Speaker A
Janusch, what hobbies do you actually have? Yes, that's interesting because actually my whole life is a hobby. Only at a certain point did I start calling some hobbies my work.
Explore how Germans spend their free time through diverse hobbies like sports, music, cooking, and language learning in Berlin and beyond.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- Germans have a wide range of hobbies that combine physical activity, creativity, socializing, and learning.
- Hobbies can evolve over time, with some becoming professional work while others remain leisure activities.
- Social interaction is a significant benefit of many hobbies, helping people make friends and build communities.
- Language learning is a valued hobby supported by digital tools like the SeatLeng app.
- Outdoor and sports activities are especially popular for their health and exploration benefits.
What the video covers
- The video explores various hobbies Germans engage in during their free time, including dancing, playing musical instruments, reading, and crafts.
- Participants share personal hobbies such as gaming, cooking, hiking, motherhood, and building electric racing bikes.
- Sports like basketball, table tennis, football, boxing, and cycling are popular among Germans.
- Creative hobbies include drawing, writing short stories, playing piano and saxophone, and DJing.
- Language learning and teaching, especially German and Balkan languages, are highlighted as meaningful hobbies.
- Outdoor activities such as walking, hiking, bike touring, and exploring new coffee places are common leisure pursuits.
- Social aspects of hobbies are emphasized, including making friends through sports and cooking together.
- The video mentions the use of the SeatLeng app for daily vocabulary learning as a helpful language hobby tool.
- Participants discuss the physical and emotional benefits of their hobbies, from exploration to family bonding.
- Shopping is noted as a popular but debated hobby among Germans.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Hobbies and Work
- 00:40Personal Hobbies: Dance, Music, Reading
- 01:30Changing Hobbies and Motherhood
- 02:28Building Bikes and Volunteering
- 03:12Sports and DJing in Berlin
- 03:49Language Teaching and Creative Hobbies
- 05:03Football, Cooking, and Outdoor Activities
- 06:17Language Learning with SeatLeng App
- 07:32Benefits and Social Aspects of Hobbies
- 09:32Shopping and Closing Remarks
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
YouTube is now work for you, but watching it is still a hobby. Today we want to know what the hobbies of people here in Berlin are. What do Germans do all day? Let's go!
Speaker A
What hobbies do you have? What hobbies don't you have? Do you have any hobbies?
Speaker A
Yes, what are they? I like to dance, I like to play guitar, and I like to read and do crafts. So how do you spend your life? Oh, that's a good question.
Speaker A
Working, sleeping, gaming. Yes, gaming sounds like a hobby, doesn't it? Cooking food. Yes, now I remember everything again. Look, okay, now it's your turn. How nice. So, I like to read, I like to go for walks, also with friends, and also to the cinema. Yes,
Speaker A
and I also really like watching it. Yes, I play table tennis, hiking, being a mother. So, my hobby is... I have a son, now he 's one and a half, and everything related to childhood and children's dreams and
Speaker A
needs and playing. So, those are... My hobbies at the moment... before it was swimming, football, horseback riding, going out, actually being with people.
Speaker A
Now it's motherhood... I don't know, in English it's " motherhood," in German it's "Mutterschaft," but it sounds kind of strict in German. And you...
Speaker A
I really like to show off, I like going for walks, trying new coffees, things like trying new coffees. Is that a hobby? Yes, definitely. You learn a lot of new things about Berlin, even if you already live here.
Speaker A
These days I don't have so many hobbies anymore. As a child, I had lots. Tell me, tell me, tell me...
Speaker A
What hobbies did you have? As a child, I always rode my bike a lot.
Speaker A
I also did some kind of martial art. Was it judo or something? I can't remember exactly. But then when you get older, it gets boring, so you don't do it as much anymore. Yes, and now it's mostly work, and
Speaker A
then thankfully work is also kind of a hobby, that's a luxury. What about you? I'm building an electric racing bike, you know, a sports bike, a TT bike, something like that, and that just takes up the whole day.
Speaker A
I like going to the gym and I 'm with the TH. What's TH? Oh, that's the Federal Agency for Technical Relief. Exactly. Yes. And what do you do at the THW? I'm in the logistics group. We do everything related
Speaker A
to logistics, like driving things around, supplying emergency services, that sort of thing. What hobbies do you have? Well, drawing dancing traveling especially...
Speaker A
Yes, um, I like playing basketball in my free time and I'm also a DJ. I play basketball for ALBA Berlin and I also DJ occasionally in clubs and bars here in Berlin.
Speaker A
Those are pretty much the things I do in my free time. Otherwise, I also like to hang out with my friends. I really enjoy spending time with them. That 's basically it. Hiking marathons boxing reading, yes, meeting friends. My hobbies
Speaker A
are cycling. Yes, you like doing that too, right? Yes, I just cycled to Belgrade a month ago.
Speaker A
Wow! Yes, that's what I call a hobby! Yes, yes. And otherwise, my hobby is language teaching. What's that?
Speaker A
Describe it. Well, I learn with people from the Balkans. Specifically, I learn German. Ah, you read... Ah yes, I'm learning German, yes, okay, I'm also learning their language at the same time, of course. So the original idea was a tandem learning arrangement, but okay, now
Speaker A
I'm more the teacher. And is there still time and space in your life for hobbies? Yes, I like to play chess.
Speaker A
I do inland Celtic games. What else do I do? I like to draw sometimes and write, that's great. And do you write as a profession or as a hobby? Yes, I always try to make it a bit of a
Speaker A
profession, but I write short stories. I like to play the piano and I make music. I play in a band, for example.
Speaker A
So I play saxophone and piano and so on. That's a hobby of mine, I would say. And going to things like that, yes.
Speaker A
Stadium means football, yes, exactly, football. So we come from Hamburg and are St. Pauli fans, and we go every two weeks, always on the weekend. So I love cooking and baking. I also really like meeting up with my girlfriend
Speaker A
and going for walks, drinking coffee, and secondhand shopping. So generally just doing things outside, I really like that. And I also love good films. I like to ride my bike, so I like to go on longer bike tours. I have a A cravel
Speaker A
bike is a kind of mixed touring and racing bike, I know, with slightly wider tires.
Speaker A
We like to go on trips like that for a few days. I live in Bonn, and then I like to go to the Netherlands or along rivers for a few days. Besides that, I enjoy weight training. I have
Speaker A
a small room at home where I can work out. [Music] Another popular hobby, especially among you, is learning languages. You like learning languages, and we have a great tip for you: the app SeatLeng. I tried it myself and, just for fun,
Speaker A
learned vocabulary for 5 minutes every day for a year, specifically in Spanish. And how far did I get?
Speaker A
I actually learned 500 words with so little effort! You can do it too! Try it out.
Speaker A
SeatLeng is available for iOS and Android, so you can download it to your phone. And the great thing is, it has over 10,000 German words. The vocabulary from our videos is also in the app, and the app reminds you every
Speaker A
day to do a little bit. Reviewing vocabulary is a really great tool that has helped me. I'm happy if you try it out. [Music] [Applause] [Music] And what excites you about your hobby?
Speaker A
You can really spend a lot of time on it, it's a lot of fun, and yes, you can play it your whole life. So, what excites you about your hobby? For me, it's not so much about the physical aspect, of course. You don't just move around, you exert yourself for up
Speaker A
to 6 hours a day. But for me, it's even more about seeing new places. When I'm cycling in Berlin, I can see much more in a shorter time than if I'm walking.
Speaker A
And it's the same on long trips. You can get further away by bike, using only your own muscle power. And I think that's part of the physical aspect for me, but even more so this exploration. Yes, what excites me most is
Speaker A
how varied my daily routine is, especially what it brings out in me, and then, of course, seeing how my son develops, his emotions and feelings, and how he grows. And when he learns something new, or when he hurts himself,
Speaker A
and we overcome it together, so to speak, learning from the pain, or simply seeing how we can work together. What direction do you go through in life? Do you tend to draw more in that graffiti style, artistically, or...? I tend to
Speaker A
draw more academically, but I also want to move more towards illustration, to be honest. And how are your injuries from sports? Basketball, more or less, is fine. When you play indoors, it's more relaxed than outdoors because on a concrete floor, if you lie down,
Speaker A
it's pretty tough on your knees and arms too. There's definitely some wear and tear.
Speaker A
And what kind of music do you listen to? What kind? Tech, house, and techno? Pure energy, exactly, electronic music. Yeah, we 're in Berlin, what else is there to do?
Speaker A
Right? And you do Thai boxing? Yes, for years now, with a break in between. I actually started by chance because I wanted to watch a training session, and they said not to stand around, to join in, and then I got hooked. But
Speaker A
I also... well, my daughter is quite creative, and that's my daughter. Yes, daughter, how lovely! And I don't think you train Thai boxing to beat someone up; it 's your hobby. Good for making friends, yes definitely, yes, all the
Speaker A
time actually, no, yes, there are always new people in the club you can play with, yes, if you go hiking, then you automatically make friends, totally, so my circle of friends has tripled since then, yes exactly, yes, through
Speaker A
sports, through friends. Do you think this hobby, cooking, helps? It also helps to meet other people, to meet friends, yes definitely, just when you cook something together and you like the same dish or something, you already start talking about it
Speaker A
and then you can talk about what you associate with this dish or something. Many people also have recipes from their grandparents or something that they like to cook, and yes, that you can then spend very nice evenings together and definitely always
Speaker A
have a basis for conversation with the dish. Yes, Janusch, now I have them here for you, the top hobbies of Germans. I 'm curious what you say. Number one, gardening is the top hobby of Germans, I should have guessed that,
Speaker A
actually, yes, you also stand there every evening and water our hedge, yes, but I hate it.
Speaker A
Then the second top hobby of Germans Shopping is their favorite hobby. They like to go shopping. I don't know if we can accept that, but shopping isn't really a hobby for many people.
Speaker A
Photography is their third favorite, and going out to eat is their fourth. But you 're right, people buy things simply to satisfy themselves. Yes, you too, by the way, only not in stores, but online. And now my number one favorite hobby is solving puzzles.
Speaker A
Yes, there are always hundreds of puzzle books at the kiosk. Yes now you know what the top hobbies of Germans are: drinking beer. And now we want to know what your hobbies are. Write us a comment below the video and keep practicing
Speaker A
with us as a member of Easy German. Then you'll get, for example, interactive exercises for this video and all the other videos. Thanks J for this interesting street survey. Bye bye!
Speaker A
[Music]
Topics:Germanshobbiesfree timeBerlinsportsmusiclanguage learningcookingcyclingsocializing
