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EssentialGermanA No-Frills Approach to Reading and Writing Germanby Eugene R. Moutoux
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Nowadays most German textbooks are packed with a great variety of material, the purpose of which seems to be to address as many teaching preferences and learning styles as possible, thereby appealing to the widest possible audience. In the process, grammar seems to take a back seat to dialogues and drills and cultural information. The original title of this book was Deutsch ohne Überfluss, which means "German without superfluity." Although the title has changed, the content has not: vocabulary blocks, grammar explanations, translation practice, and not much else. The student learns words, grammar, and the application of these two language elements in reading and writing German.
Some students will not want to use this book. It is intended for those who already have a solid grasp of English grammar or who will put in the time and effort necessary to acquire it. Furthermore, this book will not satisfy the student's speaking and listening needs; therefore it needs to be supplemented by tapes or live voices, be they those of teachers, friends, or people encountered on trips to German-speaking countries.
~ Contents ~
| Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3 | Book 4 |
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Please send comments and questions to
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For Beginning Students of German . . .
Essential German:
A No-Frills Approach to Reading and Writing German
Visitors to my web site have asked if my web program Essential German exists as a book. It does now. This brand new book includes the same four books as the web program, the same thirty-six chapters, the same vocabulary studies and grammar explanations, the same dialogues and fairy tales, the same exercises, the same answer sections, and the same glossary. What the book has that the web program does not have are nineteen poems by famous German writers such as Goethe and Heine and one unusual fable, all with copious marginal notes. All of this is crammed, in 10-point type, on 152 pages. There is truly a wealth of material on each page.
This 8 1/2" x 11" book has a soft cover protected by a plastic overlay. The price of the book is $16, including postage within the U.S. and handling. If you order more than one copy, you may subtract $1 from the price of each book after the first.
To order, please write to me at ermoutoux@juno.com. I will send you my address, and you can then mail me a check or money order (no cash or credit card numbers, please). Don't forget to include your address. I will try to send your book or books to you on the day your order arrives or on the following day. The post office expects shipment to take approximately ten days.
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For Intermediate Students of German . . .
Unbekannt und Unbeachtet:
German Fairy Tales You May Have Missed
Most of the 200 plus fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm are unfamiliar to native speakers of English. From these unknown tales, I have selected sixteen that I find especially engaging. Several are love stories in which husbands, wives, and lovers must overcome awesome obstacles to win, keep, or regain their beloved. One tale tells of a sister's selfless devotion to her brothers and another of a boy's love for his imprisoned mother. Among the featured characters are simpletons who outsmart their "wiser" brothers, an innocent princess who prevails against a treacherous chambermaid, and a loving husband who breaks the arrogance of his spoiled wife. Comedy is provided by a petulant devil, a tiny troublemaker, an overly curious wife, an ungrateful dwarf, and a princess disguised as a man, among others.
Thirty-three vocabulary lists accompany the tales, and copious marginal notes help students with both vocabulary and grammar. A 15-page glossary concludes the book. If you would like to view the book's introduction, click here. To view the table of contents, click here.
This 8 1/2" x 11" book has a soft cover protected by a plastic overlay. The price of the book is $13, including postage within the U.S. and handling. If you order more than one copy, you may subtract $1 from the price of each book after the first.
To order, please write to me at ermoutoux@juno.com. I will send you my address, and you can then mail me a check or money order (no cash or credit card numbers, please). Don't forget to include your address. I will try to send your book or books to you on the day your order arrives or on the following day. The post office expects shipment to take approximately ten days.
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Aus erster Hand:
Letters
by Famous German-Speaking Men and Women
The 28 German letters contained
in this book were written by German-speaking men and women of some
prominence. The first letter takes you back more than two hundred years,
while the last dates from only about 60 years ago. Out of hundreds of
letters that I examined, I chose these because I believed they would have
broad appeal and because they were, in general, without unmanageable
grammatical and lexical complexities. The letters express a wide range
of emotions and attitudes, from disdain to compassion, from delight to
disillusionment, from longing to fulfillment, from hope to hopelessness,
from diffidence to self confidence, from criticism to congratulations.
Topically, the letters deal with death, the French Revolution, scientific
investigation and discovery, theater, medicine, business, politics, the
military, psychology, and morality, to name only some. As sources of
knowledge, the letters are gold mines. Most of the letters are too
difficult for intermediate students to read with ease until they have
taken time to acquaint or reacquaint themselves with some of the
words. For that reason, each section of each letter is preceded by a
vocabulary list. Troublesome words not contained in these lists are
glossed. A rather thorough explanation of major points of German grammar
is available in discrete sections interspersed throughout the book. A
glossary containing some 1400 German words has also been provided. The book contains 28 letters--13
found on my web site as well as 15 additional letters. You may preview the
table of contents by clicking here.
Each letter is followed by questions in German about the contents of the
letter, by English sentences to be translated into German by the student,
and by a research suggestion or a suggestion for discussion. This
Feb. 26, 2007
