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Watching foreign language films is one of the best ways to improve your language skills, especially when they are subtitled. Not only do you get a chance to improve your vocabulary, but you get a real glimpse inside another culture.

German language cinema is particularly strong. Many of the most critically-acclaimed and commercially successful German films of recent years are based on dark themes of war, repression and Germany’s troubled twentieth century. But don’t let a little misery put you off!

Here are five great German language films:

Das Leben der Anderen (The Lives of Others) Germany 2006 IMDB

Director: Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck

The Lives of Others is an Oscar-winning portrait of life in 1980s East Germany. In an environment where all creative output is filtered by the Communist government and an estimated one in six East Germans informs for the Stasi (secret police), paranoia reigns.

The film tells the story of dyed in the wool Stasi agent Gerd Wiesler (played by Ulrich Mühe) as he carries out an assignment on liberal playwright Georg Dreyman (Sebastian Koch).

Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s debut feature film was nominated for 11 German movie awards and is often cited by critics as one of the finest films produced in any language. Highly recommended.

Die Fälscher (The Counterfeiters) Austria 2007 IMDB

Director: Stefan Ruzowitzky

The Counterfeiters tells the story of the number one counterfeiter in 1930s Berlin, Salomon ‘Sally’ Sorowitsch, and his wartime experiences in the Mauthausen and Sachsenhausen concentration camps. The tagline “It takes a clever man to make money, it takes a genius to stay alive” gives some indication of the plot, which is based on the real life attempts of Nazi Germany to forge foreign currency as their war effort failed.

Another Oscar winner and not as bleak as the subject matter may suggest.

Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei (The Edukators) Germany 2004 IMDB

Director: Hans Weingartner

Attractive young anti-capitalists make a stand against those mean fat cats that, like, own everything, man. But everything does not go according to plan as history, self doubt and Daniel Brühl’s irresistible charm become issues.

An enjoyable drama with a message.

Indien (India) Austria 1993 IMDB

Director: Paul Harather

A light-hearted tale of two Austrian health inspectors who are forced to work together and end up becoming fast friends. Although you may struggle to find a copy with English subtitles, fear not… because of the sometimes unintelligible Austrian dialects, the film was also subtitled in Germany!

A great film if you want to discover Austrian culture.

Das Boot (“The Boat”) Germany 1981 IMDB

Director: Wolfgang Petersen

Long before the days of settling down to watch a whole series of The Wire in one sitting, came Das Boot.

Nominated for six Oscars, 293 minutes long in its full, uncut glory, Das Boot is the big daddy of German cinema. Telling the story of 42 recruits on a German U-Boat, it’s a masterpiece in suspense, emotion and taut writing.

Don’t be put off by the length; you could always watch the edited version at a mere 149 minutes.

When playing Scrabble, a seven or eight letter word, especially through a “Triple Word Score” can be a decisive moment, possibly something to tell the grandchildren about.

Fans of television show Countdown – hello students – may think that a nine letter word is the ultimate in human achievement and just cause for another Digestive (14 points in Scrabble).

But, when it comes to long words, English is left trailing in the shadows by a number of the world’s languages. Discounting technical terms and those which have never made it into a respected dictionary, there are some spectacular words out there, such as:

Donaudampfschifffahrtselektrizitätenhauptbetriebswerkbauunterbeamtengesellschaft (79 letters), which was cited by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest German word, although longer compounds are technically possible. It means “Association for subordinate officials of the head office management of the Danube steamboat electrical services,” if you were wondering. It would fill more than two thirds of a scrabble board.

Speciallægepraksisplanlægningsstabiliseringsperiode (51 letters), meaning “Period of stability planning for specialist doctor practice.” It’s the longest Danish word that has been used in an official context.

Kindercarnavalsoptochtvoorbereidingswerkzaamheden (49 letters), meaning “preparation activities for a children’s carnival procession,” was cited by the 1996 Guinness Book of World Records as the longest Dutch word.

…which all goes to make our own antidisestablishmentarianism (28 letters) seem rather lightweight. But then the disestablishment of the Church of England never did happen, so the antidisestablishmentarians did ok!

Other languages may also suffer from a little size envy:

The longest French word is anticonstitutionnellement (25 letters), meaning “unconstitutionally”, and anticostituzionalissimamente (28 letters) is the longest grammatically correct Italian word. Anti-constitutional behaviour in France or Italy? Never!

Debate rages in Spain as to whether superextraordinarísimamente (27 letters), meaning “extremely superextraordinary” is used enough to qualify as the longest Spanish word. Electroencefalografistas claim that their profession should be recognised as the longest word, but then they’re a fairly small group, without much clout in the world of grammar. And, as their name is highly technical, we’re plumping for superextraordinarísimamente, which sounds better anyway.

In Greece, λοπαδο τεμαχο σελαχο γαλεο κρανιο λειψανο δριμ υπο τριμματο σιλφιο καραβο μελιτο κατακεχυ μενο κιχλ επι κοσσυφο φαττο περιστερ αλεκτρυον­οπτο κεφαλλιο κιγκλο πελειο λαγῳο σιραιο βαφη τραγανο πτερύγων (183 letters) is a popular dish. Ok, that’s not strictly true. It was made up by Aristophanes for his play Assemblywomen, but it’s kind of catchy!

Finally, what are hiccups officially called in Swedish? Hyperneuroakustiskadiafragmakontravibrationer (45 letters).

Have we missed any?