Preface

We wrote this book because we realised that there was a lack of reading books suitable for people who had begun to learn German, particularly those learning German as adults. And yet reading stories written in German helps students to develop and to increase their knowledge about letter and word combinations and the usual structure of the language. Textbooks contain vignettes and extracts for those beginning to learn German, but these are often seen as work rather than enjoyment.

The stories are written for beginners in German who have studied for approximately 18 - 36 hours of German, and who want to read German for pleasure.

The idea is that you can read and understand the stories without stopping to look up unfamiliar words. Excessive use of dictionaries whilst reading German books is very demotivating and disturbs the enjoyment of continuous reading. The Illustrations throughout and words being repeated in different contexts mean that you should understand the book, even if you do not, at first, understand every word. Of course once you’ve read the stories you might want to check that you’ve understood the meaning of unfamiliar words by using a dictionary.

These are the sort of stories Elisabeth’s students would like to have had available when they were beginning to learn German. The stories are written in the present tense and in very simple sentences. The vocabulary in this book is necessarily limited. Although the stories therefore are fairly simple – and child-like in places – the themes in the stories (shopping, travelling, exercising etc.) are not. This, together with characters of varying ages and personalities, makes the stories suitable for learners of German, whatever their age.

Viel Spaß beim Lesen!

Elisabeth and Christine