Learn German With Stories: Café In Berlin – 10 Short Stories For Beginners

Dino lernt Deutsch #1

by André Klein

Newly arrived in Berlin, a young man from Sicily is thrown headlong into an unfamilar urban lifestyle of unkempt bachelor pads, evanescent romances and cosmopolitan encounters of the strangest kind. How does he manage the new language? Will he find work?


Experience daily life in the German capital through the eyes of a newcomer, learn about the country and its people, 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, Reference, Education

ebook

First published September 11, 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

[Viktoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

My first finished story in German!

Such a good book for the people who just started to learn German. Good phrases, nice language, simple but interesting plot and English translations for some words and phrases at the end of every chapter. Highly recommended for A1-A2 German speakers!

[bojana · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is a cute little book, with simple but versatile german. it is modern, but not too modern. there were a few phrases i would probably not come across by myself (like dog shaking its tail and drooling on the floor), and it was nice to read something where the language flows, instead of being confined to usual textbook stories.

[Evan Edinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty useful for learning German! Easy read with new challenging words and great vocab at ends of chapters!

[Carlos González · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sentí curiosidad por aprender algo de alemán. Buscando en reddit encontré varios comentarios que hacían referencia a los libritos de este autor.

Son libros de historias cortas. En cada una va introduciendo nuevo vocabulario, y en las siguientes va reutilizando el que ya apareció anteriormente. Al final de cada lección-historieta hay una lista con los significados de las nuevas palabras. Las traducciones están en inglés, pero es que no hay edición en español. Después de las traducciones, incluye unos ejercicios para comprobar si se ha comprendido el texto.

Es cómodo de utilizar y se aprende bastante. El hecho de que repita a menudo las palabras ya empleadas facilita que se vayan quedando grabadas en la memoria.

Después de este hay por lo menos diez libros más, por si se quiere continuar avanzando.

Como contras, en primer lugar la extensión. Para costar casi siete euros, el tamaño del libro es muy escaso. Son diez historias, cada una de tres o cuatro páginas.



Y otro punto es que las llama “short stories”, pero podrían ser perfectamente posts de facebook de un estudiante de erasmus. El protagonista cuenta cómo es su vida al llegar a Berlín. Anécdotas bobas en su piso compartido, etc. Aunque es lo habitual en este tipo de textos, me resultó engañoso que en el título ponga “short stories”.

También pone “+bonus workbook inside”, y “now with free flashcards” (al menos en la edición que me llegó). Pero en realidad lo que hay es un enlace a una página web con el contenido extra en pdf para que tú ya si eso te lo imprimas.

En cualquier caso, en general estoy satisfecho. Aunque no seguiré con esta serie.

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super duper useful - will definitely check out the other versions in the series and I feel I could use this over and over again for various vocabulary exercises. Great for language revision during university semesters.

[Josh · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Cafe in Berlin" isn't your typical German language textbook. It's a delightful adventure that takes you on a journey alongside Dino, a character whose mishaps and triumphs will have you laughing out loud.

This book is a goldmine for German learners. The stories are cleverly crafted to introduce new vocabulary and grammar in a natural, engaging way. You won't feel like you're slogging through dry exercises; instead, you'll be immersed in Dino's world, picking up new phrases and sentence structures effortlessly.

If you're looking for a language learning experience that's both fun and effective, "Cafe in Berlin" is the perfect book to grab a metaphorical cup of and get started.

[Amin · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first book I have ever read in German! It has short and funny stories, and overall it is an easy read. The vocabs become a bit more difficult in the second half of the book, and there are lots of cultural points more interesting to me.

So, I am quite motivated to continue the other volumes in this series

[Ugo Marsolais · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a book that I can read with my beginner's German! I was super excited to see I could understand something like 75% on first pass. The English tips at the end of every story are excellent at explaining idiomatic German expressions that don't make much sense when translated word-for-word. I have to point out how extraordinary it is to read these stories on an ereader with a German-French dictionary loaded (French is my native tongue) so you can simply press a word and get instant translation. If only that had existed 25 years ago when I was first learning to read English instead of painfully and slowly leafing through a paper dictionary every 3 words... Moreover, if you have the Vocabulary builder feature on your ereader, you can then review the words you looked up in the dictionary in a system of flashcards. Really excellent for increasing your German vocabulary.

I have also bought the audio tracks with it and after reading a story twice or three times, you can then listen only to the audio narration and improve your understanding of spoken German.

Anyway, I am definitely sold on these series and I intend to buy read all of them and then progress with the intermediate/advanced stories also from Andre Klein. Exceptional value for any aspiring German learner.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Was ist deutsch und was ist normal? Ich weiß es nicht".

Mein erstes deutsches Buch. This book was in a level way harder than I expected (most probably because I'm still in A1, getting closer to A2). However I'm glad that I could finish it. I'd definitely recommend it to anyone who has the patience enough to translate most of the words in order to understand everything of the story. Another thing that I found useful, it was that at the end of each chapter, there's a couple of questions (about 5-7) to test yourself.

I truly enjoyed the story because it gave me an insight of how it would be to live in Germany. Besides the stories are pretty interesting and sometimes funny, I never felt bored, but I did felt sometimes stressed because I had to kept on translating the words.

[Stephanie R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is right at my level of German, so I enjoyed reading it because it made me feel like I haven't completely forgotten everything. Dino is a sort of ungainly but lovable character much like Ben Stiller. I certainly wouldn't want to spoil what happens in his awkward relationship with Ingrid, so you'll have to read it yourself!

[Olga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Книга для изучающих немецкий язык на начальном уровне про приключения итальянца Дино (Dino) в Берлине.

Выбор такой необычной для этого блога книги объясняется моим недавним увлечением — немецким языком. Точней, попыткой его изучать.
«Café in Berlin» («Кафе в Берлине») это первая книга из четырёх о том, как Дино изучает немецкий в Германии. Сама серия книг называется Dino lernt Deutsch и действие происходит последовательно в Берлине, Франкфурте, Кёльне и Мюнхене. Почему же я выбрала именно эту книгу для практики немецкого?

Когда я начала искать книги для чтения на немецком, внезапно выяснилось, что читать нечего. Даже в насыщенной специализированными книжными магазинами Москве ни одна книга для чтения уровня A1 мне не подошла. Либо это были детские рассказы, сказки (спасибо, но — две строчки текста и рисунок Красной шапочки на оставшуюся страницу — не надо). Либо книжки с чуть более увлекательным сюжетом, но уже и с другим уровнем сложности. Текст без пояснений и в конце тесты на понимание прочитанного. Откуда, предполагается, я должна брать перевод слов? За каждым словом лезть в словарь, когда банальные «погода», «идёт дождь» или «жить» тебе неизвестны — это очень, очень, очень утомительно. И велик риск бросить всё.

На помощь пришёл всемогущий Амазон, который в топ-листе продаж книг для чтения на немецком показал эту самую «Café in Berlin». Что её выгодно отличает от представленных в книжных магазинах вариантах:

Малый объем — всего 96 страниц.
Небольшие отрывки для чтения — всё повествование поделено на 10 коротких глав.
Каждая глава названа так, что становится понятно в целом, о чём она, в начале есть интересные рисунки.
Язык книги развивается от простого к сложному. Вначале идут простые, самые часто употребляемые слова и словосочетания, в следующей главе они повторяются и даются новые. Так, к последней главе волей-неволей запоминаешь все слова из прочитанного. Повторение — мать учения!
В конце каждый главы есть подробнейший словарь, где дан перевод каждого слова и выражения. Вначале переведены почти все слова, потом только новые.

И самое главное — сюжет! Способный заинтересовать взрослого человека. Сюжет достаточно лихо закручен так, что не хочется останавливаться. Даже несмотря на употребление этих всяких «Ich habe Pizza gegessen» (прошедшее время) и перевёрнутого порядка слов («es ist gut, dass sie hier ist»). Как в начале написал автор, нужно выбрать удобную вам лично скорость чтения. Либо вы переводите упорно каждое слово, и пока не перевели, не читаете дальше. Либо читаете, догадываетесь о смысле по контексту, и в конце проверяете догадку в словарике.

Я совмещала оба способа. Вначале прилежно вписывала слова в словарик (на первом фото), примерно на середине уже хотелось читать, не отвлекаясь, что я и делала.
Неоспоримый плюс этой книги также то, что она доступна в формате для Kindle. А на Kindle можно скачать немецкий словарь и переводить слово, просто нажав на него пальцем. Это работает и при чтении на самом Киндле, и при чтении в программе Kindle на любом планшете.
Это не самые лучшие словари на земле, но для понимания главного значения слова они подходят. К тому же так посмотреть слово намного быстрее, чем искать его в электронном или бумажном словаре и отвлекаться от чтения.
Важное пояснение — словарь в конце главы дан на английском. То есть получается так: вы видите непонятное слово Lehrerin, а в конце главы в словаре написано вот что: «Lehrerin: teacher (female)». Начального уровня английского для понимания достаточно. Но если вы совершенно не знаете английский, то эта книга, к сожалению, вам не подойдёт.

Первую книгу я купила на Амазоне, а потом когда её дочитала, узнала, что у автора есть свой сайт, где можно купить книги у него напрямую. При покупке вы получаете книгу во всех форматах сразу — не только для Киндла, но и PDF (можно распечатать книгу!), и универсальный ePub. Можно ещё и купить все четыре книги из серии вместе со скидкой. А ещё (это просто прекрасно!) автор записал первые две книги в формате аудио. Получается и тренировка навыка аудирования, и чтения.

Я сразу поясню, что ссылки на сайт André Klein нереферальные и никакой прибыли от того, что уважаемый читатель их купит, я не получу. Я просто уважаю людей, которые занимаются просвещением и образованием, и умеют создать качественный продукт, который а) увлекает, б) учит, в) удобен в использовании. Поэтому то, что я так подробно написала про Café in Berlin — это сугубо мое личное желание, желание поделиться полезной информацией.

Самое важное — забыла про сюжет! Итак, Дино приезжает из Италии в Германию, чтобы найти работу, якобы в Германии её больше. Проблема в том, что он не знает немецкого языка. Поэтому он записался на языковые курсы и снимает комнату в Берлине вместе с другими студентами. На курсах же он встречает загадочную девушку из Швеции по имени Ингрид (ни много ни мало — блондинка с голубыми глазами). Что приключается с ними дальше предлагаю читателям узнать самим!

Полный отзыв на BookGeek.ru.

[Lauren Prior · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe I'm not fluent yet!!

A really good little learning resource

[Mk · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very suitable book for beginners with a lot of phrases and dialogues that flow pretty much naturally.

[Mē-chan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sehr gute Wahl für die absolute Anfänger, aber es war zu einfach für mich (B2 Niveau). Ich habe es in einer Stunde gelesen. Andererseits hat es mich total motiviert mehr Deutsch zu lesen, weil ich diesen großartigen Erfolg hatte :D
Auf jeden Fall, finde ich es sehr schön, dass das Buch besteht. Es ist ziemlich schwer gute Bücher für A1-A2 Niveau zu finden und dieses ist perfekt dafür.

[Yash · Rating 4 out of 5]

Das Buch is sehr gut für Deutsche Anfänger. Der Plot ist einfach über einige Ausländer in Deutschland. Die Story ist lustig und gibt es viel Wortschatz. Am Ende jedes Kapitels gibt es ein Glossar, deshalb ist es hilfreich. Ich denke, dass ich nächste Teile auch lesen will. Weil jetzt ich Deutsch lernen muss.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

Learning how to speak and read German at my late age has been a challenge. This was one of the best sources for beginning Deutsch readers I have come across. Learning new vocabulary in the context of a story seems to work for me. I plan to continue with the series. Prost!

[Ashlaya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Those are nice short stories to learn German and somewhat fun too.
I liked the quizzes at the end of chapters.

[Andreea Ratiu · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book for me: just a little outside of my comfort zone. I've learned a lot of common words from the short stories.

[Sarah Mills · Rating 5 out of 5]

muy orgullosa de haberme leído mi primer libro en alemán (aunque haya tardado casi tres meses 😝🤘🏼)

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first book in German!

[annaaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

yaaass was easy as hell felt like i knew the whole language 🙏

[Dominik · Rating 4 out of 5]

Moja pierwsza książka w całości przeczytana po niemiecku. Myślałem, że przebrnięcie przez tekst nastręczy mi wiele trudności, ale okazało się, że nie taki diabeł straszny, jak go malują. Po przerobieniu klasycznych kursów językowych (książka + nagrania) trzeba zrobić następny krok i zacząć czytać książki napisane w języku, którego właśnie się uczymy; stopniowo podnosząc sobie przy tym poprzeczkę.

Książka składa się z 10 rozdziałów (historii). Niektóre hasła i zwroty są pogrubione, a to oznacza, że ich tłumaczenia i uwaga - na język angielski, a nie polski - znajdują się pod tekstem. Na końcu każdego rozdziału zamieszczony jest także quiz z pytaniami do tekstu. Czytnik e-booków, np. Kindle, powinien mieć wbudowany także słownik, który pozwala na sprawdzenie znaczenia danego słowa w trakcie czytania.

Książki z tej serii dostępne są zarówno w wersji papierowej, jak i elektronicznej. I co ważne - nie są wcale drogie. Gorąco polecam.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

Café in Berlin ist mein erstes deutsches Buch. Ich habe für sieben Monate Deutsch gelernt, und die Wortstellung immer schwer ist. Gute Übung! Ich habe viel nach lernen.

Café in Berlin is the first German book I've been able to make my way through, which is something I'm rather proud of. The ten short stories are less individual tales and more of a relatively cohesive narrative about an Italian man, named Dino, looking for work in Berlin. Each story is only a few pages in length and progress in difficulty with each passing chapter.

Through the use of what I've learned over the previous seven months, and a fine German-English dictionary I found the story relatively easy to read and definitely worth the effort to expand on my reading and syntax comprehension. The simple sentence structure, repetition of phrase, colloquial usage, and choice of content always keep things interesting while providing just enough crutch so as not to be lost or overwhelmed. I'm very pleased that I stumbled upon Klein and his books, and am very much looking forward to reading through the rest of the series as I'm able to progress.

Highly recommended for those who are familiar with some foundational German language aspects and syntax (cases, gender, commonly used words), and are looking to experiment with reading.

Und das Badeschiff ist verseucht mit Hipstern," sagt Ted.

There are always just too many hipsters at the Badeschiff.

[Sol Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I grew up with my dad speaking German fluently and all of us ended up picking some up before taking it in high school and college. But I learned it much better by traveling to Germany in college and then to Austria this past winter. With travel a thing of the past (perhaps) I really don’t want to lose the language. I’m not fluent, but I can converse. I bought this series of books thinking they would be way above me, but this first one was pretty much exactly at my level. I’m excited about this, but I’m going to take it slowly, as it’s a totally different kind of reading. I’ll sprinkle these books between the ones I’m reading and maybe some time I’ll be able to read more literary books in German.

That said, the story was funny. The sort of childish humor that they display is much more enjoyable when you’ve decided it and you have that little snap of understanding along with the dumb joke. I literally laughed out loud several times, due to this delightful phenomenon.

[Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ich finde dieses Buch sehr interessant. Es ist eine sehr gute Wahl für Anfänger. Das Buch hat zehn Geschichten, die in einfacher Sprache geschrieben sind.
Ich bin sehr glücklich dass, ich dieses Buch gefunden habe.

[Lisa Sama · Rating 5 out of 5]

My First German Book

I have been studying German for over a year. The Duolingo app is great. And I have a wonderful German tutor. I decided to take a chance and read this book in German. It is for beginners. But it was challenging. I managed to finish it and I am very proud.

[George · Rating 5 out of 5]

Das war wirklich toll! Sehr einfach zu verstanden aber auch mit sehr viel neue Worte

[Diana · Rating 5 out of 5]

I finally found a book that an A1 level in German can read without looking up every word

[Vicky Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

'New Year, New Happiness'

A relatable story about a young man living in Berlin for a year, and his experiences trying to learn the language. He shares an apartment with roommates. And, the chapters follow each of the seasons. (The title of my review is a direct quote from the story.) This is the first level in one of Andre Klein's series of readers for German Language learners. Like most of its type, it is a chapter book with simple vocabulary, which gets progressively more challenging throughout the series. The reader has the benefit of reading adult interest level material while practicing already familiar vocabulary.

In the paperback readers I have used in the past learning Spanish and Greek, less familiar words were in bold and could be found in the glossary as needed. But, with the Kindle in recent decades it is really so much easier, since you can long press these unfamiliar words to get the definition immediately onscreen. Learning is much faster this way. I read this in Kindle, and reread each chapter following along with the Audible, to reinforce correct pronunciation. There are comprehension questions in German at the end of each chapter. And, Klein provides a link for free bonus materials online, like flashcards, and print-ables for phone and pc.

Just remember that now you can even download dual language dictionaries on the app on your smartphone. (In the past this was only available on the Kindle devices.) I suggest selecting a German/English dictionary that will present an English translation for German words when needed. Of course, the alternative is to go with German/ German... and a bit more frustrating. But, when you buy your first Kindle book in any foreign language (even if its a free book) the appropriate dictionary is downloaded automatically free. For example in this case you would get the German/German dictionary automatically free, because you have some Kindle books in German. But, getting a different dictionary, like the German/English, is a separate purchase. Whichever dictionary you download will work with all of your German language Kindle books. Keep in mind this works the same with any language you are learning.

I have the whole series of these readers, and am looking forward to moving on to the second one in the series now. I think it is helpful to reread these books a few times for practice before moving on, because you have a better command of the vocabulary before getting yourself in too deep. Either way, I highly recommend Andre Klein's series.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

These stories are written to help English-speakers learn German. Each story is short, only a few pages long at most, and they contain simplified grammar and vocabulary with a special emphasis on high-frequency phrases. The content of the stories is both humorous and relatable. The main character describes (for example) his love of pizza, his adventures trying to live in a bachelor pad shared by four guys, and his Christmas shopping. There are also illustrations to aid in understanding.

The early stories translate most of the vocabulary. The stories themselves are fluid, as they are only in German, but any word in bold font (and that’s most of them) is given in English at the end of the story. Someone very new to the language has only a few pages to flip to find the meaning. However, by the end of the book, the stories are using many of the same words and phrases from before, and their meanings are not given again. In this way, the language builds off earlier stories, and readers get a chance to practice and see how much they remember. This also means that the final stories have relatively few words translated.

Mini comprehension quizzes (4 to 7 questions each) follow every story. They are all multiple choice, and the answer key is given at the end of the book. I found these immensely helpful. The questions are basic enough to be understood, and yet I found that they helped me to gauge what I did or didn’t understand. I often felt the quizzes helped me learn, just as the reading did.

Perhaps the only suggestion I have would be to put in a glossary at the end. This way, if there is a word or phrase that the reader doesn’t remember from an earlier story, it will be possible to go back and look it up. However, I can understand why this book isn’t set up that way. Having the vocabulary given after each story, and in the order in which the words appear, rather than alphabetical, makes for a smoother experience reading. I also think the lack of a glossary challenges me to glean what I can from the context, or to go back to earlier stories and re-read. All in all, highly educational.