Reddit reviews German: How to Speak and Write It (Dover Dual Language German)

From "Is there a German equivalent to the New Penguin Russian book?"

>However, if you like the Penguin Russian Course (which I've also been using), I'd recommend (as I have many times before on this sub) German: How to write and speak it by Joseph Rosenberg. It's an old book, but it has a great layout with simply-explained grammar, plenty of vocabulary, useful exercises (when I started with the Penguin Course, I was struck by the similarity of the exercises), and an abundance of various translations (again, a lot like the Penguin Course). My personal favorite thing about the book is the short German paragraphs at the end of each chapter that talk about some location in Germany. They're written in "regular" German, not simplified for beginners, so they give you experience with useful vocabulary, grammar, and phrasing before you formally learn the concepts. There are, of course, translations in the back, and the author gives advice on how best to use the translation exercises to form automatic comprehension.

I recently got the book "German: How to Speak and Write It" by Dover & I really really enjoy reading it. It's a bit older but what sold me on buying it (aside from it's insanely cheap price) is its amount of great reviews. It has information about Germany on about every other page & reinforces the information learned with small exercises to do by yourself. It's about $10 & is seriously worth every penny :)

Should throw in that the book is older so the photos of Germany aren't up to date. Still doesn't take away from the interest, imo.

Here's a free online textbook (click on the "Kapitel Eins" etc thumbnails), with audio and video components.

Otherwise, I found this book to be very helpful – it's very information-dense and covers all the grammar tenses and such in a concise way, but is well organized. I found studying from it to be more useful than taking an actual German class, but of course you may feel differently.

If you are really concerned about saving money, your local library will likely have some books on the subject.

There's no definitive German course as there is for Russian, by which I mean if you ask "What German course should I start out with?", you won't get everyone giving the same response as they will with Russian.

However, if you like the Penguin Russian Course (which I've also been using), I'd recommend (as I have many times before on this sub) German: How to write and speak it by Joseph Rosenberg. It's an old book, but it has a great layout with simply-explained grammar, plenty of vocabulary, useful exercises (when I started with the Penguin Course, I was struck by the similarity of the exercises), and an abundance of various translations (again, a lot like the Penguin Course). My personal favorite thing about the book is the short German paragraphs at the end of each chapter that talk about some location in Germany. They're written in "regular" German, not simplified for beginners, so they give you experience with useful vocabulary, grammar, and phrasing before you formally learn the concepts. There are, of course, translations in the back, and the author gives advice on how best to use the translation exercises to form automatic comprehension.