Learn German With Stories: Café in Berlin - 10 Short Stories For Beginners: 1 (Dino lernt Deutsch - Simple German Short Stories For Beginners)

This is really very good. I wasn't quite sure where to go next after beginning to learn basic German via "Dummies German All-In-One" and I thought it might be good to read some stories. I stumbled on this book by Google and the reviews seemed positive, so I downloaded it. To be honest, I was worried that I might not have enough German to be able to makes sense of whole pages of German text (daunting!). But it's written at just the right level and with a very helpful vocabulary at the end of each short chapter. Rather than being a chore, I enjoyed reading about Dino's life in Berlin. There's a humour in the text that made me want to read more and I found myself able to comprehend more and more as I read through it. The stories are short, but I think that's good at my level - each is a long enough read but not so long as to get bogged down in. As soon as I finished this book, I wanted to get the second one in order to keep on reading, which is in itself a pretty good recommendation. In short, thoroughly recommended!

I would consider myself somewhere between a continuing beginner and an intermediate learner of German. I have done a lot of reading - articles from magazines, excerpts from books, books designed for learners. However, I have always had to keep a dictionary to hand and stop to check vocabulary almost constantly. This means it takes a long time to read and it is a bit defeating. Also, even with a dictionary to hand sometimes it can be difficult to get the exact meaning of some words and phrases. This book is so different. It is perfect for my level of understanding. I can read a whole story and understand it without referring to the dictionary. And, when I have read the story, I look up any new words or phrases which I haven't been able to guess the meaning of. It is a great way of improving reading flow and learning vocabulary. The content is also good - telling the tale of a young immigrant looking for work and learning a new language. There is, in addition, some insight in to the German way of life and what life is like for immigrants. I would thoroughly recommend this book.

Great short stories, funny and simple but with lots of useful vocabulary. Ideal if you already have very basic German, like me. Only 4 stars because it's not that easy to refer to the word translations in the e-book version: their font is very much smaller than the main text, and there are no inbuilt links/dictionary to click, so lots of flicking through virtual pages.

I started to learn German at home with a teach yourself book by trying to remember a list of useful phrases/words. At the beginning it was reasonably easy but 6 months later I found going over and over the same words was less and less inspiring. I came across "Cafe in Berlin" by accident and decided to give it a try. The 10 chapters are each 2-3 pages long and each is a self contained story but they also build to create a single simple and amusing story. Important or commonly used words in a chapter are in bold and in a dictionary at the end of each chapter. The stories are long enough to paint a good picture but not too long that they become too much to remember. I started to learn German in Sept 2013 and by Apr 2014 had learnt just enough vocabulary to allow me to start reading this book. I was very slow reading the first chapter but as many of the same words are used in each chapter I found I was reading the chapters faster and faster as I went through the book. Although many words are repeated the sentences are not so that you get to repeat words over and over without the boredom of trying to memorize the same sentences. Since starting to read this book I'm amazed at how much my vocabulary has increased in just 4 weeks. I bought the paperback version which, with quite large spaces between the lines, allows you to pencil in either definitions of hard to remember words or their phonetic pronunciation which I think is a big advantage over an electronic version. As I have started to remember these words I've removed the penciled notes to make sure I'm not reliant on the crib notes. Overall a great addition to a basic teach yourself book.

I am being coached on a one to one basis by a native German speaker. My enthusiasm sometimes gets ahead of me. I purchased one or two books which my coach was not happy about. The reason being that they employed future perfect and past tenses. Her opinion was that I was not ready for such complexities in the language. Or maybe she just thought that I was a bit thick! I purchased Café in Berlin, which I can fully comprehend. I can also reread chapters without becoming bored because I know that my comprehension of the story and the language is becoming greater. At the end of each chapter there is a mini dictionary which translates words which the beginner would be unlikely to know. There are one or two words which the author assumes that the student will know, but who is right? I will certainly purchase other books in this series and, when my tutor allows, I will move on to more complex stories. In summary, if you are new to the language and want a simple introduction to German writing, I commend this book to you.

This book is perfect for people that are learning german. It's really easy to read, most of it is present tense and you learn lots of vocabulary and idioms. At the end of each chapter there's an english translation of the highlighted words and phrases. The story is funny and entertaining. And if you buy the audio book too is amazing to practice your pronunciation.

It's really helping me to speed up the knowledge of German. Moving from short built dialogues of regulars courses to the small stories of this book was a bit more relaxing. Regular courses are great (Assimil ones more than any other) but made you jump from a short story to another very quickly. That can result tiring after a while. This book drives you along a long story cut in small chapters. It's speeding up my dictionary build up and meanwhile gives me some satisfaction while realizing I am able to understand simple but longer texts..

This is really an excellent book for anyone looking to expand their German vocabulary. Each short story is full of phrases and specific words that are defined at the end of the chapter, which makes understanding the language a breeze. The stories are also funny and interesting, which makes it a real page turner. As difficult as the German language can be to learn, I found this book really helped me understand and appreciate the language to a whole new level.

C’est un bon livre si vous débutez en allemand. Phrases simples et faciles à comprendre. Cependant il faut qu’auparavant vous ayez les bases en allemand

Suddenly many words you studied come to life together and everything makes sense! Recommended for A2 level as the story is almost entirely told using the Präteritum tense.