Listen Passively

Whenever you are busy doing your chores or any activity that doesn’t require your full attention, just listen to some German audio. Listen to it at a low enough volume, so that you can just recognise that you are listening to a German piece. Ideally, you listen to it 24/7, but, of course, it should not distract you nor annoy you. So, find your ideal balance between exposing your brain to the German language and staying sane. I strongly recommend audio plays like the → Radio Tatort as they create a a natural atmosphere as if you were listening in to the conversation of two Germans. If you pick up a word or phrase from what you hear, that’s fine and a good sign, but do not consciously try to understand anything of it. For conscious learning, you have the active listening step.

The idea behind this step

Sometimes people like or hate the sound of German. The reason for that is psychological. To put it in simple words: they are not used to it and what they don’t know makes them uncomfortable. Because you have chosen to learn German, you most likely like the sound of it already. But it will still be hard to distinguish all these new words from each other in the beginning as you are simply not used to German sounds yet. You need more exposure. But, before you book a flight to Germany, behold. You can get used to the sound of German with passive listening. And it doesn’t require your attention at all.

What To Listen To

I do not recommend listening to the news in German or to audio books that are read by a single person. The way news is spoken is rather unnatural and won’t help you follow a conversation with / among native Germans at all. Their melody and intonation are very different. Also, the vocabulary is rather specific. If you are interested in the German view on things that are happening in this world, simply use Deutsche Welle’s German news in English.

Books read by a single person might do the job if that person is doing an outstanding job like the works of

→ Harry Rowohlt (Pu der Bär),
→ Dirk Bach (Die 131⁄2 Leben des Käpt’n Blaubär) or
→ Mark Uwe Kling (Die Känguru Chroniken).

Movies will not do the job here as they are too cumbersome to work with and provide too much help in the form of visuals. In a conversation, all you see will be your conversation partner’s facial expressions and that’s it. Audio plays prepare you much better for such situations.