Finding the right book for you
Over the last 32 years I have been using a lot of different books to teach German and for students to learn German. There have been quite a few books I liked, some I loved and some I really didn’t get on with as there was always something missing or the flow of the book just wouldn’t work.
Some of my early favourites are not in production anymore and through trial and error I found these great books below which I am using at the moment with all my adult students. I love the idea of these books including both the student book and the work book all in on. They come with an online code to be able to play all listening exercises and additionally there is a vast amount of free online material that anyone can use together with the book or even without the book.
There are also a number of vocabulary books and other books which I think will be useful to the serious German learner.
Course Books for Adults Learning German
Each book has been created to prepare you for an examination at the Goethe Institute at that particular level of German if you choose to do so and also includes a practice paper at the end of the book. These books will also prepare you for other examination boards.
For each book there are FREE online grammar exercises and audio recordings. Both can also be accessed without using the books and you have access to all levels.
These books are written entirely in German which may make A1 a little bit challenging at the beginning if you are using it on your own, but it certainly gets you to move on fairy quickly with a little bit of extra work such as looking up some words. If you need help with that, please let me know.
The following books are used for adult education along the European Framework which was put together by the Council of Europe as a way of standardising the levels of language exams in different regions. It is very widely used internationally.
There are 6 levels which are A1 (Beginner), A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 (Advanced levels) – ONLINE AUDIO and GRAMMAR EXERCISES for all books!
Spektrum books
I wanted to add these books as well to the choice of learning books as the set up is slightly different.
There are 12 chapters which are a little bit shorter than the other range of books where each book contains 8 chapters.
Both books offer the same preparation for your exam with a sample exam at the back of each book.
The Schubert Verlag has also offered an amazing range of FREE online grammar exercise for each level which can be accessed by anyone.
The audio material to the books can also be found online.
Vocabulary – der Wortschatz
If you like it or not I am sure you will understand that vocabulary plays a very important part in learning any language.
You will find that I have allocated an entire section to vocabulary which I am still working on. In the meantime here are a couple of books and links which will be able to help you on your quest to master German vocabulary as best as possible.
Soon I will have vocabulary cards available for you which will be even more effective to nuture an ever expanding pool of vocabulary.
This book helps with the systematic expansion of your vocabulary and is designed for levels B1-C2.
This B2 vocabulary book helps you through exercises to expand your vocabulary.
Photos and Affiliate Links
My content may include affiliate links and photos from Amazon. I may earn money from actions viewers take on these links. Some photos for books and other products were taken from Amazon online together with links that lead back to Amazon. I am recommending these tools to learn German and have been using these with my students very successfully.