Listening to a gripping story as an audio book can be a great way to immerse yourself in narrative German, pick up on on speech patterns, prosody and pronunciation.
But you know what’s even more immersive? Radio plays! The difference between an audio book and a radio play is that the former is usually narrated by one speaker, whereas the latter is a whole production with multiple actors, sound effects and more. Talk about German movies for your ears!
In the following article I’ve combed through the far reaches of the web to bring you some of the best resources for German audio dramas. Whether you like thrilling mysteries, literary classics, sonic experiments or children’s stories, you’re sure to find something that floats your boat here.
Ready? Get your headphones and push play!
Hoerspielprojekt.de
Hoerspielprojekt.deThis website offers more than 150 audio plays produced by hobbyists and semi-professionals for download. You can choose from the categories of Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction and more. Their web-radio broadcasts German radio plays 24/7 so you can dive right in.
website: hoerspielprojekt.de
listen now: lautfm-hoerspiel.radio.de
Soundtales Productions
Soundtales Productions is a small label which offers free German radio plays. They produce these dramas themselves, sometimes they work virtually with voice-over talent via the Internet, sending back and forth their recordings.
Soundtales Productions is a vibrant community of actors and producers from all over Germany that are passionate about audio dramas.
website: soundtalesproductions.de
listen now: lautfm-soundtalesproductions.radio.de
Tatort Radio Dramas
Tatort Radio DramasChances are you’ve heard about the most popular German crime/mystery series “Tatort” which Germans still watch religiously every Sunday evening. But did you know that there are also Tatort radio plays that you can listen to on your commute or while doing the dishes?
Episodes have high production values and are about 50 minutes long each. You can download them on their website or listen to the Tatort Radio Drama web-radio.
listen now: ardaudiothek.de
SWR2 Hörspiel
This professional branch of public broadcaster SWR2 focuses solely on high quality radio dramas. Here you can find historical radio art, contemporary sonic experiments, tense mysteries, literary audio dramas and informative documentaries.
website: swr.de/swr2/hoerspiel-feature/
listen now: audionow.de
NDR Hörspiel Box
On North German broadcaster NDR’s “Hörspiel Box” you can listen to good stories, sonic art, mysteries and acoustical innovations. They offer classics, contemporary pieces from literature and theater and much more.
website: ndr.de/kultur/radiokunst/
listen now: ardaudiothek.de
Betthupferl: Bedtime Stories For Young & Old
“Betthupferl” are actually little sweets consumed shortly before going to bed. But for more than 60 years, Bavarian broadcaster BR’s “Betthupferl” series has become synonymous with entertaining bedtime stories for children, parents and anyone who enjoys a good tale while drifting into sweet dreams.
website: br.de/kinder/hoeren/betthupferl
listen now: bayern1betthupferl.radio.de
hörbuchFM Web Radio
hörbuchFM Web RadiohörbuchFM is a webradio that broadcasts German radio plays around the clock, from literary classics to audio dramas for children, popular mystery series and much more.
website: hoerbuchfm.de
listen now: hoerbuchfm.radio.de
WDR Hörspiel-Speicher
On the WDR Hörspiel-Speicher (“radio play attic”) you can easily subscribe to and listen to all the radio plays produced by public broadcaster WDR and its sub-stations.
website: wdrhoerspielspeicher.radio.de
listen now: wdr.de/mediathek/audio/hoerspiel-speicher/
Bonus: Radio Dramas with Scripts (PDF)
While radio dramas can be great for intermediate German learners, it can be somewhat daunting for beginners, because you have to rely on listening alone.
Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to read along while listening to a radio drama?
Recently I discovered this site that offers full-length scripts for the popular “Die drei ???” detective series. (thanks to redditor Rough-Shock7053 for sharing.)
In case you’ve never heard about it, it’s a popular series of juvenile detective books and audio dramas. The series originated in the United States under the title “The Three Investigators,” created by Robert Arthur Jr. in 1964, and was later adapted and became immensely popular in Germany.
The audio dramas themselves can be found on YouTube, Spotify, etc. For example, here is a (preview) link to episode 1 “der Super-Papagei”.
And here’s the full length script in PDF, so you can read along while listening.
All 200+ (!) scripts on this site have been compiled by fans of the series, and I think this is simply a wonderful resource, whether for self-study or for dramatic in-class readings.
–
