Customer Reviews

Dictionary of German Slang and Colloquial Expressions (Barron's)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I can only give 1 star for the idea behind the book, but the author should have consulted a wider range of people to get to know the typical "German slang". Words like "abasten" or "abflottieren" really don't exist in the actual German language. If you want to know about German slang, buy a book like "Kauderwelsch: American Slang, das Andere Englisch
" from Annette Linnemann and Renate Georgi-Walsk, where you can see the German expression for American slang, too. Or just ask the people around you in Germany, they will help you for sure. But don't buy this book, it's really not worth it.

Be careful using the phrases of this book in other German speaking countries than Germany. Especially Austrians won't like, or in several cases not even understand, many phrases, since the slangs in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and so on are really different!

This little book is worth the $10 for entertainment value alone. This is a funny book. I know a little German, and I have actually heard a few of these words before. Only now I know what they mean. I do agree however with a couple of other reviewers that you probably shouldn't say too much of this stuff in public. Still worth it though! The most fun I've had with a book in a long time.

Definately something to get if you're interested in the language at a level beyond "The Classroom". Some things just cannot be expressed correctly without a little slang. The only downside is that one must have a bit of German language already for the book to be of much use.
For instance... I can just hear a non-german speaker butcher "AA machen" by saying AA like it was the local alcoholics anonymous instead of the propper "Ahh-Ahh mach-en"
Buy the book to find out what "AA machen" means ;)

This book is an amusing collection of German slang and is in this way a superior, though different, book from Strutz's "German Idioms," published by Barron's. "German Slang" contains some slightly racy, street-wise German that's sure to amuse almost everyone. Some of it, of course, can be spicy. German teachers should look up "Sprachmufti"--a definition I wound up memorizing--"Er haelt sich fuer Sprachmufti [language expert], die Jugendsprache aber checkt er nicht [doesn't understand]."