German Short Stories for Beginners

20 Captivating Short Stories to Learn German & Grow Your Vocabulary the Fun Way! Easy German Stories

By: Lingo Mastery

Narrated by: Kai Powalla

Length: 6 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's Summary

Easy German stories

Do you know what the hardest thing for a German learner is?

Finding proper reading material that they can handle...which is precisely the reason we’ve written this book!

Teachers love giving out tough, expert-level literature to their students, books that present many new problems to the reader and force them to search for words in a dictionary every five minutes - it’s not entertaining, useful or motivating for the student at all, and many soon give up on learning at all!

In this book we have compiled 20 easy-to-listen-to, compelling and fun stories that will allow you to expand your vocabulary and give you the tools to improve your grasp of the wonderful German tongue. 

How German Short Stories for Beginners works:

Each story is interesting and entertaining with realistic dialogues and day-to-day situations.

• The summaries follow a synopsis in German and in English of what you just read, both to review the lesson and for you to see if you understood what the tale was about.
• At the end of those summaries, you’ll be provided with a list of the most relevant vocabulary involved in the lesson, as well as slang and sayings that you may not have understood at first glance!
• Finally, you’ll be provided with a set of tricky questions in German, providing you with the chance to prove that you learned something in the story. Don’t worry if you don’t know the answer to any - we will provide them immediately after, but no cheating!

We want you to feel comfortable while learning the tongue; after all, no language should be a barrier for you to travel around the world and expand your social circles!

So look no further! Download your copy of German Short Stories for Beginners and start learning German right now!

This book has been written by a native German author and is recommended for A2+ level learners.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2019 Lingo Mastery (P)2019 Lingo Mastery

WE CAN DO WITHOUT READING OF THE PREFACES. AWFUL.

Every time I want to listen to this book I have to listen tiresomely through all the prefaces, explanations, etc., all in English. For petessake, cut to the chase! What we want is to HEAR THE BOOK. HEAR. THE. BOOK. I want to throw this thing across the room. I don't need to know that the most difficult dialects are in regions x y and z or that German is a key language etc etc etc etc.

Great Way to Learn or Practice

I've had some German but it has been many years since I have studied or practiced it. This book and pdf provide a great way to either learn, brush up or practice your German skills.

The narration is very clear and the stories are fun to try to decipher. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to try a hand at German.

I was provided with a free copy of this audio book for my honest review. The views expressed here are entirely my own.

A Fun Way to Practice German

One of my favourite ways to learn and keep up on my languages is to watch movies I know word for word in English, with the dub on, and subtitles in the language I am listening in.

This book is a very similar approach. I love being able to listen to a story, figure out what I think it says, listen to some vocab, reference the PDF, and go forward or backwards as much as I would like. I find hearing, seeing, and speaking together is how I learn best, which this book incorporates.

I was not huge on the questions at the end of each chapter. I ended up kind of skipping over those for now. I am not quite at that level. Maybe with some more listening I will enjoy it more. I think they are great for others. I'm glad Lingo Mastery does have them.

I noticed a difference in what I was understanding from when I initially began and then all the way at the end. I plan on listening to this book often and in small pieces to keep up with my progress.

Kai Powalla has a very clear voice for both English and German so he is easily understood.

I received a copy of this audiobook at my request, and I have voluntarily left this honest review.

Use the PDF!

I have previously used the beginner French conversation from Lingo Mastery and found it to be a good product. With this German-language instruction, it is up to the same high standard, but the focus is obviously on stories with reading/listening comprehension.

In terms of organization, the story is presented in German. Then it is summarized in both German and English. The vocabulary is read aloud twice, once slow and then natural native speed. The end of each story has a set of comprehension questions.

The narrator's voice is of prime importance with helping language learning. He speaks very clearly, and the care he uses when enunciating the vocabulary is invaluable. The only complaint I have about the narrator is that his English is so good that on the very rare times he mispronounces something in English, it is very jarring. He had a few zingers in the first two stories, but it got better.

I didn't necessarily enjoy all the stories as pure entertainment, but they were appropriate to the learning level and stretched language abilities. Yes, a language learner could listen, but the best benefit will come from using both the audio and the PDF.

Recommended without reservation to beginning German learners.

Note: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Entertaining way to build up vocabulary

Although the 20 short stories presented here are not gripping, they are entertaining enough. It also helps that the narrator seems to be a native German speaker.

Great way to learn German.

I loved it and am going to see what else Lingomastery has for learning languages.

Overall very good. Perhaps not for total Abfangers

I was able to follow the stories and it helped me feel a little more confident in my comprehension skills. however, this should not be for someone who is very new to the german language as its a little more advanced. it is A2 at least. also, the presenter struggles a little bit with English pronunciation, particularly with v-w confusion. (makes w sound when it should be V. think "wacuum") Also, the quiz sections are harder to follow in audio format and you definitely need to use the PDFs to get the most of them. Otherwise it was great practice and I could mostly follow along in the stories upon first listen, and could tease out the gaps with replays. I do recommend this to anyone who is learning at a conversational level and wants more narrative auditory material using everyday language.

Definitely worth the listen!

This is a great book! The stories are entertaining and easy to follow! The pronunciation and delivery of the narrator are great!

Love this!

I’m a high school German teachers and this is an amazing resource for me to help my students improve their listening skills!

Fantastic way to learn a new language

For me as a beginner, this audiobook combined with a provided PDF is a valuable study aid. If you put some effort this can dramatically boost your language skills and vocabulary.

I have to give credit for how the book is structured - for each story there is a summary and then important words with translation in both PDF and audiobook. Great for auditory and visual learners.

some Awful outdated content

couldn't believe the content of the first story about a woman nagging her partner about doing chores. Really outdated and sexist. Also a LOT of waffle before you get to any content. Don't recommend.

Both German and English translation are terrible

Both German and English translation are terrible and as I got this to hopefully improve my German then I am very disappointed. The short stories would have been OK if it helped to improve my pronunciation but I am sorry to say that this will not help.

Good in German, Awful English explanation

The narrator clearly has no understanding of the English language. Whilst the stories in German are good, when explaining them in English it is almost painful. I ask myself why they chose a narrator that clearly cannot speak any English.

Best way to learn a language is to listen!

This book has helped me a great deal. As a beginner, most of the resources I had were books and a few other similar materials. These did not make the learning as fun and effective as listening to this audiobook. The stories are interesting, and contain a lot of helpful vocabulary. I always take note of how certain words I knew were used in some of the sentences, then I would try to find a similar context for practice. Also, listening to the narrator gives a sense of accent, which is equally important in mastering a language. I am confident of continuously boosting my German skills as I keep practicing with this book.

N:B. This book was offered to me as a free review copy upon my request, and I have left this voluntary review in return.

Well structured and helpful

This book is aimed at people who have learnt/speak a bit of German. The direction of the book is well adjusted, to ensure the listener has a full educative experience. For beginners, the basics are very important, and this book uses the basic German words and vocabulary in the context of short stories that are equally entertaining. It is a great experience to learn a language with some fun attached, and this book delivers on that front.

I received a free copy of this book for a review, and this review reflects my unbiased opinion.

Stories are unforgettable!

I love this book. I have personally found storytelling to be a great way of teaching, especially for language. This book is a compilation of interesting short stories in German, which teaches the listener a few words and their usage in German conversations. The stories are told in German, and the interpretation is given in English to help the listener keep up with unclear terms. While it is more effective to already have the basics of the German language, and use this book as a power boost to expanding vocabulary, it can also be a good start for absolute beginners that have an affinity for language.
I think it is an effective way of learning, because it doesn't just bombard you with a lot of information at once, but gives you bits at a time. This allows a comprehensive understanding of common words, phrases and nuances, which are the foundation of all human interaction, especially in language. A recommended read for German learners at beginner/intermediate level.

This book was given to me as a free review copy, and this is my take on its usefulness/performance.

German made fun!

This book has done the extreme: making German fun to learn! The stories are not only good, but carefully selected to expand the listener's vocabulary, a few at a time. This way, the learning process is broken down and becomes completely meaningful in the end. The quizzes are especially useful for testing one's learning progress, and also forces the listener to practice the newly introduced vocabulary.
This is a great help for beginners in learning the German language, especially in a fun way.

P.S: This free review copy was given to me at my own request, and I have left a voluntary review based on my assessment.

Exactly what I was after though not quite beginner

I picked up this book as I wanted to renew some German skills that were last tested over a decade ago (GCSE (A)). I wanted something that was easy to listen to, not too difficult and that wasn't rote repeating of German phrases. This is exactly what I got.

The setup is a German small story followed by the English summary of the story (not word for word) with questions in German to answer, perfect. I wouldn't say that this is complete beginners introduction and I will probably have to re-read it again to fully understand it (this time with the pdf that comes with it!), but its German with a nice and clear narrator. I enjoyed it, I hope you do too.

Note: I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.