Customer Reviews

Reading German: A Course Book and Reference Grammar

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I have used this book to supplement my own book, German Quickly:
A Grammar for Reading German, and I have found the explanations
extremely helpful and the readings more interesting than the
standard textbook fare. Initially, the book looked scary, even to me, and I teach German! Therefore, I think it is more useful as a review book than as an introductory grammar. For the price, it's an excellent value, and a useful reference for anyone seriously interested in reading German scholarly texts.

I used this text in an independent study course, and found that while it taught me basic grammar principles, it was confusing as it didn't use the traditional names for these principles. For example, subjunctive forms were called "non-factual." It explained what a noun, verb, sentence, and independent clause were. This is most helpful for someone who has never learned a foreign language before, but for someone who has a solid grounding in grammar, this book is a bit too simple.

I agree with April, this book is not necessarily an introductory text. It seems more of a comprehensive review or could be used to sew up the complex topics that you've never quite understood. I've read a lot of German textbooks and this one is one of the most rich in terms in raw content. Simply tons of applicable text in English/German, grammar topics coming from a slightly different angle (which is always helpful for me), and exercises. The format of the book is a little different than most language tutorials you'll come across. There are basically four main sections (1) A Reading Course - essentially concepts + associated exercises, wrapped up with 5 chapters of texts/exercises. (2) Reference Section [my favorite]- individual grammar topics which are referenced throughout the Reading Course. These can also be "cherry-picked" by the reader. (3) Further Exercises - auxiliary exercise section and (4) German-English Text Corpus - 23 excerpts (about a page a piece) of German articles, books, etc. Because of the way it references the reader to various sections, I found myself jumping around in a non-linear fashion and, as a result, came to the same supporting grammer topics from different directions in the text. Depending on your learning style, this could get annoying. No dictionary or glossary is provided, so have your pocket Langenscheidt or Harper-Collins ready. On the plus side, all exercises and German texts have corresponding English translations for them.

"Reading German" is a surprisingly well-structured reading course that has its place both in the classroom and in the library of self-learners. The course contains authentic texts of increasing difficulty drawn from various sources. The accompanying explanations refer the reader to a separate, very well-developed, grammar section that, alone, is worth the price of the book! Although the course is fully-developed and includes translations of the German texts, most learners will find themselves diving into their dictionaries. In my view, this course is appropriate for learners who have achieved a basic-to-intermediate competence in German and who wish to expand their understanding of the language through some very serious study. My congratulations to the authors!