Customer Reviews

Frohliche Weihnachten: Learning Songs & Traditions in German Book & Audio CD (Teach Me) (German Edition)

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
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For anyone who has spent time in Europe during Christmastime, this is sure to bring back fond memories.

This book explains German Christmas traditions with good detail. Each tradition is written out both in English and in German. Overall the translation is good, but centered more on meaning than word for word. The accompanying CD is narrated in German - I didn't realize the stories would also be on the CD so this was a nice surprise.

At first the pages can be a little overwhelming to look at and might be difficult for a child to follow because of all the text, but the pictures are nice and colorful.

The voice of the Woman on the CD is very dramatic with a strong vibrato - Good German style, but could be seen by some as a bit over the top. The childrens choir is great.

love it! we listen to it and my daughter dances around... i want her to be familiar with other languages. this is my fav of all the ones we have bought. it also teaches a bit about German culture and traditions too which i find valuable in fostering a sense of others-centeredness. i want my kids to know and understand that we Americans aren't "it" and that there are very interesting and valuable things to learn and appreciate about ather cultures and people groups.

This is a charming little book and the associated CD makes it a wonderful tool for learning how to hear spoken German. The songs are well chosen and quite lovely. I was surprised at how many of these songs are also selections on Deutsche Grammophon's "das Weihnachtsalbum" Christmas Album: Original Masters, which is itself a five star choice for any kind of Chistmas music.

I have two small observations: The translations from Greman to English are not what I would call "literal" but rather "paraphrase." But that is not really bad because one should always make one's own translation. Second, I would have omitted the English versions of some of the songs. But these are just "de minimus" observations.

This book is excellent. The enclosed CD is very clear and understandable. This book in pure pleasure. I recommend it to anyone. Edwin Cummings "Buch Lesen"

I first saw this book at a friend's house on Christmas Eve. I LOVED the German with English translations. I ended up singing some of the songs for the guests. The songs reminded me of my childhood in Germany! Great book!!

This book is all what i expected.
Growing up in Germany i wanted to share my childhood memories with my kids
and this book helps a lot with the Christmas traditions explaining them also in English language.

What a fantastic book. I bought one for my children and gave one as a gift. A wonderful book to look at together. Love the included CD too!

(This is a review of the Kindle audio book edition.)

I studied German in high school and college but haven't used it much in a number of years. I bought this both for practice and for fun around Christmas time and really enjoyed it.

It includes the narrator's story of her childhood Christmastime memories, starting around St. Nicholas' day on December 6 and ending with Epiphany (or Three Kings Day) in early January. It also includes some poems, and quite a few songs, mostly traditional German ones but also a few translated American ones. The songs are the highlight, I think - the singer's voice and interpretation of the German carols are very pretty.

Some of the lyrics are in English but nearly the whole recording is in German. The narrator speaks clearly and crisply, so it was easy for me to follow what she was saying, even when I didn't remember a word here or there. It's not just clear, though - it's also appealing and interesting. The book covers all kinds of traditions, both religious and secular - food, music, decorations, presents, town life, and family customs - as well as the narrator's own memories and the spirit of the season. The customs are typically German, not American customs translated into German. For example, the narrator remembers leaving her decorated letter on the windowsill for the Christ-child to find, and eating Pfeffernüsse, cinnamon star cookies, and marzipan.

I see Amazon has lumped in the reviews of the book in with the reviews of the audio book, and many of the reviews appear to be of the book and CD set rather than the audio book. You should be aware that the audio book has no written text - it's purely audio. But at under $5.00 for a 45-minute presentation, it's a very good deal. This would be a good purchase for language students or anyone wanting to practice or brush up on their German in a fun way around the holidays. If you're already proficient (or German is your native language), you can just enjoy listening to it, maybe with a hot drink by the fire.