way down. From zero, it took me months of listening to these songs before I could track them and eventually understand them. And only after going through their lyrics and translating word-by-word.

There's so many german songs out there, just keep translating them as daily exercise. Get the words and put them in your Anki deck.

Overall plan:

1. Listen to the song a few times -- If you like the song, keep working at it! If you don't like it, move on to the next song.

2. Try singing along!! Don't try to get all the words right. Just get the words you can get.

3. Download the lyrics, and perform a word-by-word translation. As we are trying to learn German, it becomes important to know every single word and its meaning. Do NOT use ChatGPT, Google Translate or DeepL. This is "too much", because you MUST learn how to "think in German grammar" yourself. (These translation programs translates the grammar for you, and that's counter-productive to learning).

4. Reword the words/lines into your own English understanding. This is a crutch, but at the A1 / A2 levels its a useful crutch. This is your "check". In the long-term, you want to be able to "think in German", but by rewording it in English you are now figuring out and memorizing these lines on your own terms. If you are unable to reword it into English, perhaps your understanding of German grammar is off. Go seek some help (maybe post here for some help!)

Absolute Beginner Songs (A1-)

This is as easy as I can find, so this is where we begin. Don't be intimidated!! Pre-schoolers do NOT understand these songs on their first listen. Just try to get used to the rhythm and slowly your brain will pick it up as you practice.

• Bruder Jakob https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frb-w7qyb88 / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzF0C6Wc1bw

• • Nominally, this song is harder than everything else in this category... But its a "Rosetta Stone" for us Americans. Frere Jacques is a very well known song in USA, and hearing it in German is a great way to begin your German studies! If you aren't familiar with this song though, skip to the next song as it'd be easier. Its not quite the same lyrics in all three languages. But its close enough.

• Große Uhren machen tick tack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xQdtm-ymjPE

• • The first song I mastered. A simple "round" song covering a few different types of clocks, with barely any grammar.

• Tschu Tschu wa https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6CkQkcY1cs

• • Mostly nonsense words for the rhythm. A basic dance for children that helps you learn anatomy. (Hände, Faust, Daumen, Kopf...). Its obvious if you watch the video / dance. Excellent preposition practice!!

• A B C-Lied https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hgx0RTx0aFg

• • The classic, but the German version. A great place to start.

• Old MacDonald hat ne Farm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwMxNqIAqd4

• • Popular song in USA, it should be easy for Americans to pick up the German version

• Meine Hände sind verschwunden https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtJGAJrvFu8

• • We now have the first song with proper grammar. "sind" is among the first verbs you learn ("are" in English). "My hands are gone (as the singer hides their hands behind their body). Oh, my hands are back again!". A simple song, especially with the cartoon, to help learn various body parts, while also teaching complete (though simple) sentences). Keep an eye on "sind" ("are") vs "es" (is), as some body parts are plural (ex: Hände, plural for "hands") or singular (ex: Nase, singular for "nose").

• Kopf und Schultern, Knie und Fuß https://youtu.be/vyTNuVCdUzw

• • Head Shoulder Knees and Toes (feet!!! in German) is very easy. You'll be surprised how many words German and English share with this one!

• Grün grün grün sind alle meine Kleider https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGrsasgsFuQ / https://www.singkinderlieder.de/video/gruen-gruen-gruen-sind-alle-meine-kleider

• • A repetitive/looping "colors" song. The "template" changes with color vs profession. The singer says her clothes and even everything she has are grün / rot / weiße / (etc. etc.). Then in the final line, she explains that's because her "Schatz" ("Treasure", or slang for sweetheart) is a Jäger (grün / Green for Hunter), Reiter (rot / Red for Rider), etc. etc.

• Backe backe Kuchen https://www.singkinderlieder.de/video/backe-backe-kuchen

• • 200ish year old German Kinderlieder. Bake a cake!

• Hände waschen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFLT4Q_i7Hg

• • Repetitive/Looping bath song about washing the hands, foot, or head. Harder than earlier songs.

Middle A1 Songs

As you get into your A1 studies, your vocabulary will grow into hundreds of words. You'll also be able to follow more complex grammar and subject matters.

• Imse Bimse Spinne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3BFZEeC2jY

• • Itsy Bitsy Spider. Americans know this one (and THIS specific version is reasonably close to "our" version).

• Krokodillied / Ei, was kommt deen da? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kfg-4ICLBfY

• • More complex grammar. A call-and-response between the Crocodile and the various Humans. (Crocodile tells the human to get into its mouth. Human says no). Focus on "Krokodil, lass das sein" in the Imperative (aka: Command) grammar. Also note how the song talks about how various characters interact and talk/command each other.

• Die Räder vom Bus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1hLy1zxHTY

• • A rather large amount of vocabulary words in a short song! We USA-ians are very familiar with "The Wheels on the Bus"

• Augen Ohren Nase https://youtu.be/m3YjA3ciRYk

• • Good song!! If you've mastered Augen Ohren Nase (Eyes, Ears and Nose), this song ties the body-parts to Der Sinne (the senses). A fun way to expand your vocabulary from all that body-part practice from earlier. You're reaching some B1-level grammar concepts here (dazu), so don't try to reach full understanding of everything. But you should be able to listen and hear how the "Sehen Sehen Sehen dazu sind die Augen da!!"

• Fünf Kleine Fische https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p51c5g1iNzw

• • A counting-backwards song. I find this grammatically complex for A1 and is probably an A2++ song for understanding. But with the Youtube video you probably can figure out what's going on!

• Alle meine Fingerlein wollen heute Tiere sein https://youtu.be/bYVxxVpNEVY

• • Fingers + Animal combo-song.

• Das ist gerade, das is schief https://youtu.be/rJWZhitXWzI

• • I'm calling bullshit on this "song". This is just vocabulary practice, isn't it? More seriously though: its a lot of adjectives/adverbs listed in terms of opposites. Gerade means straight, while schief is crooked. Its rather impressive how they made it all rhyme, and honestly keeping the opposites next to each other helps connect these words together.

A break for St. Martin's Day!!

Apparently Germans have this... St. Martins Day thing? And its big?? A huge number of children-songs are about the lantern walks, or St. Martin, or other such events of the German November Holiday.

I've been told that the young German children learn these songs and often sing them for school recitals. If the young Germans can learn them, so can you even at A1 level!

The general pattern is about Laterne (Lanterns), gehen / geh / gehe (going), scheinen (shining), die Sonne (sun), der Mond (moon), der Stern (stars), kalt (cold), schön (beautiful), "durch die Nacht" (through the night)... oben (over), unter (under), etc. etc.

Its kind of a nifty little "sub-vocabulary". Because these songs all share the same theme, you can learn lots of vocabulary by focusing on these songs in general just for this one holiday.

• Ich geh mit meiner Laterne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_yBTKBxZiI

• Laterne, Laterne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBV594t8Jpk / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cV1o_JlgWY

• Sankt Martin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrFwtGQyjfM

• Meine kleine Laterne leuchtet schön https://youtu.be/Oz-4cQXgXY0

• Sing mit mir Laternenlieden-Mix https://youtu.be/932K0Ng_bXU (10 minutes, multiple songs together).

• Kommt wir woll'n Laterne laufen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qevZkMfqXOg

Harder but more interesting Children songs

Children songs are catchy and all, but they do get boring if you only listen to them. The following songs are still children songs, but change the rhythm to something more complex (as well as increasing the vocabulary/grammar to A2+ or even B1- levels).

• In meiner Bi-Ba-Badewanne https://youtu.be/BErxt3YAZg0

• • More complex grammar / vocabulary to an otherwise bath-song about basic body parts (Kopf, Haals, Po, Gesicht...)

• Nudeltag https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1QK9G5efyY

• • Nominally about the days of the week, but closer to A2+ or even B1- level to comprehend. Focus on only the days of the week and you should be good as a beginner, don't try to understand the whole song.

• Die Zahnfeuerwehr https://youtu.be/VPAQ17jGK9Y

• • The tooth-firetruck comes in to save your teeth!

• Der Banenbrot https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yDrbEhp6Sg

• • A fun spoof of the USA-famous "Deyyyyo - Bananna Boat song".

A2ish or so?

I'm not... at A2 level. These songs feel like I'm just about ready to tackle them and are next on my todo list.

• Wer will fleißige Handwerker sehn https://youtu.be/-jSvfhXl0pQ

• • Basic professions and jobs.

• Im Walde von Toulouse https://youtu.be/ZaqBgQyTzug

• • Woah, an actual story! Robbers, horses, stuff? Something is going on for sure, I'll tell you what when I translate it, lol.

• Die Maus auf Weltraumreise https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj315AKAUTM

• • This is the German version of "Bump on a log in a hole on the bottom of the sea". A bunch of random crap this mouse needs to pack into his suitcase, leading to a rather complex set of vocabulary to memorize. Simple grammar but vocabulary practice.

• Alle Vögel sind schon da https://youtu.be/YZaLjkp0QY4

• • Lots and lots of words for birds, lol. Simple grammar and tune, but lots of vocabulary.

Native level songs

I mean, don't just listen to beginner stuff. Also branch out and listen to the full native speed stuff.

• 99 Luftballoons https://youtu.be/Fpu5a0Bl8eY

• • USA-famous Classic German song. German-native song

• Peter Schilling - Major Tom (Völlig losgelöst...) https://youtu.be/KQRaj1vcnrs

• • USA Famous but from 1982. German-native

• Lagtrain (Jinja Version) https://youtu.be/Lz1qJnwfF04

• • German VTuber dubs her own version of Vocaloid's Lagtrain.

• Idol (Yuko Version) https://youtu.be/TCZ5JbdbJOg

• • German dub of "Idol", a top anime opening from the anime hit Oshi no Ko.

• Applaus Applaus https://youtu.be/H0oRftpQs7w

• • An easier-end song. Slower rhythm than other songs, still faster than any children's song. But maybe the slowest you'll get for a "real" song these days.

• Auf anderen Wegen https://youtu.be/m-Ik3yy728Y

• Nacht voll Schatten https://youtu.be/3F-8XEF3r24

• • Moonlight Shadow got dubbed over in German as Nacht voll Schatten.

• Nüsse sind Gesund https://youtu.be/WVTIbV1Ug6A / (Jinja cover) https://youtu.be/dBkooYLztzI

• • Actually, this one might be A1 level lol.

That's all for now!