Wort für Wort: New Advanced German Vocabulary - Paul Stocker

.../> What is this book? Wort für Wort, with its French and Spanish versions Mot à Mot and Palabra por Palabra respectively, is a vocabulary book which helps to take you beyond everyday, transactional conversation and on to discussing a wide range of issues, from technological advances to arts and the world of work. It is for this reason that it's so invaluable for AS, A2 and Higher Grade students, because it fits in so well with the topics that you ...
...Cultural Life
18. Welches Wort soll ich wählen? - Which word should I choose?

At the end of the contents there is a little box which appears at the end of each topic which contains useful website addresses relating to that topic. The ones included here are just general ones, like German search engines and links to statistical information on aspects of German life. I find that a very useful inclusion to the book.

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In my experience as someone currently trying to learn French and German at A level, I have found that German books are increasingly more difficult to get hold of than French ones.

Now while I can understand why this is the case, I still find it extremely annoying. However, I'm glad to say that there is one book I've managed to buy for both German and French which has proved invaluable and which I would recommend highly to anyone else doing AS, A2 or Higher Grade German. It's also useful for those in Higher or Further education.

What is this book? Wort für Wort, with its French and Spanish versions Mot à Mot and Palabra por Palabra respectively, is a vocabulary book which helps to take you beyond everyday, transactional conversation and on to discussing a wide range of issues, from technological advances to arts and the world of work. It is for this reason that it's so invaluable for AS, A2 and Higher Grade students, because it fits in so well with the topics that you will cover.

Much of the vocabulary given in this book is taken from sources such as the internet, newspapers and magazines so it's safe to say that it's currently in use. I've got the third edition which was published in 2000.

As you'd expect with this book there's a section at the front which briefly explains the abbreviations used. The author, Paul Stocker, also gives some great advice on learning and developing your vocabulary.

The contents page in itself probably deserves a mention, since it spans 5 pages! It's fairly extensive, breaking down each of the 18 chapters into sub-sections and giving a page reference for each one. This obviously makes it much easier to find what you want, though the headings on this contents page are entirely in German. These same headings throughout the book are written in German and English though. The chapters are as follows:

1. Ich meine... - I think...
2. Menschliche Beziehungen - Human Relations
3. Die Gesundheit - Health
4. Die Medien - Media
5. Schule und Ausbildung - School and Education/Training
6. Die Arbeitswelt - The World of Work
7. Wirtschaft und Geschäft - Economy and Business
8. Die Politik - Politics
9. Internationale Beziehungen - International Relations
10. Transport und Tourismus - Transport and Tourism
11. Technik und Forschung - Technology and Research
12. Die Umwelt - The Environment
13. Geographie - Geography
14. Stadt- und Landleben - City and Country Life
15. Die Rechtsordnung - The Legal System
16. Einwanderung und Rassismus - Immigration and Racism
17. Das Kulturleben - Cultural Life
18. Welches Wort soll ich wählen? - Which word should I choose?

At the end of the contents there is a little box which appears at the end of each topic which contains useful website addresses relating to that topic. The ones included here are just general ones, like German search engines and links to statistical information on aspects of German life. I find that a very useful inclusion to the book.

The great thing about this book is that it gives a lot of really useful phrases that are all given in context and all grouped together. Because of this it's easier to make sure you're using the right word and in the right way. Also, there's plenty of jargon on each particular section, especially in the technology section where you'll find a lot of computer vocabulary such as 'user-friendly,' 'application program', and 'to make a back up'.

It's this specialist vocabulary, given in context and with examples that has made this book so invaluable to me. There are opinion phrases at the beginning, along with discursive markers amnd ways of introducing examples, arguments, counter-arguments and so on. This has proved extremely useful in writing essays and I believe it will continue to do so once I'm at university studying German. The book also contains idioms and cultural words which don't really have a meaning in English - especially those relating to the school system in Germany.
An example here would be 'der Abiturient (-en)' which is the name of a student in the last year of the 'Gymnasium' which is defined in this book as being a 'grammar school' for pupils between the ages of 11 and 19.

Another great chapter of this book is chapter 18 - Welches Wort soll ich wählen - Which word should I choose?
This section deals with key words which are often difficult to find a German equivalent for. Take 'get' - which is a notoriously difficult word to translate. For each of the following sentences in English which use 'get', a different verb is used in German:

'I am getting old'
'She has got her first car'
'I got a letter today'
'I must get myself a computer'
'She gets a good salary'

That just goes to show how useful this section is - it helps you to distinguish between verbs like 'to know' (= to be familiar with) and 'to know' (=by learning/experience).

The geography chapter also deserves a mention as it lists place names which sometimes cause difficulty such as 'Milan - Mailand', 'Nice - Nizza', and 'Venice - Venedig'. This is extremely useful.

For such a small book - it's only 118 pages and roughly A5 sort of size - it's a real gem. I honestly don't know what I'd do without it! I can use it for essays and discussions, and simply just to learn more specialised vocabulary for the themes and issues I'm now expected to discuss as part of my A level course.

Most importantly it was really easy to get hold of - I bought it in Ottakers and I've seen it before in Waterstones. It's also available on Amazon for £3.99 - an absolute bargain!

I've got Mot à Mot and as such I can say that the information in this review is only accurate for the German version of the book. Mot à Mot doesn't include the section at the end about selecting the correct word and although the chapters and sections are very very similiar they're not identical so I'd bear this in mind if you're thinking of getting the French or Spanish version.

Danke schön!  

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