Improve German Vocabulary With Short Stories and Audio CD
It is always a challenge to find new and interesting ways to increase your German vocabulary. You will find it easier to learn in small chunks, and the ‘Kurz und bündig’ ****?k/audio CD combo can help.
Diogenes Verlag from Zurich, Switzerland has ***?thered a ***?lection of short stories from authors ***? diverse ***? Robert Walser, W. Somerset Maugham, Bertolt Brecht, Doris Dörrie, Mark ****?in, the Bible, the Brothers Grimm, and many others from ***?veral countries around the world.
The ****?k contains 100 stories, some ***? short ***? 20 words, up to a maximum of 4 1/2 pages. Subject matter ranges from ***?nny to ridiculous to sad to ***?rplexing, with ***?veral emotions in between. Diogenes introduces the reader to postal workers, fleas, mice, and ex-lovers. You will read about wishes and murders, watchmen and slippers. You will laugh and frown, and sometimes be left hanging without an answer.
Although the stories are in German, if you really need to find the English versions, you should be able to locate them on the Internet.
The CD package contains 65 stories, 45 of which are from the ****?k. Of these 45, three have slightly different translations, ****? are still useful for learning purposes. Anna König and Hans Korte, who have slightly different accents, narrate the CD-based stories. Use the differences in enunciation ***? an opportunity for your ear to adjust to what is common with just about every foreign language – regional accents.
To utilize these German productions ***? learning tools, I recommend the following:
Start with the stories that are both on the CD and in the ****?k.
Begin with the shortest story, learn the vocabulary, and then progress to the next.
Work your way through all 45 stories on the CD.
Now tackle the 55 stories out of the ****?k that have no audio version.
Once again, begin with the shortest story and work up to the largest. You can estimate size by going to the ‘Inhalt’ (table of contents) and looking at the page numbers.
After you have completed the stories in the ****?k, go through the remaining 20 stories on the CD. This part will be the most difficult, ***? you will be relying purely on your auditory language skills. However, you will already be ***?miliar with the narrators’ voices, so the experience should be relatively painless.
The learning process will take you through a total of 120 stories. By the ***?me you have completed the ****?k and audio presentation, your German vocabulary should have improved dramatically, and you will have had some ***?n to ****?t!
For a list of the 45 stories that are common to both CD and ****?k, ***?e the link in the author’s resource box. There are two versions of the list:
Sorted by story size
Sorted by CD track
Kurz und bündig: Diogenes Verlag AG Zürich
Pocketbook: 213 Pages
Published: October, 2007
Language: German
ISBN-10: 3257236808
ISBN-13: 978-3257236804
Dimensions: 17.8×11.2×1.4 cm.
Audio ****?k: 2 CDs
Published: October, 2007
Language: German
ISBN-10: 3257801661
ISBN-13: 978-3257801668
Dimensions: 14×12.4×1.4 cm.
(c) Copyright Kathy Steinemann: This article is free to publish only if this copyright notice, the byline, and the author’s note below (with active links) are included.
- Kathy Steinemann
Tags: Bertolt Brecht, Brothers Grimm, Shortest Story, Subject Matter Ranges, Watchmen
