Short Stories in German / Erzählungen auf Deutsch (New Penguin Parallel Texts)

Gear for practicing German, as always is handy to have a dictionary in hand even though the new words are included it helps with the ones you know.

I figured that it would be beneficial to try this book, but I also thought that it would be boring drudgery. No way! Although I'm still going through it, I've already ordered the second book that they've since published. A previous reviewer stated that he prefers to first read the English and then look at the German. One can no doubt finish the book in a fraction of the time that way but probably get only a fraction of the value out it. What I find so fascinating is how German builds it's vocabulary on existing words. I'm constantly exclaming to myself "why didn't I see that?" or, "Isn't that interesting, I see it now." It's like being on a constant treasure hunt - you're surrounded by clues and have only to use your noggin go figure it out.

The stories in this book are interesting and provide some fun reading. The translations allow for an intermediate level proficient person (such as myself) to enjoy the stories for their value, while learning new vocabulary and expressions. I enjoyed this book for the ability to increase my language proficiency in an entertaining mannger, and recommend it to anyone with intermediate proficiency (or greater).

Great book to improve your German skills. Might be a little too advanced than the discreption would have you believe, i'd say a B2\ C1 for comfortable reading. Nevertheless the English text helps a lot. Would reccommend.

Pros: This is a great book with compelling short stories. Cons: Perhaps this speaks to my level of German fluency, but I find the German to be unnecessarily difficult in some stories. This is not made easier by the loose dynamic-equivalent translation which constructs fine English, but does so, at times, exceeding its purpose as an aid (crutch) to the reader. I found the looseness of the translation caused me to sometimes use a dictionary, which I feel defeats the purpose of the book. In my mind this critique is comparing the pedagogy of this book with that of the French version, which is an excellent balance of difficultly and literal translation.

This book very helpful to me as I am an beginner.

Book in great condition, and very helpful to get some insights in translating texts.

I wish not to affect the rating of this book, nor discredit it. The reason being, I don't know enough. But there in-lies the point. As others have commented, this book is great for people who have an "intermediate" mastery of the language, or have gone through 4 years of German in college. But, if you're picking up the language on your own, though audio cds, flash cards, etc., this book is a bit overwhelming. To the relative beginner, the sentences are long, with complex words and sentence structure. I would say that your average native English speaker with high school diploma would be in the thick of it reading the English alone. I intend to hang onto this book until I know a bit more. Until then, I'm considering picking up some children's books in German, to get the hang of more simple sentences. It's not that I haven't learned anything from this book, it's just too much, for now.

The ability to read top writers without always wanting to go to a dictionary for fear of missing a critical aspect of the story is great. Being short stories means not having to get bogged down in long and involved plots.

Não veio o que eu esperava. Letras miúdas e sem figuras. Difícil compreensão

Great selection of short stories.

Muy buen libro, viene en edición bilingüe así puedes a la vez mejorar también tu inglés, aunque si diría que no es un libro para gente muy principiante el nivel de Alemán de este libro ya es intermedio.

İki dilli de aynı anda geliştirmek için aldım iyi ki de almışım.