Wilson: German Quickly
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Foreword
German Quickly: A Grammar for Reading German evolved from the German reading course I have taught to students in the University of Chicago community over
the past thirty years. It has the following features that make it a valuable text for
students who need to learn German quickly:
1. Explanations have been revised several times in response to student questions
and comments, so that the book provides important grammatical information
about the structure of German, which simply is not provided by other German
textbooks. In this edition, I have expanded upon the grammar explanations of
the 1993 edition, and I have included more reading and general review selections. I have also added questions to some of the exercise sentences in anticipation of common mistakes, and I have added reassuring comments when I know
students might be feeling overwhelmed.
2. It carefully describes key grammatical points in detail without giving students
superfluous information. Consequently, students have been able to translate
passages from thinkers as complex as Freud, Kafka, Mann, Rilke, Heidegger,
Tillich, Nietzsche, and Benjamin after about 100 hours or so of study.
3. Proverbs and aphorisms are used as translation exercises, even in the early pages
of the text. These help sustain students’ enthusiasm for German when their ability to read is at an elementary level. German Quickly is both scholarly and fun.
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German Quickly
4. There are 12 sections in the appendix, including strategies for reading German,
an important word list, a summary of German grammar, verb charts, and a Humanities Vocabulary, which is especially valuable for students beginning to read
scholarly articles in specialized fields. There is also a partial answer key, which
should prove helpful to students studying German independently.
5. People reading German Quickly are welcome to communicate with me though
e-mail: april@aprilwilson.com. I am eager to know who my readers are, and
would be happy to suggest additional readings based on specific interests.
The Structure of German Quickly, and How to Use It
This text consists primarily of grammar explanations with sample exercises and an
accompanying vocabulary. There are also periodic final exercises for additional vocabulary and grammar practice. Cognates are placed in italics in the exercise sentences to encourage students to guess their meanings.
Most of the exercise sentences consist either of proverbs or of a running saga of
two major characters—Fräulein Meier and a mailman. Some of the proverbs included are unfamiliar to most Germans and are not representative of German culture. However, I have included them because they are intriguing. They contain a
wide variety of ideas about life and human nature—some insightful, some bizarre,
and some whimsical—which tend to add to the interest of learning a foreign language. Fräulein Meier and the mailman are intended for fun. (Although a German
woman of Fräulein Meier’s age living in Germany today would be called Frau
Meier instead, I have retained the old-fashioned term Fräulein to highlight the
slightly Victorian nature of her romance with the mailman.)
In addition to reading passages from Bichsel, Kleist, Buber, and Nietzsche, I
have included some Biblical reading passages and Grimm fairy tales because they
are familiar and repetitive, and because people enjoy reading something “real” even
when their grasp of German is not quite solid.
German Quickly is best suited for a semester reading course; it can be covered in
a quarter, however. In a five week (highly) intensive course, I have been able to go
through it in four weeks. In a fifteen week course, I generally cover it in from ten to
eleven weeks. In any class, this text should be supplemented with outside readings.
I have deliberately kept the number of reading passages to a minimum so that,
with additional readings, German Quickly could be adapted to any German reading course in the general humanities, philosophy, theology, art history, history, sociology, classics, linguistics, music, and the like. A teacher also could have the free-
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Foreword
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dom to update reading materials whenever he or she wished. A suggested syllabus
for German Quickly is given at the end of Appendix A.
Some useful German readers might be: Einander Verstehen: Ein Deutsches Literarisches Lesebuch (Marianne and Martin Loschmann), Dichter, Denker und Erzähler (Edith Ehrlich and Peter Niels Heller), Modern Theological German (Helmut
Ziefle). Dual language texts, such as Wittgenstein’s Zettel, or Kafka’s Parables and
Paradoxes can also be helpful, or texts originally in English such as Hemingway’s
Der alte Mann und das Meer, or mysteries by Agatha Christie. The Bible is also a
good source for German passages. Moreover, students can do Internet searches for
German articles that specifically interest them. CNN’s web site also offers a German edition that is easily accessible, and German magazines and newspapers such
as Der Spiegel and Die Zeit have online editions.
I have discussed the advantages and disadvantages of various German dictionaries in Appendix I, and I would strongly recommend reading this section before
purchasing a dictionary. However, dictionaries are often revised, so students
should supplement my comments with reviews on web sites such as Amazon.com.
It is important to acquire a German vocabulary of the most common words as
soon as possible, and I include advice about memorizing words in Chapter 2, section 2.10.
German Quickly has a section in Appendix C entitled “English Grammar Necessary for Learning German.” I have placed chapter references next to my grammar
explanations, and I hope students unfamiliar with grammar will consider it a useful reference.
The beginning exercise sentences at the end of each chapter tend to be easier to
translate, while the later sentences are more challenging. Students may wish to
translate the easier sentences when reading German Quickly for the first time; they
can use the harder sentences as review sentences once they become more familiar
with grammar. Students also might find it helpful to mark sentences that seem
confusing initially, to see if they become clearer during review sessions.
I hope that German Quickly will live up to its title, and that people will enjoy
this introductory text as well as any subsequent readings. After all, Frisch begonnen
ist halb gewonnen!—A fresh start is half the victory!