Streetwise German

Impossible to say since I never got the book.

I'm appalled by the review of other readers especially the german lot. I bought this book while i was living in England, i had great interest in learn german, so i bought every single book which could aid me in my interprise. I gave 4 starts instead of five because i didn't like the english translation of some expressions, they could be better, the author translated some expressions with the colloquial english, which in my opinion the literal tranlation would rendered a better understanding.(or perhaps could have used both literal and figutive). Most germans frowned upon this book, but i recommend it to those who already have a good background in german, maybe a intermediate level would be good for a start, i also suggest the you study with a assistance of a german native, or austrian if that's the case, to help you with the literal translation, literal translation shed light on the spirit of the expressions. This book is full of funny expressions and dialogues, some of them might sound rude, but although many germans reviwers may dislike my comments, i have to say that this kind of language is common in every language, i agree with the reviwer who says that we have to learn the Hoch Deutsch fisrt, and then take up the colloquial, slang part of it. Many expression used here are very similar to those used here in Brazil like: Bist Knapp bei Kasse? Are you broke or are you short in money (from the till) Der hat's g'schallt. He swallowed it. (meaning he was taken in) Un so weit. Good book for serious students, not for dabblers. Aufwiedersehen!! Gruss aus Brasilien. Gabriel

Once in a generation a great teaching text comes along. This is that text. This is a great teaching text that teaches students of German the idiosychrocies of this complex language in a fun, easy to follow, dialogue based text.