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Starkbier ist ein besonders starkes deutsches Bier, welches ursprünglich von Mönchen für die Fastenzeit erdacht wurde. Erfahren Sie alles über diesen sonderbaren Hintergrund von GermanPod101.com, und verbessern Sie gleichzeitig Ihren Bier-bezogenen Wortschatz! Diese Lektion ist auch Teil unserer Miniserie über Bayern, denn Starkbier ist in Bayern zuhause. Es ist jedoch auch in Österreich und mehreren anderen deutschen Bundesländern beliebt.

Starkbier is a particularly strong type of German beer, which was originally devised by monks for use during the fasting season. Learn all about this strange background with GermanPod101.com, and improve your beer-related vocabulary at the same time! Finally, this lesson is also part of our Bavarian mini-series, because strong beer is at home in Bavaria. It’s also popular in Austria and a couple other German states though.

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The well-known German song “Dschinghis Khan” by the group Dschinghis Khan is a bit silly, but it lends itself well to drinking, and you may even find it in Karaoke bars outside of Germany. So join us for a fun German lesson that will teach you a lot of useful colloquial German vocabulary. We will also summarize the ways of forming the plural in German and we’ll learn some fun facts about Friedrich der Große (Frederick the Great), possibly the most popular German / Prussian king.

Listen to an excerpt of today’s song at Amazon.com. Americans can also buy a legal mp3 of the full song right there; international visitors will have to go to 7digital instead.

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Peter Schilling’s song “Major Tom” is one of the most popular German songs of the Neue Deutsche Welle movement in Germany. It has even been translated to English and you may have heard it before - if so, you will definitely recognize the chorus, which has a very nice memorable melody. Discover Peter Schilling’s take on the tale of Major Tom, learn a lot of German words related to space (and not just those), understand Germany’s historic contribution to space research, perfect your knowledge of German participles… GermanPod101 helps you improve your German in a fun and interesting way!
Listen to an excerpt of today’s song at Amazon.com. Americans can also buy a legal mp3 of the full song right there; international visitors will have to go to 7digital instead.

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“The new states”? Has Germany suddenly grown? - Not since 1990. On October 3rd, 1990, Germany accepted 5 new federal states (formerly the country of East Germany) into its union. Learn about these interesting German states, their situation then and today, and impress your German friends with your knowledge!

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Here’s an oldie but a goodie, a German song that you may actually know, because it was immensely popular. “99 Luftballons” by Nena is a classic anti-war song. Nena sang it in English, too, but the original German version is a lot more expressive.
This lesson features a lot of useful German vocabulary, some of it colloquial, and it introduces the German Präteritum (preterite past tense).

If you don’t know today’s song, or you want a recording to sing along to, listen to it at Amazon.com. Americans can also buy a legal mp3 of the full song right there; international visitors will have to go to 7digital instead.

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