AmySea

Ok, so my niece checked this book out from school, and spent at least two hours tonight reading it to her brother and me. It's actually a pretty nifty book, full of all kinds of words and phrases, and the little pictures that accompany each word/phrase combination are colorful and eye-catching for kids. Since my niece spent so much time with this book, it's clear to me that she thoroughly enjoyed it. I had fun listening to her read the text; she sounded sort of like a native English speaker trying to speak German with a Scandinavian accent, but hey, who am I to judge? I can't speak German either. My nephew listened very patiently to his sister, but he was disappointed that the book did not have the German word for "butt," or the word for "chainsaw."

The book had sort of a major defect, though, and that is it didn't tell you how to pronounce anything. How do you pronounce an "a" with an umlaut above it? What does one of those German letters that look like a fancy capital "B" (I believe it's an esszet) sound like? And how in the heck do you pronounce ice skating (das Schlittschuhlaufen)?! I think the book is probably most effective for kids who are learning the German language, but I am thrilled that my niece checked it out and gave it a real go. She had fun! Maybe this book will inspire her to take German someday, and she can restore one of our family's native tongues to us.