Becoming fluent in German: 150 Short Stories for Beginners (German Edition) by Philipp Eich

Becoming fluent in German: 150 Short Stories for Beginners (German Edition) Reviews

• 
  L Hahn

  I am not fluent in German. I took a couple of college classes way back in the day and lived in Germany for a couple of years. I am also married to a German. So I do have some basic knowledge of the language. I was looking for some basic review and light, easy reading to practice. However, this book is an example of extremely bad translation.
  For example, the first story uses the word "gehen" incorrectly multiple times. You cannot simply translate "to go" in English blindly in every sentence to "gehen." To "go get dressed" does not translate to gehen. Also, when you are driving the translation is "fahren" even when we would say we are "going" to a place in English. This is just for starters.
  There are just so many basic, bad translation mistakes. Please beware before relying on this book for German practice.
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  Heidi Choi

  It took me quite a long time to finish this book. I found myself learnt a lot of new vocabularies bit by bit, and I start using them. The author repeated the vocabularies in purpose, so as to make the learners, like me to remember the words without any effort. 150 short stories covered a lot, and I found them all interesting. I highly recommend this book. I also bought his another book, German Dialogues for beginners. Well done! Thanks Philipp!
  
  [email protected]
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  Lightning

  Either I am getting better at reading German or the author is a genius at writing around the holes in my knowledge. My teachers K 12 were always impressed with my vocabulary and general knowledge. I think that was due entirely to the fact that I and members of my family have always been readers. I hope it is working in German too. This weird language has been a hobby of mine for years. I enjoy it because it is impossible.
  After thinking it over I still give this collection of stories five stars.
• 
  Alex Liberman

  I just finished reading this book in Kindle format. I’m learning German for than a year and book help me improve my vocabulary tremendously. All small stories are chosen from real life situations with frequent repetition of many vocabulary words, so gradually I really became fluent in understanding stories. At the end there is a download of audiobook so I expect to repeat the book along with audio. I recommend this book to anybody who is at the beginning of his learning German journey. Great job, Philipp!
• 
  R. Matthew Randquist

  Excellent stories. I hope the author writes books for the B1, B2 and C1 levels as well. I highly recommend reading with a highlighter so you can highlight words you do not know. It is also highly beneficial to read the stories aloud. They are short and you could easily read one or two per day.
• 
  DMM

  Very good book, but where do I download the audiobook?, I should downgrade the starts because of the misleading audiobook offer, that doesn't exist, it's false at the moment. However it's still a good book without audio content.
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  Tom N

  The short stories are squeezed into the top quarter of the page. Beginners need room between lines and a little bigger font. The free audio download is great, but could be a little slower for beginners. Thanks.
• 
  Grizzlybear

  Book is ok.
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  J. M. C

  This is the best German language book around for the price. I've some knowledge of German from working there years ago and feel that some previous knowledge is necessary to fully gain some benefit from this book There is an audio which many complain there isnt just get to the end of the book and you will find 4 audio files to download. The stories are set at the right pitch, interesting everyday type of experiences. They may not be long, around a large paragraph, but with 150 to read and an audio it is sufficient. This is a brilliant price for less than £3 (my Lingaphone years ago cost hundreds). There is no reference to grammar but to be honest this does not distract from the experience.
  Well recommended if you want a boost to your knowledge of the German language. Well done Philipp!
• 
  rainbowsix3

  I've re started learning German after a 20+ year break during the lockdown and I came across the idea of extensive reading whilst learning foreign languages and was looking for some books that I could try that on.
  
  This book is just perfect for me to try extensive reading on. The stories aren't too long and are just at my level so I only have to look up the odd word now & again so I remain in the flow of reading.
  
  I find the stories interesting and amusing. Word patterns and vocabulary are repeated in different stories so, hopefully, I'll be able to learn them.
  
  I downloaded the audio of the book from the author's website and the narrator speaks clearly and at a normal speed. I've been listening to the audio at the same time as reading which I hope will help with my pronunciation and reading speed.
  
  Highly recommended.
• 
  Alan T

  I've been learning German for 10 months but as an older student ( I am now 73) I have had great difficulty remembering vocabulary from one day to the next. Reading this book has really helped me. It's much easier to remember words and phrases from the short stories in this book. I've found that making up my own sentences and stories using the ones in the book as a guide has increased my vocabulary tremendously. I'd recommend this book to anyone who wants to accelerate their progress in the German language. Alan T.
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  alanm

  I am not a beginner, so most of this vocabulary was not new to me. However I found it useful to read several stories each day as part of my learning and to help in retaining some of my German. The sentence structure is simple throughout and there is frequent repetition of vocabulary. The German used becomes a little advanced throughout the book. I have to say that everyone should find this little book helpful as part of their attempt to learn German. (milbu)
• 
  T. G. Mullen

  I was a bit intimidated because I'm nowhere near fluent! However, the stories begin well within my capabilities and gently progress, introducing degrees of difficulty as you get further into the book.
  
  It's a level that (I'm surprised to find) I can cope with fairly comfortably. However, when I finish the book, I'll be amazed if I could be classed as "Fluent"!