Learn German with Stories: Ferien in Frankfurt - 10 short stories for beginners

Dino lernt Deutsch #2

by André Klein

In this sequel to “Café in Berlin”, Dino makes his way towards the central German metropolis of Frankfurt am Main, caught in between quaint cider-pubs, the international banking elite, old acquaintances and the eternal question what to do with his life. Explore Frankfurt’s city life, learn about local sights and sounds, and improve your German effortlessly along the way! This book is designed to help beginners make the leap from studying isolated words and phrases to reading (and enjoying) naturally flowing German texts.Using simplified sentence structures and a very basic vocabulary, this collection of short stories is carefully crafted to allow even novice learners to appreciate and understand the intricacies of coherent German speech.Each chapter comes with a complete German-English dictionary, with a special emphasis on collocative phrases (high frequency word combinations), short sentences and expressions.By working with these “building blocks” instead of just single words, learners can accelerate their understanding and active usage of new material and make the learning process more fluid and fun.

Genres: German Literature, Fiction, Language, Short Stories, Germany, Education, 21st Century

90 pages, Paperback

First published November 25, 2013

About the author

André Klein was born in Germany, grew up in Sweden and Thailand and currently lives in Israel. He has been teaching languages for more than 15 years and is the author of short stories, picture books and non-fiction works in English and German.

Reviews

[Babbs · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love this series of language readers! This particular short story collection covers vocabulary for travel, such as luggage, airport terminology, and simple introductions to living spaces and regionally specific cafes. My level in German is really above the intended audience at this point, but I still enjoy the colloquial phrasing and bits of culture I can still glean from these enjoyable stories.

Since they are intended for an adult learner, they are more relevant situations, which also helps to hold your attention. Like asking questions at the airport, talking about problems with your bags, or ordering at a restaurant, instead of situations geared to children with less useful vocabulary but a similarly simplistic sentence structure.

I would recommend reading them in order unless you're closer to an A2 level, as I started with the third book in the series, because two of my best friends live in Köln and I didn't know some of the phrases used and they weren't included in the translated word bank.

[Samichtime · Rating 5 out of 5]

where I was: 🐌
where I am now: 🐢
where I’m headed: 🏃💨
how long it’s taking: 😫

[AK · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another well-structured and entertaining German reader for beginners from André Klein. I think this one might be slightly higher level than Café in Berlin.

[Fatemeh · Rating 4 out of 5]

As it mentioned, I tried Lesenfluss for the first time and didn't look up the new words, but managed to get the gist of the stories as I kept reading.
It has bolded the new words and has English equivalents in the end. Also it has a few comprehensive questions for each story.
Good for beginners.

[Pavlo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Book

Just like "Café in Berlin," this next book in the series is simply amazing. Very clear German, nice story plot and easy to follow. Can be finished in a couple hours, but has sufficient vocabulary to study for more than a week or two.

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ein Besseres Deutsch.

This is another in the series of Graded Readers known as 'Dino Lernt Deutsch,' Or 'Dino Learns German.' though not great literature they're great for German learners.
1) Low frustration/ practical prediction of new words in everyday situations
2) Life & culture in German countries
3) Common adult work, study, travel world experiences in each reading.

"Es war heiß. Ein großer, schwarzer Gorilla saß auf einem Stein. Die Orang-Utans hingen faul von einem künstlichen Baum. Aber die Schimpansen waren sehr aktiv. Sie rannten und sprangen wie verrückt."

I enjoy having both the Kindle and Audible formats to hear the pronunciation. The narrator reads very slowly and clearly so you have no trouble at all. I read each chapter several times to practice for reading fluency.

Each chapter has a vocabulary list and quiz questions. It couldn't be any better than this for learning "better German," which is my review title.

[Dominik · Rating 4 out of 5]

W tej części główny bohater - Dino, udaje się do Frankfurtu nad Menem w odwiedziny do brata. Tam spotyka pewną dziewczynę, która udowadnia mu, że miasto, wyglądające na pozór mało ciekawie, w rzeczywistości skrywa w sobie wiele interesujących miejsc. Żeby przekonać się, czy Dino zmienił zdanie, trzeba przyswoić sobie słownictwo z zakresu podróżowania. Polecam.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's happening... with each short story, I'm reaching less and less frequently for the dictionary to define words I've encountered previously and forgotten!! Brand new words, of course, I need to look up - but as my familiarity with the language grows, I am beginning to recognize roots, prefixes, and suffixes and, many times, I will have an excellent guess on the definition before confirming it (and sometimes I've missed by a mile).

I'm enjoying this immensely.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dino books are such fun. I love getting to know German and Germany along side him, it feels like we are in this crazy adventure called immigration together. The chapter called "Überraschungsbesuch" was weird, and Dino's reaction not very plausible, but it certainly kept me interested! Overall a good read, and I highly recommend it for A2-ish level German learners.

[Seebee · Rating 4 out of 5]

This series is really helping my progress and confidence in German. Instead of reading basic textbook stuff about introductions, hobbies, jobs etc., I am instead learning vocabulary like pub, cider, skyscraper and suit. I like the modern feel to the story. The dialogue between Dino and the people he meets seems 'real' and up to date.

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das ist wirklich interessant! Das Buch hilft mir einfach Deutsch zu lernen.

What nice stories the author writes for the begginers! I enjoy reading about Dino's adventures and learning German with him. Definitely gonna continue reading this series. And again, highly recommended!

[Tiarnán · Rating 4 out of 5]

as a 30-year-old failson struggling to learn German I profoundly relate to Dino

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Non adatto a principianti assoluti che si approcciano per la prima volta alla lingua tedesca. Alla fine di ogni capitolo ci sono esercizi di comprensione e traduzione in inglese di alcuni vocaboli tedeschi.

[Zen · Rating 3 out of 5]

wish these were graded

I was hoping to improve my german through reading. The problem is this book was much too easy for me, I barely learned any new words. It would be nice if they would be graded for the language learner z.b. A1, B1, or C1

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Persönlich war die Frau in Alfredos Loft ein bisschen sketchy x (makes me miss frankfurt sooooooo much ugh I forgot about hessisch)

[Rachel Exact · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great, funny way to learn German. I will definitely be buying more in this series

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ein anderes gutes Buch. Sehr gutes Lernwerkzeug.

[Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

Es war nur okay - nicht gut oder schleckt aber solala. Meiner Meinung nach ist, dass die Geschichte ein bisschen langsam waren. Trotzdem wenn man mehr Deutsch lesen wollen, dann kann man diese Buch leicht erreichbar finden.

As I stated for my review of the first book in the series, the stories were okay. Super easy light reading. Dino’s brother continuing to support him (letting him live at his apartment and giving him spending money) without really expecting him to do anything for much of the book still seems wild and a little unbelievable to me. There’s really nothing especially good or bad. Good for learning if you’re an A1 and possibly A2 German learner, but for any level higher it’s just something to read if you have little access to other German reading material.

[Sol Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

My second German-language book, and not quite as silly and fun as the first one. Not a lot happens here, but our little protagonist mooches off of his wealthy banker brother in Frankfurt while learning about the city and local culture from the landlord’s daughter, who is like a Frankfurt cheerleader. Ted, his ne’er do well American roommate from Berlin makes a cameo and they take a sort of pensive trip to the zoo.

[Serdar Poirot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dino Lernt Deutsch serisinin ikinci kitabı. Abisi ile görüşüp Frankfurt'a tatile giden Dino'nun başına gelenler anlatılıyor. İlk olarak havaalanında çantası kaybolan Dino, elbisesi olmadan şehre geliyor. Burada Berlin'den arkadaşları Ted ve Gustavo ile görüşen Dino, döner yiyip, hayvanat bahçesine gidip, yine yetersiz olan dilini geliştirmeye çalışıyor. İlk kitaptakinin aksine hikayeler birbiri ile çok aşırı ilintili değil, ancak yine de keyifli bir şekilde okunan bir kitap.

[Ron Handlon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A nice introduction to both Frankfurt and the German language.

I like the way Andrè Klein uses Dino‘s adventures to inform us about Frankfurt, the city, and German, the language. His use of German at a level relatively accessible to us beginners in Deutschlernen makes his stories a great choice for doing what Dino spends much of his adventures doing - learning the grammar and the vocabulary of that language, whether we need a job or not…;>}!

[Cold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dino visits his Großer Bruder in Frankfurt and is much more wholesome for it. The Berlin Dino lusted after blonde-haired blue-eyed Swedes, ate 2 euro donners and lived in an filthy apartment with his fellow immigrants. Frankfurt Dino mostly jibes his brother about working too much and resolves to learn Deutsch.

[Hoda Gharieb · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great book for someone that fall in level beginner-intermediate.
I found it great because I already have studied German but don't always practice it.

The stories are very interesting and I learnt many new vocabulary and expressions through this book in the easiest way.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Descoperirea Frankfurtului prin mini istorioare, interasante, unele chiar preaaa scurte şi cu câte un termen-doi specifici Landului respectiv, cu un sfârşit care te face să vrei să afli continuarea prin exersarea ori chiar învăţarea limbii germane.

[Varun Kini · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just like the first one, this one was also entertaining and fun to read. I have visited Frankfurt and Berlin, and i like how accurately it has depicted many things about these books. Looking forward to more stories!

[Hibbe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished my very first German book! Recommend this for every beginner wanting to improve his/her vocabulary and comprehension. Loved the simplicity of the stories that are all, in fact, connected as one.

[Reece · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, I'm getting mad at Dino. He's in his 30s, jobless and just drifting around and dependent on his brother's charity?? Come on, Dino! German wise though, perfectly ok. Just a bit too much Dino and bit too much 'he laughed'.

[Lars Tackmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great for A1-A2 practice

Used these wonderful short stories to prepare for A2 exam, it was highly useful and while the stories are simple they are engaging enough to make you keep reading

[Danielle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really like this series so far. The stories are easy to follow and very entertaining. Looking forward to reading more.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lol everyone is this series is so shady.