For a nice change of pace in your experience with languages, why not try downloading a German audiobook?
All of these German stories include beginners (A1-A2), intermediate (B1-B2), and advanced (C1) to fluent (C2)
A captivating German classic story will get you hooked into reading the entire book.
It may even be one of your grammar tests if you can maximize how to use this resource.
Learn German audiobooks with free downloads in our list below.
Why use an audiobook to learn German?
If you’re tired of reading while learning your target language, audiobooks are great materials.
First and foremost, why is listening to audiobooks such an effective approach to learning German?
For starters, you can be very accommodating to them.
You may listen to them while doing chores around the house, such as cooking or cleaning. However, you are not required to do so.
You might want to listen to them in bed or another more relaxed setting so that you can completely concentrate on them.
Second, listening to audiobooks is an excellent approach to immersing yourself in the German language.
Even if you’re not paying attention, you’ll notice that you’re picking up vocabulary and language structures.
It’s important to remember that, at least periodically, you should strive to focus when listening in order to memorize even more vocabulary and grammatical elements.
The third reason why trying to learn German using audiobooks is such a wonderful idea is because there is such a large selection.
Whatever sorts of novels you enjoy, you’ll always be able to locate an audiobook that piques your interest.
German audiobook download and streaming
There’s a huge collection of free German audiobook downloads online.
In this list, we’ve included listening materials for absolute beginners, intermediate students, and advanced level.
How to stream German books: You can use Spotify, Ohrka.de, Youtube, and Vorleser.net to start listening to audio files for native speakers of German.
There are also alternative ways to look for free German audiobooks which we will discuss later.
You can make use of this language learning method to familiarize yourself with German articles and the different suffixes and endings for noun genders.
Below are some of the books we’ve found free online ranging from beginners, intermediate level learners, and advanced audio lessons.
Heidi by Johanna Spyri
Published by the Swiss author Johanna Spyri, Heidi tells a story about a young child who was orphaned and only taken care of by her aunt.
She lives with her in the Swiss Alps with a grandfather that is not very welcoming and reclusive.
Heidi is fit for intermediate to advanced learners since it is a continuous story.
You’ll find that German literature varies in its difficulty in a variety of situations. It sometimes uses different verb tenses too.
You can listen to the Heidi audiobook on Youtube you can even download it if you have Youtube Premium.
Qualityland by Marc Uwe Kling
Qualityland, a novel by Marc-Uwe Kling set in a near-future European country, has narrative aspects based on human relationships with robots.
Throughout the book, references are made to socioeconomic, technical, and robotics theories created in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as scientists speculated about where technology will take humanity.
You can put your German language skills to the test with this audiobook.
Die Schrecken der deutschen Sprache by Mark Twain
There is almost certainly no German student in the world who hasn’t heard of Mark Twain’s amusing article “The Awful German Language.”
But did you know that Twain once gave a German lecture titled “Die Schrecken der Deutschen Sprache“?
Of course, this isn’t an audiobook, but it’s a witty and enlightening lecture from someone who battled (and succeeded) with the German language.
This audiobook is more intended for German learners and German speakers who are already on their intermediate and advanced levels.
Henry Hühnchen (Chicken Little) by the German Project
If you’ve heard of this children’s movie, it’s about a chicken that has heard the sky is falling. It has a different take on this author’s perspective.
In this modern take, Henry Hühnchen (or Henry the Chicken) has read on the internet about this news and shares it with his friends.
As mentioned by the author, German learners will read basic vocabulary, beginner-level German phrases, and teach you irregular verb conjugation.
This audiobook is free on The German Project and has explanations on this page.
Cafe in Berlin series
There are also German audiobooks with bilingual text that can help improve your German grammar.
Audiobooks/podcast series like Cafe in Berlin also help learners become acquainted with hearing native speakers talk in German.
There are hundreds of everyday situations that you can listen to. A sample German conversation can be done at a local grocery store or when talking to your friends about an upcoming concert.
Other ways to learn German through an audiobook download
Another way of reading an audiobook is through Audible, Amazon’s streaming service that includes original podcasts, audiobooks, and other audio files that you can use.
You can try signing up for a free trial of Audible that allows you to listen to and download Audiobooks for 30 days.
You can also listen to German podcasts of a familiar book you’ve already seen or heard before like the Harry Potter series.
There are lots of English books with translations into German titles and perfect for an absolute beginner.
Furthermore, some online language courses also have their own audio course downloads that might be free if you’re already a subscriber or bought their online German course.
Increase your communication skills by repeating German words
You may even find new German vocabulary that you can practice writing when listening to German words on repeat.
Mnemonics is a great learning method to retain information in shorter, intensive bursts.
Take great notice of the emphasis on pronunciation. German words can be confusing at times and the spelling is even harder if you’re not familiar with the different phonetic sounds.
Lastly, don’t go overboard with audiobooks. It’s fun to listen to advanced level stories, but you might be wasting your efforts by spending too much time on it.
Look for audiobooks that fit your German language level, for example, if you’re still in German level B1.
That way, you’ll be able to translate the German words without getting confused with the grammar rules.
