Monday 26 October 2020

Books for German Learners: Café in Berlin

 

Level: A1
Author: Andre Klein

Buy it here*


 

Reading for pleasure in your target language is one of the best things you can do to bring you closer to fluency. I frequently credit Harry Potter as my best English teacher. There is only one problem: an original book is quite intimidating. German is particularly hostile to beginners: using convoluted  complex sentence structures is considered good style in some quarters. While digging your way through the words of Günther Grass is wonderful brain exercise for a competent speaker, someone new to the language will be intimidated and frustrated by the experience.

What to do: bilingual books with corresponding texts? Read children's books. Simplified texts? There has to be a better way. Enter Café in Berlin:  this book gets around of the problems of reading books for beginners quite elegantly. There is a little English at the beginning to make the reader feel secure, but not so much as to detract you from your main goal which is to immerse yourself into German. It’s a guide on how to read the book to help you get the most out of your experience.

Meet Dino, a young man from Sicily, who has just arrived in Germany with very little German. Together with Dino you will navigate Berlin learning common words and phrases as they are actually used in German. Each chapter if followed by a glossary of important vocabulary and

You will be able to read this book fluently without much previous knowledge. The stories are interesting and taken from real life. The language is easy to follow without patronising its reader. This is an excellent first reading book for adult readers and I thoroughly recommend it.

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