Learning a new language shouldn’t always be about textbooks and grammar exercises! It’s also about immersing yourself in the culture and enjoying content natively produced in your target language. Below, you’ll find a list of German-language TV shows and movies on two popular streaming platforms, Netflix and Amazon Prime, that can help you improve your German listening comprehension while also exposing you to new vocabulary & phrases, all while keeping your entertained!
Netflix has vastly expanded its international offerings over the past years, and almost always includes subtitles for contents on the platform. Be sure to select the original German audio, and for the best immersion results we recommend using no subtitles or only German-language subtitles.
However, if you’re just beginning your language learning journey and want to begin to accustom yourself to the German language, we highly recommend the Language Reactor (formerly known as ‘Language Learning with Netflix’), a browser extension which allows you to view both German and English-langauge subtitles simultaneously.
🇩🇪 Queer Eye Germany (2022) - If you’re a fan of Queer Eye, don’t miss this German remake as your feel-good reality binge. This lifestyle show takes five experts to pull off a makeover in each episode.
🇩🇪 Nailed It! German (2020) - A cooking show where amateur cooks try to recreate lofty culinary creations to win 5,000 euros. This show offers you plenty of food and dessert-related vocabulary.
🇩🇪 How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) (2019) - An unlikely teen starts selling ecstasy online to impress his girlfriend—and becomes one of the largest dealers in Europe.
🇩🇪 Buba (2022) - A dark comedy that follows a small-town con artist who joins the local mafia, and struggles to keep his karma balanced.
🇩🇪 Berlin, Berlin: Lolle on the Run (2020) - This romantic comedy follows Lolle, who finally found love with her best friend Hart and is ready to get married. However, her crazy ex and a series of misadventures interrupt their plans.
🇩🇪 Into the Beat (2020) - A feel-good dance film about a talented teen who must choose between her destiny as a ballerina and her newfound love of hip-hop.
🇩🇪 Alles ist Gut/All is Well (2019) - A thoughtful social commentary that follows a woman who is sexually assaulted by her boss’s brother-in-law. She tries to move on, but the trauma starts to take her life apart.
🇨🇭 Wolkenbruchs wunderliche Reise in die Arme einer Schickse/The Awakening of Motti Wolkenbruch (2018) - A Swiss comedy about Motti, who is predestined to marry an orthodox Jewish woman but has fallen for a woman who’s anything but.
🇩🇪 Lommbock (2017) - A comedy about Stefan who is determined to start over with the love of his life in Dubai, but a quick trip back to Germany shows it’s easier said than done to leave a life of drugs, friends, and exes behind.
Amazon Prime has a slimmer selection of German-language content, but the few shows and films available on the platform are true gems.
🇩🇪 In den Gängen/In The Aisles (2018) - A bittersweet glimpse into the shared connections of a motley group of workers at a big box store. Christian, a reclusive man, starts working the night shift at a warehouse supermarket and becomes enamored by his charming but mysterious coworker Marion.
🇩🇪 Werk ohne Autor/Never Look Away (2018) - A sweeping romantic historical drama, the film follows a young German artist who flees to West Germany but is tormented by his childhood under the Nazis and the GDR-regime.
We hope you enjoy: Viel Spaß beim Anschauen!