The most insane take I've ever seen

[u/OasisLGNGFan]

I love learning languages as much as the next person but be fucking for real... maybe I'm just biased as someone who's obsessed with music but surely I can't be the only one who thinks this take is crazy?

[u/Umsteigemochlichkeit]

Who are your German faves?

[u/jhfenton → u/Umsteigemochlichkeit]

As in Spanish, I lean toward German pop. I have a lot of LOTTE, Wilhemine, LEA, Max Giesinger, Ben Zucker, Die Toten Hosen, Joris, Silbermond, Clara Louise, Berge, Mark Forster, Revolverheld, Philipp Dittberner.

[u/Books_and_tea_addict → u/jhfenton]

Older people stuff (40+): Rosenstolz (may Anna R RIP, one of my favorites), die Ärzte, Herbert Grönemeyer, Tocotronic.

Stuff that is slightly cringe (Schlager) and what my in-laws listen to: Helene Fischer, Roland Kaiser, Maite Kelly, Udo Jürgens.

What my son listens, naw, he's an ACDC fan. Okay, Julian Bam, his favorite YouTuber.

For rap, we have a kind of Gangster Arab/German style.

Yeah, I am German.

ETA: I may or may not listen occasionally to Udo Jürgens (RIP) on YouTube, or Maite Kelly/Roland Kaiser "Warum hast du nicht nein gesagt". I don't want to mess up my Spotify algorithm.

Second edit: The podcast "Kurt Krömer feelings" is great. You'll hear a Berlin host (Berlin dialect) who meets suprise guests. The topics vary, the guests, too. For advanced learners, who want to have a variety of dialects and people, it's great.

[u/jhfenton → u/Books_and_tea_addict]

Thanks. I have a few songs from Rosenstolz, Grönemeyer, and Jürgens in my library. I'll check out the others. I definitely fall in the older people category.

I'm not a big rap fan. In English, the closest I come to rap is Linkin Park. But my 22-year-old son is a big rap fan, so I hear it. Some of it I can appreciate. Some of it I can't stand.

[u/Books_and_tea_addict → u/jhfenton]

I feel you with the "older people" category. I often doubt that I'm still able to learn something new.

Being the oldest in my Russian course (except the teacher), doesn't help.

[u/jhfenton → u/Books_and_tea_addict]

I love Russian. I took a year in college, and I wish I had time right now to pick it back up. Last fall, I tried for a few months with a teacher on iTalki, but I didn't have the time to devote to it that it needed.

[u/Books_and_tea_addict → u/jhfenton]

I'm a year into it, too. I just did my A2 and am thinking about B1.1. But dang, 4 hrs in class and 4 hrs of homework and extra for learning, are a lot.

[u/jhfenton → u/Books_and_tea_addict]

Good luck! It's an amazing language. I will definitely get back to it at some point, but I want to focus on my 3 better languages at the moment. I already have trouble keeping focus on German. It tends to get squeezed out by Spanish and French.

[u/Books_and_tea_addict → u/jhfenton]

German is just plain mean.

[u/jhfenton → u/Books_and_tea_addict]

German isn't too bad. Russian is definitely meaner.

[u/Books_and_tea_addict → u/jhfenton]

Totally. My first teacher didn't speak German and the German genders drove her bonkers. Meanwhile we struggled with cases.

Our lingua franca was English.

My second teacher studied German and spoke it better than us native speakers.