To say it right away: We would not recommend THE ultimate text book for learners of German.
The factors of learning goals and learning conditions to be considered in the choice are too varied. For example:
- Are you planning an online or evening course with only one or two hours per week or do you want an intensive course of 4-6 lessons per day?
- Or do you want to teach yourself?
- Do you want to specialize in German grammar, a mix of text work and grammar or do you just want to learn a bit German for holidays?
- Is there a specific topic area for which you want to learn German? E.g.. Business, media, history or tourism?
- What is your mother tongue? For almost every language there is a special text book, which specializes the specific requirements and learning problems associated with each language.
In answering these questions, you should be able to find the best text book suited to your needs.
To make the search easier for you, we would like to give you a summary of the most important publishing houses and their offers for "German as foreign language", main focus: "German for adults", followingly.
Furthermore you find a link for direct order (amazon.com) for the textbooks marked by # at the end of this side.
Publishing houses in alphabetical order:
- Cornelsen
You can search for German as a foreign language publications using catalogue function. Under the key word "Erwachsenenbildung" (adult education) you can find exercises and learning hints to work with the text book eurolingua Deutsch (#4). Each week there is something different to Download. - Eilers & Schünemann GmbH Sprachzeitungen
The "Presse und Sprache" language newspaper for learners of German brings together original articles from German press with informative topics and discussion topics from Germany. There is a new edition per month and a yearly subscription costs EUR 26,40 (including delivery). A sample copy, or subscription can be ordered online. - Hueber-Verlag und Verlag für Deutsch
One of the most important publishers of text books for learners of German, and has a separate site for its text book range "Themen neu": www.themen-neu.de (#3). Online exercises and links, arranged by topic, can be found at this site. - Iudicium
Iudicium is publisher of »Informationen Deutsch als Fremdsprache«. There are 6 editions in the yearly subscription and is "a forum of well-grounded opinions for the teaching and research field German as a foreign language". The Deutsche Akademische Austauschdienst (DAAD) and the Fachverband Deutsch als Fremdsprache are the editors. - Klett Online
The complete range for German learners can be found using the catalogue search (pull down menu). The range includes about 500 titles which can be booked simply ordered online. An overview can also be found at DaF Programmschwerpunkte.
Otherwise, Klett offers a lot of teaching material free downloads. Under Download choose Deutsch als Fremdsprache. The text book "Stufen" has its own website at: www.stufen.de.
The range of dictionaries by Pons is also interesting. Eg. "Euro-Wortschatz" and "Internet-Wortschatz". - Langenscheidt Verlagsgruppe
A good summary of the range that Langenscheidt offers is langenscheidt.de Individual chapters can be downloaded in PDF format
What is otherwise at Langenscheidt? Links to dictionaries, e.g. Das Fremdwörterbuch (in co-operation with AOL).
It is certainly worth regularly visiting the Langenscheidt site: Many things are still under construction. - Links to further publishers? We recommend to use the search at www.geist.de . It is a platform for various publisher.
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